2024 the best romance books review

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(as of Dec 17, 2024 16:16:08 UTC - Details)

Instant USA Today Bestseller!

Drawing on the little-known true story of one tragic night at an Ozarks dance hall in the author’s Missouri hometown, this beautifully written, endearingly nostalgic novel picks up 50 years later for afolksy, character-driven portrayal of small-town life, split second decisions, and the ways family secrets reverberate through generations.

From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention for readers of Kristy Woodson Harvey, Donna Everhart, Sue Monk Kidd, Jeannette Walls, and Rita Mae Brown…

"Anderson weaves a rich and poignant tale of a small Ozarks town's factual tragedy, its generational secrets and the juxtapose of searching and belonging. Vivid and evocative, this is a debut to savor." —Kim Michele Richardson,New York Timesbestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series

Daisy Flowers is fifteen in 1978 when her free-spirited mother dumps her in Possum Flats, Missouri. It’s a town that sounds like roadkill and, in Daisy’s eyes, is every bit as dead. Sentenced to spend the summer living with her grandmother, the wry and irreverent town mortician, Daisy draws the line at working for the family business, Flowers Funeral Home. Instead, she maneuvers her way into an internship at the local newspaper where, sorting through the basement archives, she learns of a mysterious tragedy from fifty years earlier…

On a sweltering, terrible night in 1928, an explosion at the local dance hall left dozens of young people dead, shocking and scarring a town that still doesn’t know how or why it happened. Listed among the victims is a name that’s surprisingly familiar to Daisy, revealing an irresistible family connection to this long-ago accident.

Obsessed with investigating the horrors and heroes of that night, Daisy soon discovers Possum Flats holds a multitude of secrets for a small town. And hardly anyone who remembers the tragedy is happy to have some teenaged hippie asking questions about it – not the fire-and-brimstone preacher who found his calling that tragic night; not the fed-up police chief; not the mayor’s widow or his mistress; not even Daisy’s own grandmother, a woman who’s never been afraid to raise eyebrows in the past, whether it’s for something she’s worn, sworn, or done for a living.

Some secrets are guarded by the living, while others are kept by the dead, but as buried truths gradually come into the light, they’ll force a reckoning at last.

Inspired by the true story of the Bond Dance Hall explosion, a tragedy that took place in the author’s hometown of West Plains, Missouri on April 13, 1928.

The cause of the blast has never been determined.

“A vivid blend of sensorial writing, historical detail, and memorable characters await in this compelling, surprising, insightful story of the weight of long-held secrets and the resulting hunger for truth.” —Susan Meissner, USA Today bestselling author of Only the Beautiful

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ A John Scognamiglio Book (April 23, 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 149674828X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496748287
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.47 x 0.95 x 8.23 inches
Reviewer: leon hoskins
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Loved this historical fiction
Review: The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson is captivating and enjoyable. The characters are believable and drawn from our common humanity. While the circumstances are based on true events in southeastern Missouri, Ms Anderson has spun a wonderfully full fictional drama. The long-term consequences of a trauma experienced in youth and shared with the community is a theme that is worth exploring in today's world of violence and intolerance. This is worth the read!

Reviewer: Bonnie Auxier
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Slow but Sweet
Review: A good book. Shocking at first and then nothing quit makes sense until later. I almost gave up on this story but felt I had read too much of it to give up now. So glad I didn’t! It picked up speed as I continued to read and became more and more involved with it. An unusual but peaceful ending. I liked it and would recommend it to others.

Reviewer: jane dufrane
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: So unexpected!
Review: I truly was enchanted by the plot and its surprises.beautifully written and magically composed, each character was well described so that you felt you too were a member of possum flats.

Reviewer: David J Ives
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Memorable Tour de Force
Review: “The Flower Sisters” by Michelle Collins Anderson is not only a Great Read, it is a Powerful Read; and it is a book that you will remember long after you have closed its covers. With beautiful descriptions of the lives and interactions of the citizens of a small town, this is a story of events and personalities; surprises and secrets.The advertised catastrophe (as mentioned on the back cover) arrives within the first 10 pages and it arrives with a powerful emotional impact that is depicted by incredibly descriptive text dripping with tension, realism, and pathos.Anderson uses a chapter-delimited device that I call “character-first-person” where a particular character leads the exposition of each chapter. In far too many other books this technique devolves more into an unseen voice-over same-style narrator redundancy. But Anderson has worked hard, and successfully, to give each character their own voice... in terms of vocabulary, sentence structure, and speaking tempo/cadence. The result is an easy intertwining of your own interests and emotions with those of each character as they “tell their tale” throughout the book.While all text is descriptive by its very nature, Anderson uses it as a rapier instead of a broadsword. Each word is well chosen; each sentence is well-tuned; and the end result is a novel that gives us access to emotions, human processes, and the interactions not just among individuals, but between individuals and the social entity of the town itself.This is not a book that you might think of as “easy reading” – for the based on real-life events and characters are far too powerful to easily fit into that well-thumbed category. But, on the other hand, it is an easy (and intriguing and stellar) read because Anderson has an armamentarium of impressive writing skills and she has used them to craft and hone a true literary gem.“The Flower Sisters” ends with a chapter that is a memorable 'benedictus' to the characters and events from the beginning of the novel to its end. If you seek a well-crafted and realistic telling of a riveting, emotional, and fulfilling story, then you and this novel belong together.

Reviewer: Victoire Sickinger
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well done novel about the Titanic with some romance thrown in!
Review: This was not an eyewitness account for sure, but it was well detailed and researched.The romance was a bit farfetched.

Reviewer: RFA
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I wasn’t sure, exactly
Review: 1st book I’ve read by this author & would more than likely read more.There was one sentence in the book that kept me intrigued & I knew something or hoped that something big would be coming. And it did.Writing is good, movement was a little slow in some parts but overall a very good read

Reviewer: Patti C
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Book club selection; enjoyed by all
Review: Our book club read this book and found it very enjoyable and thought provoking. I loved the dramatic opening and then seeing the story unfold 50 years later. The characters were well-developed and relatable, with some good twists.

Reviewer: Joan E Quadrel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Heartwarming read with twists and turns.
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, flawed as they may be. There were unexpected twists and turns which made the novel even more enjoyable. I truly recommend reading this book!