Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 2009
Women’s Fiction
Hardcover
Reviewed by Gina
Jocelyn (“Joce”) Minton’s life has held a series of twists and turns that continually brought her back to one special person, Edilean (“Edi”) Harcourt. The first few years of her life were stable and she was held firmly in the bosom of her mother and father. When her mother tragically dies, Joce is left adrift. Her father returns to his roots, remarries and quickly provides Joce with twin sisters who Joce aptly refers to as “the Steps.” Not all that different from Cinderella’s wicked step-sisters, Ashley and Bell thrive on making Joce’s life miserable. The one bright spot is their neighbor, Edi. At Edi’s house Joce has books, life lessons, and loving arms to hold and support her. When Edi dies, Joce is once again adrift in a world where she feels so alone. Shortly after the reading of Edi’s will, Joce’s world falls further apart because the woman she thought she knew held secrets that began in WWII and continue to this day.
Left with Edi’s house, and not the one in Boca Raton where they lived, but off in Edilean, Virginia, up the road from Williamsburg, Joce packs up her life and moves to the Harcourt family manor. Edi did not die without making further provisions for her treasured friend. In her last letter to Joce she tells her she has found the perfect man for her—Ramsey McDowell, an attorney in Edilean. What Joce finds are more secrets to unravel. But she finds so much more, not the least of which are good friends and the love of a lifetime.
Say the name Jude Deveraux to any reader, particularly a romance reader and you will get a smile coupled with the words, “I loved Knight In Shining Armor”, referring while not to her first, but definitely perhaps her most memorable. I am among those readers who read and re-read that wonderful story over and over. I believe it was the first time travel I read and definitely the one that hooked me on the genre. There is a flavor of that story, of the past blending with the present, in LAVENDER MORNING. One is not linked in any way to the other. It is only the essence of a long ago love finding its place in the present. It has been fascinating to follow Ms. Deveraux’ thirty-two year writing career and to be delighted with each new story.
I had some problems with LAVENDER MORNING, mainly in following who was related to who—not all that different from what Joce experiences when she first arrives in Edilean and begins to encounter the multitude of cousins. Those cousins and their close family ties provides some of the best humor in the story. The relationships are well done. However, after about ninety pages I created a score card/family tree for myself so I could keep track of Luke, Ramsey, Sara and the other families who come into Joce’s life.
I liked the characters, especially Sara and Tess. So different and each with their own story to tell. Tess has a secret, she’s up to something, the question is what? Sara is headed for heartbreak, or is she? Their stories will unfold in future tales which I look forward to.
LAVENDER MORNING is not a quick read. It is the kind of book you take on vacation or enjoy over a long, long weekend because there is so much depth to it. You become absorbed in the characters and the story they are telling you.
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