Customer Reviews

The Scent of Lilacs (Hollyhill Series, Book 1)

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Sometimes the truth is the last thing we want to hear. In this book, thirteen year-old Jocie stumbles upon one family secret after another. There is however, one truth that she's not sure she wants to hear, a truth that might forever change her relationship with the person that has always been there for her: her father.

Her mother left them years ago taking Jocie's sister,Tabitha, with her. She calls herself Dee Dee now, and has been in one unsuccessful relationship after another after leaving David, her preacher husband. The plot comes to a climax when Tabitha comes home pregnant, causing Jocie and David to think about the past.

The book is full of colorful characters. There is Zella, the snoopy secretary at the Banner newspaper office; Wes, a motorcycle riding confidant of Jocie's who says he's from Jupiter and who Zella says has surely been running from the law; and Sallie, the observant senior street singer and beggar of Hollyhill, who knows many secrets about the people in the community.

The author weaves a story that keeps you wondering: why has Aunt Love, the Bible quoting spinster, never maried? Will David fall in love again? Will the people at Mt. Pleasamt Church call him to be their pastor? What is Wes running away from? Is David Jocie's real father? Will Ogden Martin, one of Mt. Pleasant's Deacons, stop trying to thwart David's ministry?

This is a great read. You will fall in love with the characters and the town. It's like Mitford in Kentucky.

This book is very inspirational and heartwarming. The characters and the community are so much like where I grew up that it brings back many childhood memories. The book also has several unexpected twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. I enjoyed the book very much and highly recommend it. I can't wait for the sequel to be published.

Until the summer of 1964, the most Jocie Brooke had to worry about was trying to be nice to obnoxious Ronnie Martin, being bombarded with Aunt Love's Scriptural quotes and wondering whether her father would become interim preacher at Mt. Pleasant church.

She hadn't had an entirely easy childhood. Her mother left, taking along Jocie's older sister, seven years earlier.

Outside of a general curiosity about the woman who gave birth to her and periodically missing the sister she fondly remembers, Jocie had come to terms with having an unconventional family. She had her father, of course, and her grandmother and great-aunt.

Perhaps the most important person in her life, after her own dad, was "Jupiterian" and newspaperman extraordinaire, Wes. He had shown up out of nowhere not intending to stay, but an instant attachment to young Jocie meant he was still there a decade later.

Now, God had answered two of Jocie's prayers--for a dog and the return of her sister Tabitha. Both were blessings in their own way, yet both also proved to be portholes to long-buried family secrets.

Jocie, having been weaned on the Bible and newspaper publishing, was a truth seeker and therefore determined to discover everything she could. However, when one hidden detail hit too close to home for her, she decided she wasn't ready to face it. Soon the greater threat of having to confront tragedy just might be what's necessary to put things into proper perspective for her.

The majority of Ann Gabhart's novel has the feel of the relaxed summer it's set in. Life, and the plot progression, is initially simple and easy-going.

One never knows what surprises God and nature has in store, though. Turbulent skies and unsteady pasts can change a person's life in an instant.

Readers should not be fooled or prematurely disappointed by what appears to be a sluggish beginning. In The Scent of Lilacs, surprises wait around every corner.

In 1964 Hollyhill, Kentucky, the owner of the Hollyhill Barrier David Brooke knows why he can only be an interim pastor at the Mt. Pleasant Church because the congregation expects its leader married. Thus David works the newspaper to feed his extended family and the church out of love. Seven years ago, David's wife Adrienne left without a look back taking their older daughter then thirteen years old Tabitha with her. She left behind their other child then six years old Jocie. David's septuagenarian Aunt Love lives with them, but he feels more like a referee between his two female relatives than their kin.

Jocie wants to know about her family to what made Aunt Love into a preaching stoic spinster who is turning senile except for her biblical citations and why her mother left especially without her. She would also like to see her older sister who turn twenty shortly. As Jocie investigates her recent roots, secrets some would prefer left hidden begin to surface; she learns more about her aunt, her parents, and even the newspaper pressman.

THE SCENT OF LILACS is a well written Christian historical family drama that sub-genre will deeply cherish. Jocie is a great inquisitive young teen struggling to understand the dynamics that engulf her in a shroud. The totally in black Aunt love will surprise readers when they learn alongside Jocie about her past. Finally, David is split apart as suffers guilt over his broken marriage and loss of a child and finding solace tending to his flock so that secularly he feels broken while spiritually connected. Ann. H. Gabhart provides an inspirational family drama.

Harriet Klausner

I was ready to be disappointed when I started reading this novel, thinking it would be yet another story about a young girl "coming of age" in the 60's in a small town in the South. Then the story line took off and I had read seven chapters before being able to put the book down! The main character, Jocie, is more complex than I thought she would be, and each new character fills out as the story goes along. Only Aunt Love seems a little stiff and unlikeable until the last third of the book, when the forgetful old Aunt begins to "mother hen" the expecting older daughter and a family secret makes everyone understand why Aunt Love has always been a little on the distant side. I'm eager to read the second book in the series!

I abosolutely love this series. I picked up this book on sale at my local Christian book store and i am so glad i did. The characters in this book get you sucked in and make you want to know them more. Thank goodness it is a series so we can. Jocie is one of my favorite heroinnes and the fact that she is a young girl just makes her more appealing. She is young and innocent but has already had to deal with so much in her short life.

Jocie Brook and her father live in the small community of Hollyhill, Kentucky, along with her Aunt Love. Jocie's dad David hopes to be called as part time pastor to the little church there. Though David is loved my most everyone there, he still struggles with a marriage that didn't work. Aunt Love lives with him to help take care of his daughter, but her memory is failing, and she is getting so very forgetful that someone has to watch behind her to make sure she doesn't burn food, or burn the house down.
Jocie has so many questions about her life. Why did her mother leave her, and never contact her? Did she really love her? Why did no one want to answer her questions about her mom? And what about Aunt Love, why didn't she ever marry? Why did her scripture quoting Aunt always seem so sad?
As Jocie starts checking into the unanswered questions, she wonders if she really wants to find out what the real truth is.
Join Jocie and her family as they struggle through the truth that comes out, and as an unexpected visitor shows up at their door. Or is it a visitor?
This is a wonderfully told story by Ann Gabhart. I love the way she makes you fall in love with the characters, and you begin thinking about them as real people. This is my first book by Ann, and will be reading the rest of her books. I highly recommend this book to read, and especially those who love Amish Fiction.

The Scent of Lilacs is a story that grabbed and pulled at my heart from the beginning to the end. A story full of dreams, hopes, devotion, laughter, and sweet romance. A story soaked with tears, regret, abandonment, and grief. But through all the secrets, plot-twists, and curves thrown the characters way is the constant theme of faith and forgiveness.
I genuinely recommend The Scent of Lilacs for a relaxing "summer read".
WARNING: Clear your schedule, pour your favorite drink, and settle in your cozy chair! Once you start this book, you will not want to put it down!!!