Flowering series
Reading Order Note: Forget Me Not, Lily of the Valley, and Blue Rose can be
read in any order. There is some crossover in scenes between the titles, but
each stands alone as one character's story. Star of Bethlehem is a direct continuation
from Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley. Orange Blossom and Ambrosia assume readers
have read the other four titles and read as sequels, although no title has a
cliffhanger and you could still read them as standalones.
Forget Me Not (Lily’s story)
Book
Info:
Title: Forget
Me Not
Author: Sarah Daltry
Cover: Shoutlines Design
18+ New Adult contemporary
This is a coming of age story,
but it isn’t always sweet and innocent. If dirty talk, bedroom toys, and
threesomes offend you… this is not your book.
“No
one tells you when you start school just how homesick you will be, or how hard
it will be to start life over with no direction and no friends or family. No
one says that becoming your own person is terrifying.”
I never wanted anything but Derek, my brother’s
best friend. When I chose a college, it didn’t seem to matter that he would be
an hour away. We could survive it. After all, we were in love. But almost
immediately, things change between us. I blame myself. Maybe I’m just not sure
how to be a girlfriend and independent.
Life seems to be getting away from me – and then
there’s Jack, the guy down the hall. He’s rude and vulgar and my parents would
be shocked by him, yet every single time I see him, I feel like I’m being
pulled toward him. It’s physical, sure, but there’s something in Jack’s eyes –
and I want to know him.
I know I don’t always make the right choices, and
I’m the only person at fault when everything falls apart. How do I tell Derek,
the guy who was supposed to be everything, that I don’t feel like fighting for
him anymore? And do I run to Jack, when I know his past is way too much for me
to handle when I’ve just turned 19? Finally, where do I end up in all of this?
Can I be more than just someone else’s idea of what I should be?
Buy Links:
Review
I was given books for honest review. Enjoyed Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley book #2. It's not often you get basically the same story from two different points of view and have them match almost to a "T", but be unique at the same time. Sarah Daltry manages it quiet well. Lily's side of the story shows how she thinks and feels about different situations she manages to get herself in. Also shows strength of character in her waiting to present herself to Jack till she gets herself together.
Excerpt:
The movie is awful, but it’s fun
spending time with people who are easygoing and, when Don suggests going to
Denny’s afterward, I agree without even asking Derek. When we get in his car, I
worry that he is disappointed, though.
“Are you mad?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “Of course not.
Lily, I love you and I’ll be there for you, but you need to have other people.
I wouldn’t expect you to demand that I have no one at school.”
“Do you have a lot of friends at
school?”
“Yeah,” he admits. “There’s a group Jon
and that I spend a lot of time with. If you come up sometime, I’ll introduce
you. Although, if you stay with me, you know what that means...”
“Yeah. Hands off all weekend - under
penalty of death by older brother.” I laugh. Jon would obviously never hurt
either of us, but I still don’t think it would be kosher to get too frisky with
Derek in his room.
I debate about asking the question I
know I shouldn’t, one I have never worried about, but for some reason need an
answer to now. I survived my entire senior year by not asking this question; now that we’re on the same page, I feel
like I need to know. I have to know what I’m facing.
“This group. Are there girls in it?” I
ask.
Derek pulls into the parking lot at
Denny’s, puts the car in park, and turns to look at me. “Three. Alyssa, Maya,
and Jodie. Jon had a thing with Alyssa for a while, but nothing serious came of
it. And stop it. I see the jealousy brewing. They are all homely and hideous
and you’re the only girl I’m interested in.” He kisses my forehead and I know
it’s supposed to make me feel better, but it only makes me feel like a kid. I
had moments over the past year when I worried that Derek would think I was too
young, but now I have these three women to picture and I don’t want to picture
them.
Although I was a virgin when I slept
with Derek the first time, he wasn’t. I don’t know what he did at school before
we got together, but he had plenty of girlfriends in high school and I can’t
imagine he was celibate for those first few months last year. We’ve never
talked about it; although I know how many people he’s been with, I don’t know
for sure who they are or when he was with them. I can’t bear to know. I hate
thinking of him with another girl so close to when we started dating.
