Tending Roses

Title: Tending Roses

Author: Lisa Wingate

Publisher: Berkley

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women's fiction, Romance

Source: Own

Challenges: 23 in '23 and Chantel's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge

My Review:

I found Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate hard to get into.

 I liked Tending Roses but didn't love it. One reason is there is a lot of description with everything. Instead of being able to feel things, they were described. 

I felt for Kate and Ben with their financial struggles until I realized they lived a high-luxury life. Ben had a boat, and a club membership, etc. At that point, I struggled to engage, when they could have easily sold things and been better off. I did not like Ben very much at the beginning and found Kate to be okay, but hard to relate to. Even though I am in some of the same seasons she was. I also just found the book to be heavy. I don't know if it was because I came off a previously heavy book, or if it truly is that heavy. There was also a lot of family drama that added to the heaviness. I didn't understand why the family hadn't seen each other in six years. Once it was explained, I didn't feel like it was enough of a reason for them to not even chat.

The ending was okay but predictable with the way the story went. I will read other books by Lisa Wingate since I enjoyed previous works of hers.

★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads): 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a heartfelt novel about the bonds of family and the power of second chances.

When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother’s Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who’s become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart.
 
Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandma’s journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of stories that celebrate the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Kate see her life—and her grandmother—in a completely new way...