The memory of roses by Blair Mcdowell

Title: The memory of roses

Author: Blair Mcdowell

Publisher: Rebel Ink Press

Pages: 308

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Source: Review copy

Summary

Brit McQuaid has had a very bad year.  First, her heart is broken when her relationship with her professor ends because of his lies and infidelity. Then her father dies and leaves her a villa on the Greek Island of Corfu, and a deep mystery to solve; in his last letter to her, he asks Brit to find the woman he profoundly loved on Corfu many years ago, shocking Brit with the realization that her adored father  had cheated on her mother.How could her father have owned a house that Brit knew nothing about? Why was he unfaithful to her mother? Who is this woman named Maria? And what is in the mysterious package?

To find answers, Brit must travel to Corfu, open a villa that has been closed for many years, and locate Maria Calbrese, the great love of her father’s life.

In the course of her voyage of discovery, Brit meets the man she could lose her heart to and begins to understand that, while passion can rule one’s actions, real love can neither be dictated by propriety nor measured by moments of passion. Real love may involve sacrifice, or at least the willingness to give up one’s own hope of happiness for the good of another’s.  Her father knew this truth.

Review:

This is a tale of a woman's journey in search of answers that haunts her..Her shock as a daughter when she finds out that her father had an affair with a woman whom he loved deeply, a villa that he owned which she didn't know..To solve all the riddles and to get over her disappointing love life, she decides to travel to Corfu a beautiful island..Her father believed that  Brit would find peace living there...To her pleasant surprise she meets some lovely people, handsome Andreas who is head over heels in love with her...Slowly her life picks up in the villa, but she is still unable to trust men, she keeps Andreas at bay until she realises that love has no boundaries  it tends to reach out beyond horizons..She also finds everything about Maria and her father letting her to settle things...For a brief time Brit is set apart as she discovers that her father had sacrificed his love for the sake of his daughter..The book has many feel good factors, the equation between Andreas and Brit is contagious..The book serves as a great travelogue in terms of Greece, the beauty come across even as I read...The book had a great beginning then somehow ebbed away but then picked up as Brit continues upon her personal discovery on her life ..Brit character is built on well, career oriented, talented woman whose life goes haywire as she loses trust upon men first her boy friend next her father, but slowly comes in terms with everything around her reviving her lost life and finding love in  Andreas..Andreas is a deligtful character he is intelligent, genuine, caring and deeply in love with Brit..Inspite of Brit's hesitance he manages to win her trust and love...The past and present in amazingly woven in the villa first through Brit's father and later through Brit herself..Finally Maria solves all her riddles letting her at peace...The villa becomes lover's paradise with a happy ending tale...

Note:
Review copy of this book was provided to be through Bewitching blog tours...