Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the digital copy of this audiobook; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was such a lovely book on so many levels. Emma suddenly feels the pull of flowers, and throughout the book, the reader learns about different types of flowers and their meanings. It’s obvious what care and love the author has for flowers; it reminded me of so many conversations with my mother, who also had a love of flowers and could converse about them for hours.

Emma decides to apply for a job as a florist after turning in her notice at her other job. Fluent in several languages, she frequently thinks in different languages in order to come up with conversations in English. She’s invited to a lecture about the Titanic but doesn’t show; however, that sparks a deep interest into finding out who was responsible for the flowers on the doomed ship. Soon, it becomes almost an obsession with Emma.

Emma visits many people in her quest to find the answer of the Titanic’s flowers, and at one visit, she gets a glimpse of a photograph that looks very familiar to her. That’s when the flashbacks are introduced to the story. That story that is followed is of a young girl named Violet and the sacrifices she makes after her father dies. She’s got her mother, her two brothers, and a much younger sister. All do their part to keep the family together. Violet takes a job on the White Star Line of ships as a stewardess.

Now, if you don’t know the story of Violet and the White Star line, you’ll be in for a surprise. If you do know of Violet and her story, this fictional telling of what her life might have been like is really interesting.

This is a slow-paced book, which I enjoyed after reading a few thrillers. It’s more of a character-driven story that I highly recommend if you love flowers and the history of the Titanic.

Narrated by Karen Cass, who is also the voice of the Verity Bright Eleanor Swift Mysteries, I really enjoyed listening to her doing something different.

Grieving the loss of her husband, scientist Emma takes a job at a garden center. A lecture about the Titanic sparks her interest in the ship’s florist, leading her on a journey of discovery.

This is a heartfelt and beautifully written women’s fiction. The dual timeline is engaging and easy to follow. I like the way historical events were woven into the story, and the sense of mystery they added. I enjoyed the audiobook narration.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Such an interesting premise but the story dragged on and never quite delivered. I love stories about the Titanic so I thought this would be a new one to enjoy but that was not the case at all. This was more about dealing with grief than it was about the Titanic in the beginning, then as the story progresses, Emma decides she’s writing a book about the florist on the Titanic, jumps to a lot of assumptions about said florist, and, all the while, not quite doing anything. I found her difficult to connect with. This, unfortunately, didn’t hold my interest.

A year after her husband‘s death, Emma has become a virtual recluse, she can find little in life to enjoy or to believe in. That all changes when she’s invited to give a talk about some of the lesser known passengers and crew aboard the Titanic. In learning about the life of the woman who did the floral arrangements aboard the Titanic, Emma begins to find a way forward, seeing a future for herself, maybe not the one she’d planned, but a future nonetheless.