I’ve managed not to be the jealous type
for almost a year, despite him being away, although I can’t pretend that it
doesn’t bother me if I think too much about it. I know it’s hypocritical, since
my new group of friends includes guys, but I can’t help it. I feel like Derek’s
going to realize sooner or later that I’m not enough for him.
We go into the restaurant, because I
don’t want to think about Alyssa, Maya, and Jodie; it is easier to fake it with
company. Everyone is in high spirits and I try to let the worry slip away.
There is not a lot I can do anyway. I’m pretty sure that Derek has been
faithful. Right now, all I can do is trust him. As hard as that is, I have no
reason to think that he would cheat. Still, I can’t stop picturing him in bed
with someone else.
Lily of the Valley (Jack’s story)
Book
Info:
Title: Lily of
the Valley Author: Sarah Daltry
Cover: Shoutlines Design
18+ New Adult contemporary
Jack’s story isn’t pretty. He’s
suicidal, depressed, and he uses meaningless sex and alcohol to survive.
However, the story is about finding light in the darkness, but sometimes the
road there isn’t always easy to walk.
“No
one tells you about pain. They tell you that it hurts, that sometimes it’s
consuming. What they don’t tell you is that it’s not the pain that can kill
you. It’s the uncomfortable numbness that follows, the weakness in your body
when you realize your lungs may stop taking in air and you just can’t exert
enough energy to care. It’s the way taste and color and smell fade from the
world and all you’re left with is a sepia print of misery. That’s when the
shift starts – the movement from passive to active. I fall asleep, hoping that
the morning will bring back the pain. At least the pain is a thing.”
I’m a plague, a cancer. My mom is dead – and my
father is in prison for it. I survived high school because college was my way
out. I needed to escape, to get away from my family and the people who tortured
me, but it hasn’t grown any easier.
I don’t pretend that I’m a good person. I drink far
more than I should, and I use my best friend, Alana, because together, we
thrive on destroying each other – as well as the parts of us we hate. I don’t
believe in love, but sex is fun and it also makes me feel something.
The morning I see Lily, the beautiful princess who
smells inexplicably like strawberries every time I see her, I realize I’m in
trouble. I should hate her. I want to hate her, because the alternative
terrifies me. However, as she continues to crash into my life (often
literally), I can’t avoid feeling something that is the one thing I swore I
would never feel. I can’t fall in love, because people like me don’t live in a
world where love saves anyone.
She just won’t go away, though, and I don’t know if
I can keep running. The voices and the darkness hover over me and they threaten
to bring me back to the safety of my hate, but the stupid scent of strawberries
lingers on the horizon, as something like hope.
Buy Links:
Amazon UK
Apple
Barnes andNoble
Kobo
AllRomance
Smashwords
Review
I was given books for honest review. Enjoyed Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley. It's not often you get basically the same story from two different points of view and have them match almost to a "T", but be unique at the same time. Sarah Daltry manages it quiet well. Fell in love with all the characters but have to admit that favorite my is Jack. He grabs you with his sincerity and self-image almost from the start. It was amazing to watch him grow.
Playlist:
Excerpt:
My grandmother is so happy that I agreed to
visit with my father on my way back to school that I almost feel okay with the
decision. Until we reach the prison and the familiar sickness returns. I can’t
turn around now and say I don’t want to go in, but the sky is steel grey and I
wonder why it’s never sunny when I come here. Even the weather hates me.
She has a hat on, because it’s a prison day, and
I don’t have the heart to tell her that she tries to look nice for a group of
lowlifes. I feel like somewhere in her head she convinces herself that she
looks like she’s going to church or something and that people will think that’s
what she’s doing. She seems to believe that if other people assume she’s not
the mother-in-law of a killer, then she’s not the mother-in-law of a killer.
The security check is backed up today because
some guy is arguing with the guard about his belt. They want him to leave it at
the entrance, since it keeps setting off the metal detectors, but he’s
apparently really attached to the stupid thing and doesn’t want to give it up.
