The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

I don’t usually write reviews but strangely I do base a lot of my choices on reading other reviews so here goes….. I read a wide range of genres but one of my favourites is historical fiction. This trilogy is absolutely brilliant it starts with The Tea Rose, then The Winter Rose and finally The Wild Rose. Read them in order as the characters are carried on through the three books.
I was absolutely hooked from the first page and stayed up late many a night as I was desperate to know what was going to happen next. You get so involved with the characters, their triumphs, disappointments and disasters and the stories are cleverly tied in with factual history.
I recommended these books to my sister in law and she’s told me not to phone her because her life is on hold until she’s finished reading them. 🙂

This is the 3rd book in her Rose series. It is well written and so much fun to read. A character driven historical fiction with romance. Highly recommend!

I have been waiting literally years for “the Wild Rose” to be published. Ever since I first read “The Tea Rose” (which was originally written to be a standalone novel) and learned about the planned trilogy I was over the moon. It’s just how good these books are.

Things went downhill drastically for the Finnegan family when their father was murdered for trying to organize a dock workers union and their mother was killed by Jack the ripper. Three children survived, Fiona, Charlie, and Seamus. Fiona, in “The Tea Rose” battles star crossed love and immense poverty to become the head of a tea company in America. In “the Winter Rose” Charlie, who turned into a London crime boss after his mother’s death, falls in love with a lady doctor but can’t seem to shake his past. And Seamus is raised by Fiona and her gay husband/ best friend in America, running wild and exploring everything he can.

“The Wild Rose” is Seamus (Seamie as he is called) turn to narrate and picks up several years after the mountain climbing disaster at the end of “The Winter Rose” that cost Seamie’s love Willa her leg, and Seamie her trust and his chance to be with her. To try to keep the pain away Seamie becomes a world class explorer. But many years apart, and with World War 1 looming on the horizon there’s a chance these two heavily damaged lovers will never see each other again before it’s too late.

There’s no disputing the fact that this trilogy is essentially one really long, fantastically written soap opera. This is not a criticism, just an observation that more bad, amazing and historically important things happen to this family than any other. It’s just how these books work- heartbreak after heartbreak, danger followed by more danger. But it all keeps for dissolving into a clichéd mush because of how good the characters are- how much personality they have. The level of description in this novel is also just astounding- every little smell, leaf and emotion is noted. And the epic romance’s flowing through these books makes them impossible to put down- even if you aren’t a fan of romance traditionally.

This wrap up to the series is an amazing book, every bit as good as the two that came before it. Jennifer Donnelly is an incredibly skilled writer who obviously has the imagination to not only picture every scene in the novel as though it were part of a movie, but also pass that on to her reading audience.

Five stars for “the Wild Rose”, Five stars for the series as a whole. And I’ll be whishing, hoping and praying until Donnelly’s next adult novel comes out.

I very much enjoyed the three “Wild Rose” Series Books – It was great to follow the family as it grew and experienced life in the UK, America, and then back to their roots in London.
I would recommend it to others who enjoy U.K. history along with a good story line.

Very few writers can concoct a story as intertwined and elaborate as Jennifer Donnelly. That being said, at some points in the story I was beginning to feel that the world was just a bit too coincidental. How many times can people randomly meet on separate continents? All three of the Rose Trilogy books have had their bouts of out of the ordinary events however I think the Wild Rose may have over done it.

I also struggled to relate to Willa like I had with Fee and India. In the previous two novels Fee and India were strong independent female characters who fought for what they loved and continued to stand on their feet. In the Wild Rose, Willa seems to self destruct time and time again, only to find stability in the end when she and Seamie were reunited.

Of course I did finish the book quickly, and was entertained through out the reading process. I just do not think the finale quite lives up to the previous two of the series.