Author — Kristin Maddock
Rating — 6/5 stars!
Pages — Estimated 307 pages on Kindle
Genre — Literary, Coming of age
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Book description:
As the days lengthen and the breathless heat of summer swallows up the orchards, Fern tries to navigate her way through a maze of grief, friendship, love and guilt. But as the past is revisited, secrets are revealed, and soon, Fern finds herself at a crossroads with some tough decisions to make.
Sometimes all of life’s answers can be wrapped up in one hot summer. Especially if peaches are involved…
My thoughts:
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| Kristin Maddock (Image credit: kristinmaddock.com) |
The Enchanted Orchards had
me at the prologue. It's this tiny thing—not even a page—yet
Kristin Maddock has your heart aching before you get to Chapter One.
Then it struck me. I've read a book that hurt so much to read in that first instance. Fans of Rosamund Lupton (Sister and Afterwards) and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards will, guaranteed, be left sleepless whilst reading The Enchanted Orchards.
Let
me describe. This book is genius, yet easy to read for hours at a time.
The message Kristin spills onto every page about death not defining how
people live after suffering such loss is just ... magical. It's magical that she can make you feel that sense you've actually lost someone—that empty, angry,
guilty distant-from-everyone-else feeling.
The Enchanted Orchards is many things. It's
a self-help for those struggling to find who they were, who they feel
they should be after losing someone. It's watching your heart break page
after page. It's a warming love story. It's a story about how humans
are living without life when too focused on the death.
Most
of all, this story feels like my past memory, and something I'll
forever treasure, and always keep in mind for the rest of my life.
Fern,
the main character, is too easy to fall into. That's the trouble with
this novel. She speaks directly to you, and you love it or hate it. Let
me tell you, this isn't someone else's story. The Enchanted Orchards
is already within your heart from the moment you open it.
Fern's pain, grief, loss and misplaced feelings towards her sister's, Lily's, death is yours and you ride this journey with Fern meeting Rocky, who should be her match made in heaven; with her best friend, Fancy, who's old enough to be her grandma in biological years, but is an eighteen-year-old in her heart; and with the parents who live quiet, mechanical lives, living each day because it'll come and go regardless, while Fern is forgotten and left to drown in her own grief and trauma about Lily who's forever changed her family's lives.
Fern's pain, grief, loss and misplaced feelings towards her sister's, Lily's, death is yours and you ride this journey with Fern meeting Rocky, who should be her match made in heaven; with her best friend, Fancy, who's old enough to be her grandma in biological years, but is an eighteen-year-old in her heart; and with the parents who live quiet, mechanical lives, living each day because it'll come and go regardless, while Fern is forgotten and left to drown in her own grief and trauma about Lily who's forever changed her family's lives.
Best
of all, this novel is also about love romantically (Fern and Rocky)
and platonically (Fern and Fancy), and will make you as giddy in love
as it will be raw through troughs of rip-your-heart-out sadness.
I can't praise this book enough, and YOU guys can win this book. Free. Just see below.
I can't praise this book enough, and YOU guys can win this book. Free. Just see below.
♥♥♥
Giveaway details
To celebrate how much I love this book, I'm hosting a book giveaway
so ya'll can read this stunning debut novel from Kristin Maddock too!
See the rules below. And trust me, you don't want to miss this one.
Rules
- The winner of the competition will receive The Enchanted Orchards as an Kindle (mobi) file — BUT don't stress! It's non-DRM enabled, which means programs such as calibre or other eBook file conversion software will be able to convert this file to ePub, PDF, etc. (For your personal use only. Sharing is criminal activity.)
- You must complete the mandatory fields to be In It To Win It.
- I suggest completing all steps for a better chance at winning!
Here goes ...
♥♥♥
Book links:
Author links:
Good luck!
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