Kimberley Freeman - Wildflower Hill

Wildflower Hill is s compelling and romantic novel spanning three generations and half the world, from modern day London to Australia in the 1930s.
Emma is a prima ballerina in London and at a crossroads after an injured knee ruins her career. When she learns of her grandmother Beattie’s death, and her own strange inheritance—an isolated sheep station in rural Australia—Emma is certain she has been saddled with an irritating burden. But when she returns to Australia, forced to rest her body and confront her life, she realizes that she had been using fame as a substitute for love and fulfillment.
Beattie also found herself at a crossroads as a young woman, but she was pregnant and unwed. She eventually found success—but only after following an unconventional path that was often dangerous and heartbreaking. Beattie knew the lessons she learned in life would be important to Emma one day, and she wanted to make sure Emma’s heart remained open to love, no matter what life brought. She knew the magic of the Australian wilderness would show Emma the way.

Comment: In 2016 I read another book by this author and gave it a high grade. However, besides some small notions and a few scenes, I could barely remember what it was about so I checked my post on it to refresh my mind before writing down my notes on this one and guess what, I could practically write the same things because most of my impressions are exactly the same! Plot aside, the structure of this book is the same of the other, as are my critics on that.

In this book we follow two time lines: in the 1930s Beattie is a young woman who has a dead end job while dreaming of bigger and better things. She ends up pregnant of her married lover and to escape together, they sail to Australia, hoping to settle in a place no one knows them. However, what wasn't perfect doesn't get solved and their life is troublesome. Beattie is determined to make things right for their daughter, though, so she decides to take action.

In the present, her granddaughter Emma, who has been a ballerina her whole life, living and breathing dancing excluding pretty much everything and everyone from her path, now faces a future without the thing she loves the most. She travels to Tasmania, where her grandmother has a house which was the base of her business and success and she plans on selling but before that happens, she decides to tidy and package her family's things...which leads her to uncover some secrets...

 

It was truly funny how much of the same things I thought about hat other book end up being the ones I think about this one now. This to say it really seems the author doesn't deviate too much from her style and her way of structuring the plots. The details might vary and might focus on different issues, but the planning does seem very similar.

 

In both books I've noticed that in the dual time stories there seems to be a point of connection but as I did think about the other book and as I do about this one, that element isn't important at all. In this book Emma is Beattie's granddaughter. Why should this matter besides the obvious? They don't interact enough and their life stories are very different and if there are similar things we need to want to see them, because they are not obvious. 

 

I think this book's biggest problem is the same one I found on the other book! The story didn't have to be dual timed, had the author focused on just one or the other and used the other story as a complement (for instance, if the historical setting was the focus, Emma's story could be an epilogue and if the contemporary one was the focus, the historical elements could be shared by letters of small flashbacks), I think the reader could concentrate better on the strong elements of each. The way things happen, I found out that, as I did with the other book, the contemporary plot was too superficial and Emma's character not developed enough. It felt forced we had to have her POV.

The historical setting in this book worked out better for me. I really cared for Beattie, I wanted her to succeed and I wanted her story to be larger than life. I feel the writing style was too categorical, everything was imparted in such a definite way that although I felt for the character's plights, the situation almost didn't let the reader stay with those emotions because the next situation was already happening. Since there are two times, the attention had to be divided and that "broke" the emotional investment done for both.

Still, I liked Beattie's story and the difficulties she faced, how she tried to have a better life and all the disappointments and losses she suffered shaped who she was... at the same time, it felt as if the "peak" of all this was never achieved, there is something about the book's structure that didn't allow for a twist or a climax to finally give us Beattie's big moment. Those were spread out through the book and from a certain point on, things felt they couldn't go anywhere anymore. 

 

The end was OK, but very unsatisfactory for me. I was not convinced of Emma's dedication to a new path in life, for her story was rather weak and the conclusion of Beattie's life and the last unsolved issue she had was left up in the air, I mean... sure, I can imagine but it's not the same thing.

 

I'll look at other books by the author but it does seem she has found her style and her MO... the other book I had read somehow had a special something that won me over but this time I wasn't as engaged...I can't help but wonder if the luster has been rubbed off for me...

