Reviewed by readingwithwrin on
“Clarrie refused to let small-minded people upset her. She had more right to live here than any of them and she loved her home among the Assam hills with a passion."
See reviews first on my blog
Clarrie’s father Jock is a horrible business man, since the death of his wife he has turned to alcohol and drugs to help him deal with his loss. This leaves both Clarrie and Olive on their own with the servants and to try and make sure the tea plantation keeps going with the little access to information about the plantation that they had. One day though when Clarrie was out riding her horse through the hills she meets Wesley and his friend, who are from England and tea planters as well. They start up a sort of friendship, but it is a complicated one, considering who Wesley is and how her father feels about his family.
When disaster strikes through and they lose everything besides each other, and have to move to Newcastle, England with cousins they have never met before. This is when I started not enjoying this story as much. The cousin’s wife was awful and needed to stop being so angry all the time. I get it was jealousy, but sometimes enough is enough. I did really like how Clarrie tried to stay hopeful and held the memories of India close to help her get through the days.. I really don’t know how Olive managed having to spend so much time with the cousin’s wife and her abuse. She was so much stronger than anyone gave her credit for.
Clarrie somehow is able to make friends, and finds a way out. I liked when things changed from living with the awful cousins to a different family that they became servants for. This is when I stopped liking the story very much as well. I just didn’t like the way Clarrie got to be a little full of herself, and then when a marriage of convenience happened I started to lose even more interest. Once things started to change though and Wesley came back into the picture sort of I started to gain more interest and hoped that certain things would happen.
Personally I loved the chemistry between Wesley and Clarrie and wished she had accepted his proposal instead of letting her father’s hate for his family make her choice for her. When that didn't happen though I liked how feisty Clarrie stayed in order to provide for her and Olive. I liked most of the friendships she made and how close she became with Will and loved him like a mother.
Overall I enjoyed this book, and will read the second book later this month.
“Nothing and no one, she vowed, would ever take away her precious memories.”
Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for an E-Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 20 June, 2016: Finished reading
- 20 June, 2016: Reviewed