Book Review - The Tea Rose

Our latest book club pick was The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. Andrea wanted something "steamy". Apparently, even married peeps need some hotness in their reading. Too bad it wasn't so steamy. In over 500 pages, there were only five sex scenes.

I was reminded of Taylor Caldwell and Colleen McCullough. Think family saga, beautiful young people torn apart by circumstances and an eventual happy ending but not until there are a few tear-jerking deaths. Oh, and throw in Jack The Ripper.

My problem was, that's the type of book I read in junior high so I was pretty hip to the format. I found this to be a pretty predictable read, with very few surprises but some nice character development. Most of the others in my book club were new to this type of book so they liked it a lot more than I did.

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