They argue back and forth and it’s the dumbest conversation I’ve ever heard.
And I go to college with frat boys.
“Buddy, you have to take off the belt and leave
it, or you can’t get in,” the guard explains. “Unless you can pass through here
without setting off the machines, you aren’t going to see anyone.”
“You’re just trying to rob me. You’re all part
of the system, man, and I ain’t giving you shit.”
“You’ll get the thing back,” the guard tries to
reason.
“Fuck you. You’re just trying to keep me down.”
The guard sighs. “Look, just put the belt right
here on this shelf. I will personally watch over it and make sure it’s safe.”
“Why should I trust you? You work for them.”
“I do and I make less than twenty bucks an hour.
I don’t care about your damn belt.”
“More than I make. Think you’re so special,
judging me, acting like you’re too good for something that belongs to me-”
“Holy fuck, just give him the fucking belt,” I
yell. The guard, the random dude, and my grandmother all turn to look at me.
“What? This is fucking stupid.”
The guy seems so taken aback that he quietly
removes his belt and hands it to the guard. He goes through the metal detector,
this time without setting anything off, and turns back to look at me. He shakes
his head and mumbles, “Crazy ass motherfucker.”
The guard just stares at me. I walk through the
machine and the thing goes insane. It’s my belt ironically. He raises an
eyebrow and just holds out his hand. “I need you to leave your belt here.”
I don’t care about the belt or this visit and
the sooner we get in, the faster we leave. I hand him my belt and then my
grandmother is through. The guard buzzes us into the next area, where a few
more guards are sitting in a small office. I wait for them to lead us to the
room where we’ll meet my dad. The metal table shines in the fluorescent light.
If I stare at it long enough, maybe I’ll go blind.
“No outbursts,” my grandmother warns.
“It wasn’t an outburst. He was wasting time.”
“I don’t care. Your actions impact your father.”
“Yeah, well, his
kinda impacted me,” I point out.
She shakes her head and turns to face the door
through which my dad will enter. I hate it here. I hate the way the lights are
covered in weird metal mesh grates that make it always feel like five o’clock
on a winter evening. I hate the way that the voices of other visitors and
prisoners bounce off the walls, disembodied and incomprehensible, but invasive
enough to remind you that you’ll never be alone in here. I hate how the guards
try to treat me like their own kid, as if by being sympathetic it will fix
anything. And I especially hate the stupid look of hope that refuses to leave
my grandmother’s face no matter how many times we come here. Sometimes I think
maybe it’s that look that makes me limit my visits as much as I do, more so
than even hating my father. Because the fact that she believes someday things
can be okay? Well, there is just nothing I can say about that.
About the
Author
Sarah
Daltry is a girl who writes books. The books are in all genres, because Sarah’s
not so great at committing to things. She’s happily married and she and her
husband live with their cats in New England. Sarah is painfully shy and, if you
are able to find her, she is probably in a corner, hiding. She also wrote Bitter Fruits, Backward Compatible: A Geek
Love Story, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: A Modern Reimagining, and The Quiver of a Kiss: The Seduction of Helen
of Troy, as well as several short stories and works of erotica.
Website: http://sarahdaltry.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Sarah-Daltry/100008248716974
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Sarah-Daltry/850650661618142?ref=stream
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahDaltry
Google+: https://plus.google.com/109978393256001957216/posts
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEqyylqPreAPo0RwMmaxSJA/feed
Authorgraph: https://www.authorgraph.com/authors/SarahDaltry
Top Ten: Author’s Favorite Book Boyfriends:
Jake Barnes – The
Sun Also RisesHolden Caulfield – The Catcher in the Rye
Heathcliff – Wuthering Heights
Rochester – Jane Eyre
Will – Clockwork Angel
Etienne – Anna and the French Kiss
Cricket – Lola and the Boy Next Door
Ian – The Host
Bru – Summer Sisters
Samuel – The Lovely Bones
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