READING: The Tea Rose (The Tea Rose #1) by Jennifer Donnelly

Publication date: May 02 2006
Published by: Harper Collins
Genre: Adult, Romance, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Chick Lit
Rating: 

East London, 1888 - a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams.

But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

I really struggled with this review because, quite honestly, I did not know where to start! It's like meeting someone after years of losing touch and they ask you "What's been going on?" and you really don't know what to answer, simply because life has been going on but you don't know how to explain it.

After years of failed plans to read Tea Rose, I finally did it! 🏆 Did I like it? I loved it, buuut there were still a few things that I thought were unnecessary.

What I liked: 
-The writing. 735 pages could make for a very dull book, but this one had me on edge the whole time and I was seriously sleep deprived by the end of it. Even things I am not interested in I found exciting, like tea. Yeah, I'm not a tea drinker :/
-Nick-❤️ He was the most genuine and lovable character in the whole book. Brave, smart and altruistic. His story was a real tear jerker.
-Fiona-her insistence of not letting men push her around or tell her what to do. I also liked how her relationship with other people in her life was portrayed, not just Joe, and how fiercely loyal and devoted to them she was.
-Contrary to the majority of readers, I liked the first 3d of the book better, when Fiona was still poor in Whitechapel. I liked it fine after, but the first part is what really drew me in. I didn't find it as challenging for her character when she became rich.
-The romance-an epic, heart breaking historical romance. Is there anything better than that?

What I didn't like: 
-Jack the Ripper - completely unnecessary. He could have just as easily been a fictional murderer, or we could have done with no murderer at all, if I'm being honest. Too much was going on already, anyway. I particularly didn't like when 

Jack killed Fiona's mother. Such an undeserved death.

 

-How often Fiona was adored and admired by mere strangers. I felt it was unfair for her character, who was not at all vain or showed any signs of caring about her appearance.
-Joe-Regardless of her character, I didn't like how he treated Millie at all. Takes two to tango, bud.
-The endless misunderstandings that kept Fiona and Joe apart. I wanted more of those two together in the end and I didn't get it.
-The level of both Fiona and Joe's success was far fetched, to say the least.

Overall, Tea Rose was an over the top, super melodramatic and sappy historical romance novel that I enjoyed immensely! I am so disappointed Winter Rose is not about Fiona and Joe! Because I foolishly thought it was 🤓 
If you are a sucker for a good romantic saga book, that would maybe make you shed a tear or two, then The Tea Rose is definitely for you. Better read in a cold winter's night, curled up in bed!

Recommended to readers who liked Paradise and The Bronze Horseman