Winter Rose, The

A Rose By Any Other Name....:
So I was sitting here, two weeks ago, trying to decide which book to read next. I had just pulled five off my shelves and figured I would read the Amazon reviews on each of these books and then decide which one to read. I searched The Winter Rose first and didn't get any further because many of the reviewers were saying words I've been waiting all year to hear...."has kept me up until the wee hours", "just made my collection of books to re-read", "I was hooked on the prologue" and "a sequel that lives up to its predecessor." Okay, I'm in, I thought to myself. I had already read The Tea Rose about six years ago and knew I had enjoyed it. I checked my reading journal and had given it 4 stars. So that made it a good book...not a great book...but definitely a good book. The only problem was that I had forgotten a lot of it so, before I started reading The Winter Rose, I went back and read the last chapter of The Tea Rose and it brought it all back to me. Let me preface this by saying that I love books set in the early 1900's and I especially love when the setting is England because the surrounding areas usually add a lot to the story. In this case, The Winter Rose did not disappoint. The author was very adept at making me feel the cobblestones in the street and the dampness in the air and everywhere else. I was able to catch up with characters from the prequel like Fiona, Joe and Charlie, whose name is now Sid Malone. Donnelly also introduces us to some new characters like India Selwyn Jones and some of her wealthier group of friends. India is much like Fiona was in The Tea Rose....very strong, capable of striking out on her own but, unfortunately, also failing in the "love" department. The story takes many turns and many of the characters end up in Africa. This is where it just became a little too contrived for me. Remember, this is 1900. Even today, how many people do you know go to Africa? Yet many of these characters coincidentally arrive on the same soil to finish out the story. Much has already been written here in other reviews concerning the storyline. It's a good book, the characters are all very endearing (save for one), the writing is excellent, but the story is nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a nice "700" page read. I actually give it 3 1/2 stars but I'm being generous and am rounding up to 4. On the other hand, The Tea Rose, was a solid 4 stars and I definitely enjoyed it more than The Winter Rose. The outcome of the book, however, leaves the author open to the third book in this trilogy and I'll definitely come back for another one if, for no other reason, than to spend some more time with Sid Malone. I just wish I had loved it as much as some of the other reviewers here. I'm still on the hunt for that great book of 2008.

Great Read:
I read The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly a couple years ago and loved it. I was excited to read The Winter Rose and was not disappointed. I enjoyed her first book better, but this one is definetely worth reading. I really enjoy the authors writing style and her stories are fascinating.

Awesome Victorian Epic:
This is the most enjoyable novel I have read in a long, long time and I am a voracious reader. Fabulous characters, a detailed and layered plot that keeps moving (even when you think it can't), emotional intensity that had me weeping, and outstanding historical information on early Victorian life in East London. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Prepare to lose some sleep:
Wow! This is one of those books. You know the ones. The book you can't put down at 2 o'clock in the morning, even though you know the baby's going to be wide awake at 7:30. I read "The Tea Rose" first and absolutely loved it. I'd highly recommend reading that one first, as the characters are continued in this story and they'll mean so much more to you if you know them already. Donnelly does such a wonderful job of creating characters you'll love and spinning stories that keep you on the edge of your seat. I could hardly wait to read what was coming next. The good guys aren't completely perfect, and the villains aren't completely evil -- or at least they didn't start out that way. It's that complexity of characters that made me feel like I was reading about real people and not some two dimensional author's creation. Set mostly in historical London, Donnelly also does an amazing job of portraying the terrible conditions in Whitechapel in both books. It's uplifting to see the main characters work so hard to make life better for Whitechapel's citizens and succeed in many ways. Towards the end, I just couldn't imagine how everything would resolve itself, and I love that about a book. I love to be surprised and must admit that I was so touched at places that it drew tears. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Not as good as The Tea Rose...:
I was hoping this book would be as enjoyable as The Tea Rose, but it's not quite. I think it's too long and the story is unfocused. I'd have preferred the story to focus more on India and leave out the characters from the previous book. It's not only long, it FEELS long when you read it. I do think Donnelly's research is great and she tells a good story when she gets going. I just don't think this one quite measures up.