Emmaline and her father have always lived alone on their little island. They have everything they need and Emmaline's education is seeped in natural history, fantastical fairy tales and the magical mysteries that the scents of the world around her can teach open to her. As Emmaline grows, however, not all mysteries are as easily solved and when choices have consequences that neither she nor her father would ever intend, her peaceful and private world is upended. A coming-of-age story with fragrances and memories at its core, Emmaline's journey to discover where her story begins is a tale of not just regrets and secrets, but also the kind of love that helps you choose the path that can bring the most happiness.
While sometimes the "scent" discussions in this book got heavy-handed and repetitive, I also sorta liked it as a thread, it is intriguing to think about how all the olfactory information we take in is processed in our brains and how it can affect our behavior and our memories of events. I liked the first half of this book better than the second - it wrapped up in a rather choppy way, but it still kept me interested. The truth is that Emmaline is a hard narrator to like sometimes, she's a tricky human who had enough trauma in her childhood to make her relationships complicated and hard to "watch," for lack of a better word. Also, there were a couple plot holes that for some reason wouldn't stop bothering me so while I really did find a lot that I enjoyed in this story, I didn't fall in love with it.
1 comment:
I did enjoy a previous book from this author so I do intend to get to it...one day
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