The Flower Seller by Ellie Holmes
Release Date: 2nd June 2016
Genres: Romantic Fiction
All she wanted was a love she
could BELIEVE IN.
Jessie Martin believes that when
it comes to love there are three types of people: the skimmers, the bottom
dwellers and the ones who dive for pearls.
Jessie is a pearl diver. She had thought her husband William was a pearl
diver too. But when William leaves her for a younger woman, it’s not just
Jessie’s heart that is broken, her ability to trust is shattered too.
Refusing to retire from the
battlefield of life, Jessie resolves to put her heartache behind her. She
doesn’t want to be that woman who was too scared to love again. There has to be
another pearl diver out there; all she has to do is find him.
When fate brings handsome flower
seller Owen Phillips into her life, Jessie believes he may be the one but is
her fragile trust about to be shattered all over again?
The Flower Seller is a warm, engaging read about love, deceit,
betrayal and hope.
Poor Jessie's life has turned full circle and she once again finds herself single after a long and what she felt a happy marriage. After being replaced by a younger model, Jessie resolves to get her life back on track and that means resurrecting her love life and her career. In her 40's that now seems like a daunting task! A once very successful lawyer, Jessie had let her career take a back seat so she could raise her daughter. However, now Hannah has flown the nest for University, Jessie has realised that life is passing her by. Jessie even resorts to placing a lonely hearts advert in a local paper but that doesn't quite turn out the way she expects it to. Her ex husband William is pushing for a divorce and wants her out of the marital home. Jessie finds herself with a fight on her hands. However, a chance encounter with Owen, a younger man soon has Jessie realising that actually life isn't so bad after all and she opens up her heart once again and lets Owen be part of her life. She feels blissfully happy and invigorated even if William is constantly interfering. But, is heartache on the horizon for Jessie and will her feelings for William further complicate things? Has is soon coming to realise that his new life isn't as rosy as he thought it was going to be and he soon starts to miss Jessie. But, he feels himself trapped in an impossible situation and his anger and frustration are evident. All too often he takes this out on Jessie, reacting to these feelings.
When reading the Flower Seller its easy to forget that it is a debut novel from Ellie Holmes. Its a stunning piece of writing. The story flows exceptionally well and the characters are interesting and at times lead very complicated lives. I could relate so easily to Jessie and often wondered if Ellie Holmes had insider knowledge of my own experiences from many years ago! Sometimes it was like reading about myself! The author has explored the heartache of infidelity and the fear of starting over again sensitively and with real feeling. Throughout the story Jessie is portrayed as someone who on the outside is strong and will bounce back but the reader gets to glimpse her vulnerability and the facade of coping she puts on sometimes slips at times. Behind her battle face lies a woman who is nursing a broken heart and struggling to understand a whole range of feelings. She is confused. Often her desire to get what is rightfully hers leaves her with feelings of dissatisfaction and upset and an overall feeling of finality. How had her life got to this point? How had the love she'd had for one man not be enough to save their marriage. William is very good at piling on the guilt with Jessie, making her feel that it was her fault that he had strayed. This frustrated me terribly! Sometimes I wanted to scream at both Jessie and William for their foolish behaviour.
An excellent book that I highly recommend. I cannot wait to read more Ellie Holmes in the future. An amazing debut for a very talented author. Look out for that twist at the end of the book! Brilliant! And who could fail to notice that stunning book cover too!
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EXCERPT
It had been her
daughter Hannah’s idea to put an advert in the Abbeyleigh Gazette. ‘It’s time to take yourself out of your comfort
zone, Mum. Why don’t you get Anne to give you a hand with the ad?’
Sucked into the
vortex of her daughter’s enthusiasm, Jessie had agreed before she could talk
herself out of it.
‘So, what have
you got so far?’ Anne had asked over margaritas in Spike’s Bar.
‘Newly single
brunette, slim, attractive, early forties, non-smoker, good sense of humour,
would like to meet man thirties/forties for friendship and maybe more,’ Jessie
read aloud.
Anne pretended
to fall asleep and Jessie slapped her arm.
‘Bit dull,
sweetie!’ Anne said with a smile. ‘For starters, you should put early thirties.
Everyone knocks a few years off. And do you really want to say slim? It’s
practically shorthand for flat-chested and you’re not. How about “great figure”
instead?’
‘That’s a bit
conceited, isn’t it?’
Anne threw her a
look. ‘It’s an advert, Jessie. You’re meant to be selling yourself.’
‘Blimey! I’ll
just get some fishnets and a red light, shall I?’
‘You know what I
mean. You should put something in there about being outgoing. That usually
leads to some interesting propositions.’
‘But I’m not
outgoing,’ Jessie said.
‘For goodness’
sake, outgoing just means you’re up for a bit of fun. I’m not suggesting for a
moment that you put “open-minded”. Now that would lead to some replies that
would make your hair stand on end. And obviously your WLTM has to be a man in
his late twenties or early thirties.’
‘Has to be? This
is my advert, remember? Not yours!’
Anne smirked.
‘So you’d prefer “Recently dumped flat-chested brunette, early forties, lives
life with the handbrake on, would like to meet man forties/fifties for visits
to the library”?’
‘I’d prefer not
to be doing it at all.’
Anne squeezed
her hand. ‘I know, sweetie. And you can stick another pin in your effigy of
William when you get home but right now we need to get you back out there
before life passes you by.’
ABOUT ELLIE HOLMES
Ellie Holmes writes commercial
women’s fiction and romantic suspense. She takes her inspiration from the
beautiful Essex countryside and the sublime Cornish coast. The Flower Seller is
Ellie’s first full-length novel. Ellie
is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and the Romantic Novelists’
Association. To find out more please
visit www.ellieholmesauthor.com
AUTHOR
LINKS
Thank you Debbie for such a lovely review. What a nice way to start my day! Thank you also for your hard work in setting up the blog tour - my first! I have so enjoyed it. Ellie x
ReplyDeleteSounds fabulous:)
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