Grade: 7/10

Kimberley Freeman - Ember Island

In a compelling, complex story from the bestselling author of Wildflower Hill and Lighthouse Bay, two women separated by a century discover long-buried secrets in an Australian manor house.In 1876, Tilly, a recently married young English woman, is reeling with shock and guilt after her tempestuous marriage ends in horrific circumstances on the remote Channel Islands. Determined to get as far from England as she can, she takes on a new identity and a job on Ember Island in Moreton Bay, Australia, where she becomes the governess to a prison superintendent’s young daughter, Nell. Tilly fights her attraction to the superintendent, Sterling Holt, and befriends one the few female inmates, Hettie Thorpe, and a dangerous relationship develops. She doesn’t know that Nell is watching her every move and writing it all down, hiding tiny journals all over Starwater, her rambling manor home.
More than 100 years later, bestselling novelist Nina Jones is struggling with writer’s block and her disappointing personal life. Her poet boyfriend has recently broken up with her, and a reporter who is digging into her past insists on speaking to Nina about her great-grandmother, Nell. There are some secrets Nina may no longer be able to hide. Retreating to Starwater, she discovers Nell’s diary pages hidden in the old walls and becomes determined to solve the mystery. Though Tilly and Nina are separated by many years, Starwater House will change both their lives.
Deeply affecting and beautifully written, Ember Island is a sweeping novel of secrets, second chances, and learning to trust your heart.

Comment: I got this book because the blurb seemed interesting and I ended up convincing my fried Hannah to read it along with me. There was something about it that called to me and I'm happy to say I liked it a lot even recognizing some details weren't "solved" well enough. That says a lot, in particular because it's instinctive to have enjoyed this as much as I did.

This is a story divided into two parts, one set in the past and another in the contemporary times.

The historical sections take a lot more space in the whole general scheme of things but I don't mind because it was what the author clearly wanted to highlight.

The historical section focuses on Tilly, a young woman who married recently but hasn't been with her husband in Guernsey because her grandfather is ill and he is the only family member who loves her. But when the time comes for her to reunite with her husband, everything is not as it seemed and Tilly ships to Australia at the end of a tragedy.

The contemporary section presents us Nina Jones, a writer who's had a severe case of writer's block, not aided with the fact her boyfriend left her for a woman who can get pregnant. Somehow the two women have to battle common grounds to achieve happiness but can they?

I think the author wanted to write a dual time story and matching the two sections but in reality, in my opinion, the matching wasn't a match, just a coincidence, which makes me think it would be better to just bet her chances in one section. Usually I'm all for the contemporary part of duals but here no, the historical was/is obviously the best and stronger section.

In fact, this is one of the several little details that make this story weaker than it could. The contemporary part was simply too basic and superficial. I wished the author could have stressed out some things better.

Another thing that kind of downgraded this book was the unsolved and weakly done details here and there, especially when we got closer to the book.

But there's something strange about this book's tone, some parts were downright oppressive to me but that was precisely what make me want to red more and more. Tilly's story is strong and impressive and what she was going though read almost like a suspense. This surprised me, and her journey from the home she always knew to her husband and the experience she lives there is almost frightening how she learns, step by step, of what really is behind her husband's actions, words, decisions. I was always wary of reading more about her married life because something wasn't right there.

Then Tilly goes away to Australia and there again, something is going on with her life, some things she can't control and she feels a lot of guilt which adds to our own sense of things unsolved that can ruin everything at the end. And something alike this does happen but not the way most readers would expect.

I confess I was hooked to Tilly's story and all the inner dilemmas she was going through. I think her biggest flaw was not her quick temperament but her lack of restraint in certain situations, she couldn't just stop and think. When she finally did this, thinking her peace of mind was at stake, things got worse because she thought she couldn't trust anyone. I was always absorbed by her struggles, that is a fact.

The end of the book wasn't as positive as I'd have hoped. I mean, there's a HEA in both sections, just not the way I'd prefer or would have done. I'm glad things turned out hopeful for both Tilly and Nina but the execution wasn't totally flawless.

This book could have been stronger in terms of emotion vs execution. This was my first book by the author and I liked it enough to be curious about more.

What really made me be engrossed in this was the constant need to know what was happening to Tilly. There's something in all this that is strangely addictive and I can't explain well but the fact is that despite recognizing all the things that weren't perfect, I still can't put this out of my mind and I consider it one of the best books I've read this year. Sometimes there is not logical explanation!

Grade: 9/10