Where The Wild Rose Blooms (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
SUMMARY: Can love shatter her stubborn pride?In the high mountains of Colorado, Clayton Taggart dreams of the day when he can leave the rough life of a mines urveyor to become a teacher. In the midst of his plans, he meets Jackie Fontaine, a newcomer from the East whose strong willed spirit causes friction from the start.Just as the spark of love ignites, tragedy strikes, leaving Jackie with a secret so terrible she would rather lose Clay than share it with him. Can anything draw Jackie from her self–imposed exile and open the shutters of her blinded heart?REVIEW: I have to say I really disliked the main character of this book until almost the end. She is very self-centered and rude. Although Jackie says she accepted Jesus as her Savior as a child, she shows no outward sign of a life lived for Jesus. She often seems to be acting like her father who believes his salvation comes through his good works. Clayton Taggart was just the opposite: sweet, patient, considerate, understanding, and faith-centered. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the Fontaine family as well as the Taggart family. The storyline was enjoyable, and the romance between Eddie and Robert was sweet. I really connected with the letter that Eddie finds written by her mother regarding how she feels when taking care of Jackie, and it brought tears to my eyes. Having been a caretaker for my husband for almost 2 years, I can empathize with how Addy felt as Jackie becomes more and more self-centered and negative. It is draining for the caretaker and tends to bring them down too even if they try very hard to stay positive. FAVORITE QUOTES: "I think to teach a child is to touch his life and help him to go out into the world more prepared" (As a retired primary teacher I readily identified with this!)"We live in a sinful world and painful, evil things happen. God allows them to show us our need for Him.I must be thankful for that sovereignty and not fight against it.
This book was difficult. It had the elements of a great story, kind of a Little House on the Prairie version of An Affair to Remember. The problem I had was a complete disconnect from the characters. They were kind of inhuman with their lack of flaws and even their flaws were annoyingly paltry. I got the message, that only through Christ can a person be saved but it just seemed a little rigid and unforgiving and a bit more judgmental than I feel Jesus called us to be. I've read a lot of Christian romance, some good and some bad. The best are when you can connect with the characters, and by that I mean feel some sort of kinship to them, understand their deeper feelings, that they posses the human element to makes them real, and that you can share in their personal growth and struggles. This book in comparison felt very surface. With the plot, you would imagine deeper feelings for the characters, but I was just bored. The message seemed to be pummeled into you rather than spread through out the experiences and emotions within the book. It was an opportunity lost in my opinion.
What do You think about Where The Wild Rose Blooms (2006)?
I need to explain this one a little. I liked it a lot, but I did end up skipping around in it because it couldn't totally hold my attention all the time. The other thing that really bothered me was that at one point Clay tells Jackie that she is mean spirited, tells her she needs to come to Christ and that if she doesn't she is going to hell, and therefore he is glad he didn't marry her because she is a non believer. Ouch. Tells her this to her face. He is supposed to be deeply in love with her.
—Meridyforgot
