From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Atria
Date of publication: June 2016

Imagine that you live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses. You’ve known your neighbors for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really?

On a midsummer night, as a festive neighborhood party is taking place, preteen Pip discovers her thirteen-year-old sister Grace lying unconscious and bloody in a hidden corner of a lush rose garden. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

I finished Girls in the Garden in about a day. It's a quick, not overly complex read. But I have been sitting on this story for a bit trying to sort my thoughts on the story. It has received rave reviews and ha been picked as a must read for summer on a couple of reading lists. After much thoughts, I have decided that while I liked aspects of the story, I just didn't love it over all.

I never really felt like I connected with any of the characters. The story is told from a few points of view, but never from the point of view that I wanted. At least not until the end. The observations that the reader gets, to me, focus more on other things that end up being false paths and red herrings. I didn't like that part of the story. The ending was not satisfying. There was a certain part of the day of the attack that really disturbed me and I thought was completely unnecessary. If you have read it, then the elevator scene is what I am talking about.

I wouldn't say this was a suspenseful story. To me it was more of a character study about a small community that held a lot of secrets and old resentments. So, by that account, the author succeeded in her goal. But in the end, I was left wanting a different outcome.

About Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell was born and raised in north London, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. She is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY bestselling author of twelve novels, including The House We Grew Up In and The Third Wife.

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Lisa Jewell’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, August 22nd: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Monday, August 22nd: Reading is My Superpower – spotlight

Tuesday, August 23rd: A Chick Who Reads

Wednesday, August 24th: The Well Read Redhead

Thursday, August 25th: West Metro Mommy Reads

Friday, August 26th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, August 29th: A Dream Within a Dream