The Wild Rose

I am happy and sad to say that I have finished the Jennifer Donnelly trilogy of The Finnegan family, the Tea Rose, the Winter Rose and the The Wild Rose. I am happy because I love the writing so much I was waiting for so long for this book to come out but sad because its over and I want to read more about The Finnegan family.I feel the story could go on. Each of the Finnegan children have big families we could see what happens to them. I want to know what happens to Katie, Fiona's daughter.

I don't know how to review these books with out giving away any spoilers.

They are each about 600 pages but they are the fastest 600 pages you will ever read. With all three of them I could not put them down even if some nights that meant staying up till 2 AM to read it.

The first book... The Tea Rose follows the story of Fiona. Goodreads.com says...
"The Tea Rose is a towering old-fashioned story, imbued with a modern sensibility that is fresh, compelling, and perfectly pitched for these times. This sweeping epic follows young Fiona Finnegan's climb from the teeming streets of East London."... there is more but it spoils some of the twist of the story and my favorite thing about these stories and Jennifer Donnelly's writing in general is her twist.

The second book... The Winter Rose though it starts off being about a girl India Sewlyn Jones she gets involved with the Finnegan's clan through some twist. Goodreads.com give a little description of the book with out any spoilers.

I did find a good blog The Sleepless Reader that writes a review of this book. I don't feel I would do these two books justice if I wrote about them as I have not read them in two years and some of the details are hazy and I would hate to give spoilers away, especially since my sister is reading this book right now. But now I want to re-read the first two books so I can remember all the plot twist that got the readers to The Wild Rose.
This book is set in pre-WWI and during WWI. In the book we follow Fiona's youngest brother Seamie's story and the woman that changes his life, Willa Alden. I don't know much about WWI so it was a great story that covers details of the suffragist movement in England to control over the Middle East. An interesting character Lawrence of Arabia even plays a big part in Willa's story. Which I will admit I loved because Peter O'Toole played him in the movie... and I love Peter O'Toole. I will also say at one point in the book I was so worried for Seamie and Willa's love story I had to read the last few pages just to make sure it ends happy... I got so caught up in these character's lives I wanted to prepare myself if was going to end happy or sad.

Okay that's not much about those 3 books but I loved them... that much is true and if you love twist and turns that will keep you up till 2 AM and love late Victorian Era to WWI, and a love stories of passion I recommend these books. These stories have adventure, love, hope and inspiration all in one. Also I can tell Jennifer Donnelly, has a deep love of history and she loves to make sure everything is dead on accurate and the great research she does makes you feel you are in the scene with the characters.