4 STARS
IMPERFECT ROSE
Book One
in the
Patrick's Garden
Series
by
Celeste Messer
INTRO
(from Amazon)
Patrick MacRae had a habit of
pigeonholing people, and his four daughters were no exception. Rose was
the smart one; Lily, the beauty; Violet, the sweet one; and Daisy was
his athlete. Now two years after his death, the four sisters are still
trying to work themselves out of the boxes he put them in.
Rose hated being compared to her sisters, so she couldn’t get away from her small town of New Layne, Texas, fast enough. Now living in New York, on the verge of having everything she’s ever dreamed of, her mother calls insisting that she come home. It isn’t that Rose doesn’t love her family, but she doesn’t want to go back to the place where she always felt like the ‘ugly duckling’ and where memories of her dad would be everywhere.
However, when Rose learns that her much-anticipated romantic weekend is cancelled, and Charles isn’t going to propose as planned, she decides that a short trip to Texas may be just ‘the ticket’. It will give her time to relax and regroup and maybe it will give Charles time to rethink their relationship.
Rose arrives home to discover that there have been a lot of changes. Some guy named Lucas has moved in with her mother, and the family business is in shambles. Rose isn’t sure who to blame as her mother is in the hospital with amnesia and wants nothing to do with the business. As the eldest daughter, it’s up to Rose to guide the family through the storm.
– Rose MacRae, the eldest of the MacRae sisters, was never known for her looks. Dubbed by her father as the brain of the family, Rose worked hard to live up to his expectations. Ambitious to a fault, Rose goes through life looking at everything as a competition where winning is the only acceptable outcome. – Lily MacRae, the second of the MacRae sisters is the beauty. Patrick insisted that Lily leave New Layne to pursue a modeling career. With her unusual beauty her career took off, but Lily wants to prove that she is more than just a pretty face. – Violet MacRae is the sweet one. She’s the sister who is quick to offer support and understanding when needed. While Rose has the obvious strength, Violet may very well be the glue that holds the family together. – Daisy MacRae, the baby of the family, has always been the rebel, the irresponsible one, the firecracker. All through their childhood the older three sisters followed the rules, but Daisy preferred to make up her own. But the time has come when Daisy needs to prove to both her sisters and to herself that she has finally grown up. – Maggie Harris was 22, engaged to be married, and optimistic about her future. Then she comes out of a coma to discover that 30 years have passed, and she doesn’t remember any of it. As she learns about her ‘new’ life as Margaret MacRae, Maggie finds that it looks nothing like the life she had planned and she wants to know what happened to make her change so much. – Lucas Steiner’s life was a mess when he met Maggie. She was lonely and he was angry. Maggie offers Lucas the use of the garden house while he gets his life together. Lucas learns a lot about the MacRae sisters through his friendship with Maggie, and it isn’t all good. He feels that Rose has turned her back on her mother, and he plans to tell the oldest MacRae daughter exactly what he thinks of her selfishness.
In the process of rebuilding the family business and helping Maggie regain her memories, the MacRae women discover that, when all is said and done, they are family and each is a vital part of the legacy of Patrick’s Garden.
Rose hated being compared to her sisters, so she couldn’t get away from her small town of New Layne, Texas, fast enough. Now living in New York, on the verge of having everything she’s ever dreamed of, her mother calls insisting that she come home. It isn’t that Rose doesn’t love her family, but she doesn’t want to go back to the place where she always felt like the ‘ugly duckling’ and where memories of her dad would be everywhere.
However, when Rose learns that her much-anticipated romantic weekend is cancelled, and Charles isn’t going to propose as planned, she decides that a short trip to Texas may be just ‘the ticket’. It will give her time to relax and regroup and maybe it will give Charles time to rethink their relationship.
Rose arrives home to discover that there have been a lot of changes. Some guy named Lucas has moved in with her mother, and the family business is in shambles. Rose isn’t sure who to blame as her mother is in the hospital with amnesia and wants nothing to do with the business. As the eldest daughter, it’s up to Rose to guide the family through the storm.
