SLPL August totals

 This month: 3 people read 43 books for a total of 9467 pages--3 of them with bonuses (either a city in the title or ending in the letter "y".)  

Shirley was the super reader again with 29 point (including two bonuses) logged.  

Congratulations, Shirley!

SLPL July totals

 This month:

 4 people read 25 books

with a total of 7179 pages--3 of them with bonuses (either a city in the title or a title ending in Y)

Shirley was this month's super reader with 13 books (and two bonuses) logged!  Congrats, Shirley!

SLPL June totals

 This month, we welcomed a new blogger to our team!  Jennifer HS is not only joining the team, but will be our new Admin --- welcome, Jennifer!!

This month:

6 people

read 43 books

for a total of 13,184 pages --- 4 of them with bonuses (either a City in the Title or a Title that ends in Y)

Shirley, as usual, was this month's Super Reader, logging a whopping 25 books.  Go Shirley!!

SLPL team March totals

 This month, our small but mighty team read books!  Actually, a fair amount of books, considering March seemed to fly by.

This month:

4 people

read 28 books

for a total of 8248 pages

Our Super Reader this month was Jen O., logging 3563 pages. However, Julie E-C was right on her tail, logging an impressive 2448 pages!

See you all next month!

The Last Garden in England

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly 368 pages

Author Kelly employs one of my favorite plot devices, in this, her third novel: dueling timelines. Most writers use only tow, but Kelly has stretched her writing skills by having three timelines: present day, 1944 and 1907. She does a wonderful job in keeping the characters individualized with the descriptions, but I had a hard time with their voices---all three sounded similar. This caused an occasional problem for me as I sometimes forgot whose story was being told. However, the descriptions of the times and other characters involved held ground me.

The first plotline/character we meet is Emma. Her firm has been hired to restore the garden to Scotland’s Highbury House to its original grandeur. The garden hasn’t been maintained and is grossly overgrown.

The second character is Venetia Smith in 1907. She was hired by the original owners to design the garden in the formal English style. She lays it out in a series of “rooms,” different areas for different emotions…like the Children’s Garden, The Poet’s Corner, the Winter Garden, etc. Interesting enough, Venetia is based on a real-life designer, one that Emma holds in the highest esteem.

The third plotline is 1944. Actually there are three women in this section: Highbury House’s mistress and its cook plus a “land girl,” come to work the land since all the men were off to war.

Three generations of women plan and care for the garden, each with her own story. I found Venetia’s story the most compelling. In the early 20^th century there were not many women who owned a business. Second, I found the discovery of Venetia’s original plans in the present day the highlight of the novel. It had the most tension and the most excitement.

The Last Garden in England is touted as for fans of Kate Morton’s novel, The Lake House, but I don’t feel it even comes close. The tension was sporadic, and I still don’t understand the title. Therefore, The Last Garden in England receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

SLPL Team February totals

 This month, the small but mighty SLPL team read some interesting books!

5 people

read 31 books

for a total of 10,251 pages

This month, Shirley J. had the highest page count, with 3430. However, Jen O. was close on her heels with 3383 pages!

Onwards to March!!