Customer Reviews

The Violets of March: A Novel

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The Violets of March is the type of book that had me at hello. Truly, I was about twenty pages in when I realized how much I enjoyed Emily and I gobbled up her story as quickly as I possibly could. There are so many things to love about this novel that I don't know where to start!

I truly enjoyed Emily as a character. I really felt for her - she was completely surprised by her husband's actions and she had to do something drastic with her life in order to get some perspective. I liked all the characters in the book, actually - Aunt Bee is a fabulously fun older lady as is her friend Evelyn, and Emily meets two guys her first week at the island, both of whom add fabulous details to the story. I always like a little romance in my fiction, you know! Emily is truly the star of the novel as she tries to put her life back together while spending time on the island, but I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of the characters.

The island itself is a character in a sense. Sarah Jio did such a great job depicting what life on Bainbridge Island is like - I could smell the salty air, could see the ferry as it pulled in to the island, and I could feel the sand between my toes as Emily walked along the beach. When I visited Seattle several years back I absolutely fell in love with it, and Sarah Jio has made me want to visit some of the surrounding islands. She definitely brought Bainbridge Island to life.

I have to admit that I enjoyed reading the story in the red diary almost as much as the book itself! This technique of a "story within a story" is one that I'm not always a fan of, but in this case it worked beautifully. I was just as compelled with Esther's story (the woman in the diary) as I was with Emily's, if not more so! I was completely anxious to find out the connections between their lives and I was just as sucked into Esther's life as Emily was.

Overall, I enjoyed The Violets of March immensely. I loved the characters, the setting, the story itself, basically everything! Highly recommended.

During all the craziness last week, The Violets of March by Sarah Jio was my escape. Instead of laying in the hotel bed worrying about all the mess and stress, I just opened the pages of this book and lost myself in the story.

I must admit that I went to great lengths to get a copy of this book. For some reason when I read an early review and heard that it would be released in May, I just knew I wanted to read it. Perhaps it was because my dear, dear college friend grew up on Bainbridge Island, WA and the island is the setting for this story. Or maybe I was just drawn in by the promise of a buried secret discovered in a long-forgotten diary. I'm a sucker for those kinds of stories.

Emily, the protagonist, is a gorgeous and best-selling author who is suffering from writer's block and her husband just left her for another woman. Hoping to heal, she escapes to her great aunt's home on Bainbridge Island. On this beautiful island, Emily discovers the old diary containing a mystery that inspires her to write. And of course, she just might find love again. Ultimately, it is a story of forgiveness.

There's nothing especially new or earth shattering in The Violets of March. It's a typical healing-from-life story with some romance and ancestral mystery on the side. It could have been a little longer. The story would have benefited from more character development. But also, I didn't want it to end because I liked it. I like it a lot.

Jio writes well. It is easy to get wrapped up in Emily's story and the story in the journal. I could barely put the book down until I finished the last sentence. Jio uses the setting to her advantage in building the plot. While Emily's story is rather predictable, Jio is successful at writing enough twists and turns into the story contained in the diary to keep the reader guessing until the end.

The Violets of March is a perfect book for the beach (in spite of the cold and wet, I believe summer is coming), to read on an airplane or at the hotel while you're house is being cleaned up after a flood. If you're going on a trip, grab a copy and throw it in your suitcase. You won't regret it.

Maybe I can talk my college friend into taking a trip with me to Bainbridge Island this summer. I'll just make her read this book. It will probably be more difficult/impossible to convince my husband.

After some mild begging, I received a free copy of this book from the publishers. However, this is my honest review and I have received no compensation.

The Violets of March is the kind of book that you could share with your best friend, mother or grandmother and know that they'd all love it. Set on scenic Bainbridge Island, Violets is a love story within a mystery and has a whole cast of characters who are flawed enough to be human but so compelling that you'll root for them throughout the book. Jio excels at description; although I've never been to Bainbridge Island, I felt like I was right there with her protagonist, Emily. This was a gorgeous story, and I didn't want it to end.

The number of people who changed their name so that the "mystery" held up was too far reaching to be believable. The number of people who had secrets was simply annoying. The ending was convenient. I was expecting so much more given the reviews and thought I had downloaded a different book once I began reading. The imagary is simplistic and I didn't care about the characters. I finished it and was glad to do so simple to get it over with. I can not recommend this book. There are far better examples of this theme available.

