Publication date: November 30 2006
Published by: Harper Collins
Genre: Adult, Romance, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Chick Lit
Rating:
An epic tale of secret love and hidden passions. It is 1900 and the dangerous streets of East London are no place for a well-bred woman. But India Selwyn Jones is headstrong: she has trained as one of a new breed, a woman doctor, and is determined to practice where the need is greatest. It is in these grim streets where India meets - and saves the life of - London's most notorious gangster, Sid Malone.Hard, violent, devastatingly attractive, Malone is the opposite of India's cool, aristocratic fiance. Though Malone represents all she despises, India finds herself unwillingly drawn ever closer to him - enticed by his charm, intrigued by his hidden, mysterious past.
Phew, I finally finished this! I give myself a pat on the back because that was exhausting as hell! 🏆💪
It's not that I didn't like The Winter Rose, I did, but I felt it wasn't as consistent and solid as the Tea Rose.
First off, the Tea Rose was all focused on two basic characters : Fiona and Joe, and most of the time not even Joe, just Fiona. She has other important people in her life who we learn about, but the main focus was always Fiona.
In The Winter Rose, there is no main focus because there are too many characters: India, Sid, Joe, Freddie, Fiona, Seamie and Willa. That was just too much for me to take in, and really distracted me from the characters who should be main and not secondary in their own book, Sid and India.
The chapters were getting shorter and shorter and POVs changed so rapidly, I didn't have a chance to put my head around one person's misfortune (and there were a lot of them) and then another bad thing happened to someone else, and then another and another. I thought it was very convoluted and in my opinion, Seamie's story was not necessary, since Wild Rose is all about him (presumably), we could learn more about him then. The last part with Africa was too much; everything that happened there could have happened in London, making the book shorter but simpler and more direct in a way.
Also ↓
Sooooo much drama! Everything was overdramatised and soap opera-ised (such a wordsmith!) in an effort I guess to create suspense. I don't mind a little drama myself, but there is a limit of over the top and exaggerated situations, and this book definitely exceeded it!
I liked Sid, even though I didn't really see him do anything that deplorable when he was top dog criminal, so his whole redemption journey was a bit pointless.
India was a much weaker character than Fiona. She would crumble under the smallest difficulty while Fiona endured so much worse and she always remained strong and optimistic. I mean...
I liked Sid, even though I didn't really see him do anything that deplorable when he was top dog criminal, so his whole redemption journey was a bit pointless.
India was a much weaker character than Fiona. She would crumble under the smallest difficulty while Fiona endured so much worse and she always remained strong and optimistic. I mean...
Also, for a doctor she was pretty clueless about how babies are made...just saying.
Fiona and Joe were pretty much the same, although again, Fiona was way stronger in Tea Rose with a million bad things happening to her, but less strong in Winter Rose. Donnelly, for some reason, decided to take all her female characters down a peg which did not sit well with me.
Seamie was likeable enough, as kind and selfless as all Finnegans, and his story seemed interesting. I will probably read it one day, but not now. I feel like Winter Rose took a lot out of me and I cannot get myself to go into Wild Rose back to back.
Charlotte was almost comical. I feel bad for saying this, but it's true. She was way too insighful for an almost 6 year old. When I was 6 years old in the 90s (not even in the 1900s) I didn't know where my foot was, let alone look into someone's eyes and know what they think, how they feel. Sounds good on paper, but then again she is a 6 year old, so therefore kinda silly and funny.
Freddie I think from all of them, he had the most potential. He was your classic villain, but he wasn't. You wanted to feel sorry for him, but you didn't want to at the same time. Until somewhere around the middle, he made the decision to be just another run of the mill evil guy, like the guy from Tea Rose. I could no longer make any excuses for him and he didn't ask for any, he didn't feel any remorse or guilt over his heinous acts. So, that is why his ending was completely unworthy of him, in my opinion, and not on track with what he had done so far. Having second thoughts? Caring about Charlotte? Pff no, no way. That is not him. Maybe it was him at the beginning of the book but surely not by the end. His death was merciful and quick and I believe he deserved way worse.
Overall, The Winter Rose is a story about a criminal (not really) going straight because of love, a tortured soul (not really) finding her soulmate, a filthy rich woman having a bunch of babies (really), a filthy rich but previously very poor guy running for MP, an explorer summiting Kilimanjaro and his one true love losing the one thing she values most.
Ultimately, it's a story about too much, too many things, too many people, when it should only be about Sid and India and their shared adventure, which unfortunately got lost somewhere amongst 720 pages of frivolity.
Fiona and Joe were pretty much the same, although again, Fiona was way stronger in Tea Rose with a million bad things happening to her, but less strong in Winter Rose. Donnelly, for some reason, decided to take all her female characters down a peg which did not sit well with me.
Seamie was likeable enough, as kind and selfless as all Finnegans, and his story seemed interesting. I will probably read it one day, but not now. I feel like Winter Rose took a lot out of me and I cannot get myself to go into Wild Rose back to back.
Charlotte was almost comical. I feel bad for saying this, but it's true. She was way too insighful for an almost 6 year old. When I was 6 years old in the 90s (not even in the 1900s) I didn't know where my foot was, let alone look into someone's eyes and know what they think, how they feel. Sounds good on paper, but then again she is a 6 year old, so therefore kinda silly and funny.
Freddie I think from all of them, he had the most potential. He was your classic villain, but he wasn't. You wanted to feel sorry for him, but you didn't want to at the same time. Until somewhere around the middle, he made the decision to be just another run of the mill evil guy, like the guy from Tea Rose. I could no longer make any excuses for him and he didn't ask for any, he didn't feel any remorse or guilt over his heinous acts. So, that is why his ending was completely unworthy of him, in my opinion, and not on track with what he had done so far. Having second thoughts? Caring about Charlotte? Pff no, no way. That is not him. Maybe it was him at the beginning of the book but surely not by the end. His death was merciful and quick and I believe he deserved way worse.
Overall, The Winter Rose is a story about a criminal (not really) going straight because of love, a tortured soul (not really) finding her soulmate, a filthy rich woman having a bunch of babies (really), a filthy rich but previously very poor guy running for MP, an explorer summiting Kilimanjaro and his one true love losing the one thing she values most.
Ultimately, it's a story about too much, too many things, too many people, when it should only be about Sid and India and their shared adventure, which unfortunately got lost somewhere amongst 720 pages of frivolity.
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