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.
Blue Rose (Alana’s story)
Book
Info:
Title: Blue Rose
Author: Sarah Daltry
Cover: Shoutlines Design
18+ New Adult contemporary
Warning: This book deals with topics of abuse
and may trigger reactions in people who have experienced those things in their
own lives. It remains a story about healing, but it’s not always an easy
journey.
“Four.
My life has been shaped by four people. Four men, to be more specific. My
father, my stepfather, my best friend, and my boyfriend. The first two shaped
it in horrible ways, but what I am, who I am, is all because of four men.”
Over the last twenty years, I’ve learned how to keep secrets. It doesn’t really matter, since everyone already seems to think they know everything about me. So I hide. I avoid confrontation, I treat Xanax like a magic pill that will make it all go away, and I become everything they think I am. A slut. A whore. Nothing but trash.
And then there’s Dave. The guy I never gave a
chance. The guy I used almost as much as people used me, because I wanted to
pretend I was someone worth loving. Two years have passed since we last spoke,
but I don’t know how to stop thinking about him.
My new therapist is making me face my past, and she tells me that life inevitably changes without our permission. I believe it, but I know what I am. I hear what she’s saying to me, and I want to try again with Dave, to help Jack find joy, to love myself, and to move on. I just wonder if anyone can do that, really.
Buy Links:
Review
I was given books for honest review. Enjoyed Alana's view of some of the events that happened in Forget Me Not. Alana's story will get you thinking on how words and the opinion of your peers can hurt. It shows how the uphill battle of acceptance of yourself can bring about healing.
Excerpt:
Later
that day, at lunch, I had just found a seat by the window when he sat across
from me. I was used to sitting alone. He didn’t say anything, and he had
nothing to eat. He looked up at me, though, after a few minutes, and his eyes
did it again. I hated my body, hated the way I looked, hated that somehow I
owed my body and my looks to everyone else. But when Jack looked at me, I
wanted to let someone touch me. I wanted him to hold me. He felt like safety.
It
didn’t even make sense. He was just a broken kid, like me. He always wore the
same threadbare hoodie. Most days, it covered his head. He was cute, but
awkward. His hair was too long and usually greasy. His Chucks were a little too
big, so they looked a little like clown shoes. Yet those gorgeous eyes were all
I cared about. I hadn’t considered guys at all. I didn’t find them attractive,
and I certainly couldn’t see the appeal of sex or of intimacy. With Jack,
though, the thought of him near me didn’t make me nauseous.
“Do
you want my orange?” I asked him.
“Are
you sure?”
It
wasn’t a groundbreaking question. But it was how I knew that what I naturally
felt for Jack was right. Because no one had ever asked me that. No one had
asked if I minded, if I was sure, if something was okay. They just took things.
“Yeah.”
He
took it and I handed him my knife. It was flimsy plastic and wouldn’t even
pierce the rind, so I took the orange back and peeled it with my fingernails.
Jack just watched me and, when I handed him the orange, now peeled, he smiled.
His upper lip curled more than it should have and he looked silly, smiling at
an orange. But he drew the same smile from me.
“Thank
you,” he said, and he pulled two slices free from the whole and handed them
back to me. I didn’t eat them right away. I just watched him eat his part. He
was messy and he ended up covering himself in the juices. He unzipped his
hoodie after the orange squirted down the front. Underneath, he was wearing a
washed out blue T-shirt with a train on it. He looked ten.
“Nice
shirt,” I teased.
He
looked down. “I live with my grandmother. She has no concept of clothes.”
“It’s
cute.”
He
smiled again and it was less awkward this time. “Do you live with your
grandmother, too?”
I
was wearing a huge black sweater over baggy black pants. “No. I just… I don’t
like people looking at me.”
“Yeah.
I get that.”
He
didn’t tell me that I was too pretty to dress the way I did; he didn’t say my
body was too good to hide. He just went back to eating his orange, letting the
juice spill all over the train shirt. We were fourteen, but I already knew Jack
would always be the only thing that mattered in my future.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave comment or suggestion