[YIB]∎ PDF The Unfinished Garden Barbara Claypole White 9780778314127 Books

The Unfinished Garden Barbara Claypole White 9780778314127 Books

Download As PDF : The Unfinished Garden Barbara Claypole White 9780778314127 Books

The Unfinished Garden Barbara Claypole White 9780778314127 Books

This is the third Barbara Claypole White novel I have read. Since this was her first, obviously I'm not reading them in order. But I can promise that I will be reading anything she has or will be writing. I have noticed some reviews that stated this was a typical romance novel. I could not disagree more. While I have read and enjoyed romance novels through the years, I cannot think of any romance novel that was as chock full of real, relatable characters as The Unfinished Garden. Rarely, do I read a book where I like EVERY character in the book. That happened with this book.And Ms. White has woven the relationships/background of Tilly's life into a story of two broken people, Tilly and James, finding each other like two interlocking puzzle pieces. We are there with Tilly as she deals with the loss of her husband and with James as he struggles with the multi-faceted problems of OCD. This is a novel with depth and heart. I would gladly read a sequel because I would love to spend more time with all of these 'people'.


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The Unfinished Garden Barbara Claypole White 9780778314127 Books Reviews

This is the first book I've read by Barbara Claypole White, and based on this book alone, I will keep on reading everything she writes! The characters in this book, James and Tilly, stole my heart. The pages of this book are filled with heartache, fear, and OCD, but they are also filled with hope and love.
This author's greatest talent is constructing dialogue. The characters' verbal exchanges are so sharp, crisp, real, clever, engaging and at times, appropriately amusing. Her novels can withstand some mushy predictability because of the brilliant development of dialogues. This book had lots of material on gardening, names of plants and their cultivation. It got a it much for me at times but the characters are so real and interesting that putting the book down is tough. Little slow getting started but very enjoyable after takeoff.
I was first drawn to Barbara Claypole White’s debut novel by two things She writes about damaged people, something I can relate to, and it took her years of hard work and dedication to get her novel published by a traditional house, something else I respect as an author who’s been on a similar journey.

What I didn’t expect was to empathize and connect so well with the male protagonist, James Nealy, who suffers from OCD. Although I found Tilly a likeable character – I loved how she views the world through the eyes of a protective mother - I found myself rooting for James over all the other characters in the story. I also appreciated how the author embedded OCD into the narrative without resorting to clinical info dumps about the disorder. This takes great skill and helped keep the story from bogging down.

“The Unfinished Garden” is both entertaining and educational and kept my interest until the end. James and Tilly are the kind of characters that live in your head long after you’ve finished the book. I look forward to reading Ms. White’s second novel, “The In-Between Hour.”

I recommend “The Unfinished Garden” for readers who prefer stories that deal with real life issues and characters who feel like real people.

Kathleen M. Rodgers ~ author of “The Final Salute”
This is a wonderfully done story that manages to deal with OCD in a sensitive and informative way, while being entertaining and very readable. It's so wonderful to find a story that keeps you going until the very end of the book, with several characters one can either appreciate or relate to.
I've noticed a couple of reviews that remarked on not realizing this was a romance (apparently because it was published by Harlequin?). This is a marvelously readable book that does have love and romance, but not the bodice ripper style - and who doesn't need some love and romance in their life?
There's a place near the end of the story where Anya Seton's book "Green Darkness" is quoted. I will forever love this author just because she read Anya Seton. )
When you're recovering from an operation, you want an engrossing book to read--anything less and your attention is drawn away to the painful recovery process. Fortunately I found The Unfinished Garden in my library, and began reading just before I was due to have surgery. The Unfinished Garden grabbed me from the beginning, and led me down an enchanting, endearingly familiar path.

I readily identified with Tilly As a former American transplant to England, I shared her love of the English countryside, and Bombay Sapphire gin. I'm also "anatomically asymmetrical", with a touch of scoliosis. (I do have a few inches on her 5'2", though.) She's a widowed single mom--"mom", not "mum", raising an American child and trying to make the right choices for him, and for herself. I honestly didn't know what choice she would make, in the end Stay in England, with the gorgeous Sebastian, or stick it out in North Carolina, with the very troubled but lovable James?

If you're looking for a "happily ever after, probably" ending, this is the book for you. But if you're looking for something oozing with sugar sweet romance, you won't find it here--this is much more real life than fantasy. And that feeling that I was observing real people, with real problems, is what kept me turning the pages, long after I should have been grabbing some much-needed sleep.

Now I'm off to read more books by this author, who reminds me of British author Katie Fforde--but with more realistic, non-stereotypical characters, whose problems are internal rather than external.
This is the third Barbara Claypole White novel I have read. Since this was her first, obviously I'm not reading them in order. But I can promise that I will be reading anything she has or will be writing. I have noticed some reviews that stated this was a typical romance novel. I could not disagree more. While I have read and enjoyed romance novels through the years, I cannot think of any romance novel that was as chock full of real, relatable characters as The Unfinished Garden. Rarely, do I read a book where I like EVERY character in the book. That happened with this book.And Ms. White has woven the relationships/background of Tilly's life into a story of two broken people, Tilly and James, finding each other like two interlocking puzzle pieces. We are there with Tilly as she deals with the loss of her husband and with James as he struggles with the multi-faceted problems of OCD. This is a novel with depth and heart. I would gladly read a sequel because I would love to spend more time with all of these 'people'.