The Rose Girls

By: Victoria Connelly

Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Thirty-year-old Celeste Hamilton's life is at a crossroads: she has just left a disastrous marriage, and her estranged mother has recently died, leaving the family's rose business in jeopardy. Reluctantly, Celeste returns to the family home, a moated manor house in Suffolk, to help her two younger sisters sort out the estate and revive the business.

Having endured the fallout from her mother's narcissistic personality disorder when she was younger, Celeste is filled with self-doubt and crippling insecurities. But she must find the strength and courage to take charge and make some tough decisions to keep the old house from falling down around them.

The Rose Girls is an uplifting, tender and romantic story of courage, perseverance and the healing power of family.

©2015 Victoria Connelly (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Fragrant, Beautiful, and Worth the Thorns

What comes of a marriage between a narcissistic, self-absorbed woman and a weak-willed man living in a rose covered manor house in England? Three young, impressionable and beautiful girls vying for the love and attention of their mother and father . . . and a father that flees the scene, unable to deal any longer with the antics of his demanding wife . . . leaving three daughters to be wounded, over and over, each in their own way, by a mother that is unable to see beyond herself . . . fast forward to current day, when the oldest daughter, Celeste has returned home following her mother's death, to help sisters, Gertie and Evie, settle her mom's estate. But the friction and pain between the three sisters threaten to derail the whole thing. The history of the old manor house and rose business, started by the girls' grandfather is a beautiful story of love. And each girl holds timeless memories of growing up there. As the sisters each deal with personal losses and loves, they finally begin to deal with the past, and allow themselves to heal. This is a beautiful story of life, not as we wish it was, but as it often really is . . . flawed . . . and it is up to us to find the roses among the thorns.

Warm, pleasant and not bad at all

I really enjoyed this book, it was a nice story with great visuals and an entertaining plot. Easy/fast to get into if you need a good story to distract you.

Celeste said...

This is a critique not a review.

I made it halfway through chapter four and I couldn't read/listen any further. The plot itself is semi-decent but this author needs to learn how to use a thesaurus and find different ways to express how the characters speak in the book...
All I kept hearing over and over again was "Celeste said" or "said Evie." Change things up Ms. Connelly! Replied Celeste; ...Evie answered her sister with the innocence of her years; Gertie merely replied with a simple "no."
I am not a published author, I have not written a book, but I do love to read and I took the same required four years of high school English as everyone else and I can come up with better ways to write in third person.
If you don't mind medicore (at best) writing then by all means this book is for you.

loved it!

want to buy roses now.
loved this book. it was hard to put down. can't wait for more!

Lovely tri-lead story

After reading a pretty heavy book, this was a light and fun breath of air. Loved the realistic conversations about financial issues, many books completely gloss over affording they lifestyle they have. #lightreading #british #proper #art #sisters #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Absolutely wonderful story.

I loved this story, I could not put it down, It was a book i never wanted to end. The reader was very good, it was like i was there. Would recommend this highly.

Great beach read

Love this easy and light read. I felt transported to an English rose garden. 5-star narration for Fiona Hardingham - I love all the books she reads, which, to be honest, is why I chose this book in the first place. Recommend me if you need to just listen to a novel that will lighten your mind but keeps you interested.

It took a bit to get going

I was satisfied with where it finally went and the way things ended up, but it took a while to get into the story.

Predictable

A nice story but I knew the ending-Seeing the world through rose colored glass-perfect ending
after a rough childhood! How nice. It made it more interesting with a "rose business" but not
enough about that part of the story. I rate it as just a pleasant read but would not recommend as a must read.

For fans of women's fiction and family life

I enjoyed the story and the audiobook was well done. If you like stories of about family, then you will probably like this one.

great characters

loved this story of the special bond between three Sisters and a cranky lady who they befriend

A thorn between the roses

A grand tour or the English roses was included in this interesting and quite enjoyable story . Some sad passages of mental abuse but all in all a sound story well narrated .

Patience tested

As I was looking for some easy late night listening - thought I would try this. But it seriously tested my patience. Probably worst audible experience ever.

I don't usually give bad reviews...

I don't usually give bad reviews... but for the 100th time I hear "she said", I was done with it. And it was not one hour into the book.

The story might even be interesting, I didn't get a chance to know, but the dialogue is so badly written, that I could not listen to it longer.

The rose 🌹girls

A really lovely romantic love story it was a pleasure to read especially when you have a couple of hours and a nice cup of tea

She said, she said, she said!!!

So badly written! Every comment from each character is followed by ‘said’ and it became too annoying to listen to it!!! Not the narrators fault.

A lot of wittering

The reader is good with the women's voices. The men are going gruff and raining the pitch. If your ideal of a romantic hero sounds like Wee Willy Krankie, you will drool over this.