Title: The Lemon Grove
Author: Helen Walsh
Publisher: Random House Canada
Publication Date: February 25, 2014
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
Source: Received from Goodreads in Giveaway
(** Review and thoughts are my own honest impressions**)
Rating:
(out of 5 hippos)
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Set on the rugged, mountainous west coast of Mallorca, this taut, sultry, brilliantly paced novel is an urgent meditation on female desire, the vicissitudes of marriage and the allure of youth.
Taking place over the course of one week, The Lemon Grove lands in the heat of Deia, a village on an island off the southeast coast of Spain. Jenn and Greg are on their annual holiday to enjoy languorous, close afternoons by the pool, and relaxed dinners overlooking the rocks. But the equilibrium is upset by the arrival of their teenage daughter, Emma, and her boyfriend, Nathan. Jenn, in her early forties, loves her (older) husband and her (step)daughter and is content with her life, she thinks. But when this beautiful, reckless young man comes into her world, she is caught by a sexual compulsion that she’s seldom felt before. As the lines hotly blur between attraction, desire and obsession, Jenn’s world is thrown into tumult–by Nathan’s side, she could be young and carefree once again, and at this stage in her life, the promise of youth is every bit as seductive as the promise of passion. Jenn struggles between the conflicting pulls of resistance and release, and the events of the next few days have the potential to put lives in jeopardy as the players carry out their roles in this unstoppably sexy and unputdownable novel from a brilliant observer of the human condition
About the Author (from Goodreads):
HELEN WALSH was born in Warrington in 1977 and moved to Barcelona at the age of sixteen. Working as a fixer in the red light district, she saved enough money to put herself through language school. Burnt out and broke, she returned to England a year later and now works with socially excluded teenagers in North Liverpool. Brass is her first novel.
My Review:
When I first received this book I wasn’t too sure I was going to like it. I had read the synopsis and thought oh well it sounds interesting so why not try and win it. I then won it and received it and read the synopsis again and thought, “Um… this story sounds sort of messed up, do I really want to read it?!” Well, one day I was going through my bookshelf trying to find a book to read, one that was going to be an easy read and I picked up The Lemon Grove. It was an okay read in the beginning, but then it started to get interesting. I don’t know what it was about this book that didn’t grab me like I expected it to. It was a good read, don’t get me wrong, but there was something about the characters that I couldn’t connect with. Maybe I just don’t know very many parents who would allow their 15 year old daughters 17 year old boyfriend to come on a family vacation, unless the kids were in two separate rooms without the chance of ending up in the same room at some point. If you need a quick, good, sexy read then pick up this book, but it’s not one I would go running out to the bookstore to pick up.
Book Loving Hippo 