Forget-Her-Nots
Author: Amy Brecount White
Publication: Greenwillow Books (March 2, 2010)
Product Description: Something—some power—is blooming inside Laurel. She can use flowers to do things. Like bringing back lost memories. Or helping her friends ace tests. Or making people fall in love.
Laurel suspects her newfound ability has something to do with an ancient family secret, one that her mother meant to share with Laurel when the time was right. But then time ran out.
Product Description: Something—some power—is blooming inside Laurel. She can use flowers to do things. Like bringing back lost memories. Or helping her friends ace tests. Or making people fall in love.
Laurel suspects her newfound ability has something to do with an ancient family secret, one that her mother meant to share with Laurel when the time was right. But then time ran out.
Clues and signs and secret messages seem to be all around Laurel at Avondale School, where her mother had also boarded as a student. Can Laurel piece everything together quickly enough to control her power, which is growing more potent every day? Or will she set the stage for the most lovestruck, infamous prom in the history of the school?
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this story of a young girl grieving over the loss of her mother to cancer, adjusting to her dad moving on in his life, adjusting to a new school which is the school her mother attended too, and trying to contact her grandmother who is grieving the loss of her mother even more than she is. Added to this is the whole thing with flowers. Can she really cause things to happen by saying the words and making the correct arrangements of flowers?
The one problem I had with the book was the age of the main character. Laurel seems much older than the 14 she is written as. The focus on getting an attractive boy to like her back and the relationships of her classmates with the boys at the neighboring boys' school just seems more 16 than 14. What did seem 14 was the girl friendships and girl rivalries. Laurel's relationship with Kate and rivalry with Tara did ring true for me.
I liked the information about tussie-mussies and the Victorian language of flowers. I liked how working with flowers brought her closer to the memories of her mother. The whole magical element with flowerspeaking was well thought out and well-integrated in the story and certainly leaves questions and possibilities for future books.
The one problem I had with the book was the age of the main character. Laurel seems much older than the 14 she is written as. The focus on getting an attractive boy to like her back and the relationships of her classmates with the boys at the neighboring boys' school just seems more 16 than 14. What did seem 14 was the girl friendships and girl rivalries. Laurel's relationship with Kate and rivalry with Tara did ring true for me.
I liked the information about tussie-mussies and the Victorian language of flowers. I liked how working with flowers brought her closer to the memories of her mother. The whole magical element with flowerspeaking was well thought out and well-integrated in the story and certainly leaves questions and possibilities for future books.
Challenges: 2010 YA Debut Author Challenge, 2010 YA Reading Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge
Thanks for the great review! I'd love to read this book!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a sweet book as well. I enjoyed how innocent the story was for the most part- I love a good scandalous book but it's nice to read other things for a change too. Great review!
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting, as I've never heard of flower-magic like this before. Good review!
ReplyDelete