I am an avid reader. I love to read. I love to read all sorts of genres. I have been asked over the years, "what is your favorite book," well I don't have one. There are just too many good ones out there. But from now on I have an answer. I will from now on answer, "The Violets of March by Sarah Jio."
Emily Wilson had it all. Married to a GQ handsome hubby, bestselling author her life was picture perfect. Suddenly, it was all over. Her husband leaves her for another woman and her best-seller writing career is going know where because she has writers block. Where can she go? She decides to go back to one of her favorite places in the world, Bainbridge Island, where she spent her summers growing up visiting her Aunt Bee.
There to deal with the loss of her marriage and hopefully to find some inspiration for a new book, what she finds instead is an Island full of secrets and two love interests. Love interest number one is Greg, an old high school boyfriend and the other good looking local artist, Jack. While figuring out her own love life, she stumbles onto an old diary dated from 1943. As Emily begins reading the story of diary, she finds her own life to have parallels to the author, Ester's, life. Emily begins to realize the sort of love she wants and deserves. Feeling so close to Ester, she realizes she must solve the mystery, but the more Emily learns the more questions arise.
I have a very messy house right now, because I could hardly put this book down. I read it in one day and that is not an easy feat in my home. When I read the journal entries (which are more of a story within a story) I felt transported to another era. I was completely engaged in the story and lost track of time. The descriptions are very well written. I could smell the salty air and I could feel Emily's frustration. The entire time I was trying to figure out the puzzle of the story and I could not figure it out. I wanted the mystery solved, but at the same time I didn't want the story to end.
This book has goosebump moments and brought me to tears! I LOVED this book! I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading!
This is Jio's debut novel. I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

I was looking for a good but little known book for my book club and stumbled upon this. Thank goodness I read it before exposing my fellow readers to one of the sappiest and most poorly written romance novels ever. The writing was atrocious and more suited to a teen novel than adult fiction. The plot was contrived and ridiculously unbelievable. I would have been so embarrassed to suggest this to the club. What a waste of time!

After the first few chapters I was ready to skip pages. Magical details like rare wood violets that appear in gardens when people need "healing" might work for Alice Hoffman, but they don't work here. They float by, perhaps intended to distract from the unbelievable and mostly unlikeable characters who talk about what's "in your heart." A bad book.

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*******************IF YOU LIKED THE VIOLETS OF MARCH PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just finished Kingdom by the Sea by Jill Winters. The plot reminded me greatly of this book (Violets), but I think it was actually better! What makes this such a travesty is that it appears poor Jill Winters had to publish the book herself!! I guess she is not a big wig at Glamour magazine...Please if you liked The Violets of March at all you should like Kingdom by the Sea. It really burns me that a book that I don't think was that good gets published and gets publicity because someone knows the right people; but a similar book, that to me is much better, would not get the same treatment. At any rate if you liked The Violets of March, hopefully I just found you another quick read!!! You can't go wrong for 12.99....buy Jill Winters book!!!!!!

***************************IF YOU LIKED THE VIOLETS OF MARCH PLEASE READ THE ABOVE*****************************
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I'm with the other 2 star reviewers. I was expecting more. Based on the summary I was expecting a book like The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (which I find to be far superior to this book). Even with the changed names I had figured out the whole story and who everybody was less than halfway through the book. And the end left so many loose strings! Maybe they are setting it up for a sequel? But also, in the end, I didn't find any of the characters redeeming enough to feel anything for them. Esther was too vindictive and impulsive...she really created her own situation and then wallowed in self pity about her situation! I could not understand that. It was obvious to me that Elliot was buying her an apartment even as the situation unfolded that lead to the break up of the engagement. And why, why would you ever marry someone you don't love when apparently you are so beautiful you could have anyone...including people who you actually care about! And it was true: Everybody had a secret and no body wanted to talk and avoided direct questions for really no reason I could find except to play the book out...it was too contrived. It was enjoyable enough for me to finish the book, but I will be giving it away. Also, the current day romance was shallow to me, with no real development and I couldn't get into the story of the past because all of the people (save Rose) were weak or selfish.
You want historical romance read The Winter Sea by Kearsley
You want a modern day romance/mystery/family betrayal/dark secrets read Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts

This book got my attention very quickly which is nice, as I had a 14hr flight to Bangkok!
It was hard to put down even in rough turbulance.LOL! I liked the mystery and the romance
together. Emily is such an easy character to like and so is her Aunt. I can't wait to
see Bainbridge Island after the author's description. I enjoyed learning about the island
as well as the "Red diary". I do agree this book was too short I was very bored on the
flight back from Bangkok!

This book is excellent, to not mince words. It involves a woman who has lost her way and goes back to the one place she felt safe and invigorated - an aunt's home on an island near Seattle. After her marriage collapses, Emily realizes she needs to grieve, so she can move forward and on with her life. While on the island reconnecting with her aunt, she discovers a diary about a woman she has never met, yet whose words mirror some of Emily's own circumstances. In addition, she meets a number of men and women, of varying backgrounds, who have an impact on her current situation.

Full of intrigue and suspense, but not in a scary or uncomfortable way, I was left with always wanting more. It was hard to put down. The combination of the past and present is done very well, so the reader does not mind mixing the two. Emily grows as a character too, finding her backbone and purpose. She learns how to ask the right questions and what to do with the answers.

Overall, I highly recommend the book. It would also make a good selection for a book club, as the side characters are well developed, plus the motivations and setting fill out the story.