The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh 🔖🔖🔖🔖

The title of this book made me a little leery of reading it. I almost expected chick lit and romance. While it touched on romance, I wouldn't categorize it as a romance story. This is a story about forgiveness, relationships, and understanding imperfection in ourselves as well as others. The theme and ease in reading is what gives this one four stars for me.

I liked the character development and think Diffenbaugh does a great job. Even though I do not share the same difficulties the main character did, and I often would get frustrated at how she processed life, I could still understand where she was coming from and could relate on some level. The story alternated from present time to 10 years ago and this wasn't too frustrating or distracting. I found the story line one I could follow and I was interested in what happened in the past as well as what was happening in the present.

The only sticking point for me is the unbelievable idea that there were so many loving, kind, and patient people in Victoria's life. If only that were really likely to happen, if only all those people and scenarios could be in play for someone like Victoria. I can suspend the disbelief only by reminding myself this is a fiction novel and realize that perhaps my own life experiences leave me more jaded than Diffenbaugh's world view.

Overall a good book, nice theme, smooth reading, and interesting story line.