Cover Image: The Scent of You

The Scent of You

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Member Reviews

great read, love this author. so very true to family life, you can almost feel yourself slipping into the main character

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http://www.narrativemuse.co/books/the-scent-of-you/

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A lovely story of friendship, love, and hope.
I was sucked into Polly's world and taken on a beautiful, sometimes not so beautiful, journey with the help of dozens of fragrances that bought a smile to my face. A well written, engrossing tale that I would highly recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley for a ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Polly has been happily married (or so she thinks) for 24 years but New Years Eve sees her spending it by herself. Her husband David has just left her with a message saying that he has to go off on his own for a while and not to contact him or his work for 6 months.

So Polly, a successful perfume blogger and yoga teacher, Clemmie her medical student daughter and son Lucas, who is in his first term in uni have to grapple with their father's decision to take a sabbatical from their life. While David is gone Polly finds new freedom in her life and she realises that David may have been a little controlling and unsupportive in some aspects.

I found this book an easy read, although meandering in some places. It was quite light and funny in some places and others I applauded Polly and her children for taking a stand against their situation. Polly grows with the help of her family and new friends but there is the underlying issue of why her husband left which I felt quite disconnected with. I'm not really sure I understand why Polly just stood back and did things on his terms in the beginning. But I did find the eventual reasons of David's disappearance interesting.

This book would be a pleasant holiday read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.

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Perfume blogger and yoga instructor Polly’s husband has suddenly upped and left, saying not to contact him because he needs space. As the empty-nester with two adult children tries to come to terms with the shock departure, Polly finds a new friend in yoga client Shirlee; runs into a former flame from her university days, Chum, at her mother’s retirement home; and meets an intriguing new perfumer Guy.
I really enjoyed being dipped into the heady world of perfumes, to learn more about Polly’s passion and see how she matches scents to her memories. I did miss the glamour and gossip of Alderson’s earlier novels so my interest waned a bit in the second half. But the mystery of why her husband left and finding out more about Guy kept me going.

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Anosmia - the inability to perceive odor or a lack of functioning olfaction—the loss of the sense of smell.    For someone like Polly, the protaganist in Maggie Alderson's The Scent of You, this condition would be an utter nightmare.   Her sense of smell defined her and gave shape to her lifes work.    Polly writes a perfume blog Fragrantcloud.net where she describes in delicious and vivid detail some of her favourite smells.  Not just perfume smells but all manner of smells that triggered memories for her.      Like the smells she associated with her children when they were young, farm smells, parkland smells, yoga smells, animal smells, family, food and husband smells. 

The Scent of You contained a quirky cast of characters and an engaging story.   Polly's husband of 24 years has left home leaving only an email saying he needs a break and instructions not to contact him for 6 months.  She's trying to maintain her sense of composure, to make sense of this disruption in what she believed to be a happy and successful marriage, and to remain strong for their two adult children.     The story takes the reader down a not entirely unpredictable path yet I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.   

As a result of a head trauma a few years back I am now Anosmic.   Where I once had a fully functioning sense of smell I now do not.    Fortunately I still have memories of my favourite (and not so favourite) smells.     As time passes those memories are diminishing but this book took me on a sensory trip down memory lane.      Reading The Scent of You by Maggie Alderson with all those deliciously evocative descriptions of smells was a real treat for me and I'd definitely recommend it to lovers of womens fiction.

And another thing....check out the link to Fragrantcloud.net for some more of Polly's blogs.     Loved this touch.

Thanks to the author, Harper Collins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd, and NetGalley for the priveledge of receiving a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I have been a Maggie Alderson fan for many years now and was excited to get the opportunity to read and review her latest book The Scent of You.

The story follows the life of Polly who writes a perfume blog and teaches Yoga. Her mother is a glamorous model and she has two grown up children who both live away from home. Polly thought her life was going well until her world is turned upside down, when her Husband decides to up and leave her with no explanation at all.
As Polly struggles to come to terms with her new life she finds comfort in her friends Shirlee who is very loud and doesn't mind overstepping the boundaries, Guy, a mysterious and quirky perfumer and an old flame/friend from Uni called Chum.
Throughout the story we learn alot about perfumes and Polly finding not only herself again but new found friendships, love and forgiveness. In order for Polly to move forward with her life she must face the real reason her husband left their marriage and come to terms with the most shocking discovery.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the plot to be interesting and liked how the author broached the subject of mental illness, especially OCD and intrusive thoughts which is something that is not openly talked about enough.
I found Polly to be a delightful, lovable character and enjoyed the interactions that she engaged in with the other main characters in the book.
A must read for any Maggie Alderson fan.

A big thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review which I have been more then happy to give.

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