I really enjoyed the first two books in this The Tea Rose Series. They both had plots and characters that grabbed me but sadly The Wild Rose did not invoke those same feelings.

I am going to go against the grain here because I really struggled to finish this one. I'm glad I went the audio route because it would have been a DNF otherwise. It wasn't the writing, Jennifer Donnelly is a favourite of mine. Her YA historical fiction books - Revolution, A Northern Light and These Shallow Graves are ones I recommend and loan out of my library often. Even those not daunted by the size The Tea Rose is a great story to get lost in the pages of - its 675 pages long.

So what happened here? Right from the beginning Willa just got on my nerves with Seamus quickly following suit - that kinda set the tone. Now I get not liking characters in books, this was different and I can't quite put my finger on why.

The story was long, with somewhat of a soap opera feel and was just way too long (yea I said that twice). I will say the author hit the time period spot on, her research and historical knowledge shined through. Some of the characters/actions just didn't do it for me this time around.

Audiobook from my personal library via Audible.