Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Orchard

The Orchard by Krista Lynne Jensen. This is my first read by this author.

Poor Alisen. She just can't win for trying.

And just for the record, it kind of bugged me to have an alternate spelling to the traditional Alison. Maybe I'm just biased as I've got an awesome sister with that name.

Alisen loses her mother at age 13 and her father ignores her for the next 6 years. Not a great growing up experience. Her solace is found in the cherry orchard on their lake front Montana property.

What's with all the books set in Montana this year? This is either the third or fourth one I've read set there. Do we not have down home values in other American locales?

Then at the ripe old age of 19 she meets Derrick. It's a romance. I think you can fill in the blanks.

I noticed early on in the book that it ran a resemblance to Jane Austen's Persuasion. Yes, I know, for me, all books come back to Austen in some fashion. But this one is actually a modern day rewrite. Ms. Jensen says so herself at the end of the book.

So, all you Austen fans, add this one to your list. And that goes for you non-Austen fans too!

It's well written, the storyline moves along. Good dialogue. You love and dislike everyone at the right times. There was only one thing that threw me and it happened at the end. The story is told all through the book from either Alisen's or Derrick's point of view and in the eleventh hour we're thrown into, Alisen's older sister, Elizabeth's point of view. It just came off odd to add a third character POV at the end when she's played a very minor role throughout the rest of the novel.
Not a deal breaker though.

This is an LDS romance, but light on the LDS. Just thought you should know. Also, light on the steamy. Clean.

Worth a read? Absolutely.

Can anyone recommend another Persuasion knock off? That is a story less retold. Let me know.

http://www.amazon.com/Orchard-Krista-Lynne-Jensen-ebook/dp/B00C7AXVFW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1384655336&sr=8-3&keywords=the+orchard

On the idyllic shores of Flathead Lake, Montana, Alisen Embry finds purpose and comfort tending her late mother’s cherry orchard adjacent to the family’s beloved lake house. Though pained by the loss of her mother and her father’s estrangement, it is Derick Whitney—the man she fell in love with four years earlier—who truly influences Alisen’s view of her future . . .
Derick and Alisen wanted nothing more than to spend eternity together; however, intolerance and secrets forced Alisen to make a shattering choice between her family and the man she loved.
But destiny always has a way of setting things right . . .
Now the Embry family has found themselves hopelessly in debt, and they realize renting the lake house is the only hope of saving the cherished orchard and family home. When Alisen discovers the new tenants have a connection to her past, her life takes an unexpected turn. Will fate find a way to reconnect what was broken so many years before?


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