– Rose MacRae, the eldest of the MacRae sisters, was never known for her looks. Dubbed by her father as the brain of the family, Rose worked hard to live up to his expectations. Ambitious to a fault, Rose goes through life looking at everything as a competition where winning is the only acceptable outcome. – Lily MacRae, the second of the MacRae sisters is the beauty. Patrick insisted that Lily leave New Layne to pursue a modeling career. With her unusual beauty her career took off, but Lily wants to prove that she is more than just a pretty face. – Violet MacRae is the sweet one. She’s the sister who is quick to offer support and understanding when needed. While Rose has the obvious strength, Violet may very well be the glue that holds the family together. – Daisy MacRae, the baby of the family, has always been the rebel, the irresponsible one, the firecracker. All through their childhood the older three sisters followed the rules, but Daisy preferred to make up her own. But the time has come when Daisy needs to prove to both her sisters and to herself that she has finally grown up. – Maggie Harris was 22, engaged to be married, and optimistic about her future. Then she comes out of a coma to discover that 30 years have passed, and she doesn’t remember any of it. As she learns about her ‘new’ life as Margaret MacRae, Maggie finds that it looks nothing like the life she had planned and she wants to know what happened to make her change so much. – Lucas Steiner’s life was a mess when he met Maggie. She was lonely and he was angry. Maggie offers Lucas the use of the garden house while he gets his life together. Lucas learns a lot about the MacRae sisters through his friendship with Maggie, and it isn’t all good. He feels that Rose has turned her back on her mother, and he plans to tell the oldest MacRae daughter exactly what he thinks of her selfishness.
In the process of rebuilding the family business and helping Maggie regain her memories, the MacRae women discover that, when all is said and done, they are family and each is a vital part of the legacy of Patrick’s Garden.
- Series: Patrick's Garden
- Paperback: 214 pages
- Publisher: AshleyAlan (September 28, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0615894992
- ISBN-13: 978-0615894997
About the Author
Celeste Messer (www.celestemesser.com) is a ‘Realtor’ by day and ‘Author’ by night writing long before the sun comes up. Though born and raised in the Midwest, Celeste has spent the better part of the past three decades in Texas. Celeste enjoyed writing and all kinds of creative endeavors growing up but when it came time to choose a major in college she followed the advice of those around her and chose to get a degree that gave her the best chance of getting a job. With both an undergrad and graduate degrees in business Celeste, much like her character Margaret MacRae in the Patrick’s Garden Series (www.patricksgardenseries.com), lived the next twenty years of her life pretty much from the Left Side of her Brain. It wasn’t until she was in her mid thirties, a corporate executive, a wife and mother of four daughters, that Celeste admitted to herself that something was missing. She tried journaling to get a handle on her feelings but found the process didn’t work for her. She edited herself too much. She was afraid that if she wrote how she was really feeling and someone read it, it would lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. That’s when she rediscovered telling writing. The first book Celeste wrote was a non-fiction called How To Follow Your Dreams: Before Your Life Becomes a Nightmare. She said she wrote the book during her ‘detox’ phase from working fulltime in her ‘left brain’. She had virtually lost touch with her creative spirit and had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. The book was more logical that fanciful. But it helped her figure out what she wanted to do. What her lost dreams were…and they included writing. From there she began writing an eleven book series called The Adventures of Andi O’Malley written at the third grade level. Looking back at the books Celeste is the first to admit the books are ‘too sweet’ and ‘too preachy’ for the kids today, but nonetheless they served their purpose. She sees that writing the books was a necessary part of her life progression and healing. As strange as it sounds Celeste admits to finding messages and life lessons in the stories that she feels were meant for her. In the process of creating fictional characters and storylines, she was able to tap into a part of herself that she had been suppressing.REVIEW
The author wrote a book that went right to the heart. It's about a woman and her 4 daughters. They all had been named after flowers.We always say terrible things come more than one at a time. This is what happens. The girls father dies and their mothers ends up with amnesia after a terrible accident. All the girls come back home to help out. It was so interesting to see all the changes the girls went through as the story went on. They dealt well with things and each other. Their mother thinks she is in the 80's and they enjoyed seeing what their mom was like as a young person. The author wrote a good story of a family growing closer together through tragedy. We all need to think of what we would do if something happened like that in our family. Would we buck up and help out? Or would we just walk off and say, "Your problem, not mine."
I was given a complimentary copy of IMPERFECT ROSE from the author, Celeste Messer and OutSkirts Press for my view of the book. No other compensation took place.
I would give this book 4 STARS.
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