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The Paper Rose Club (2011)

by Jennifer Youngblood(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0984352007 (ISBN13: 9780984352005)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Arbor House Books

review 1: I received this book as part of Goodreads First-Reads for review and I have to say I enjoyed the book. It was simple and fun and I am interested in where the characters all go from here and am awaiting the next book in the series.I always enjoy books about a group of people and the things they have shared through life. Debbie Macomber does this exceedingly well, and while this book is not in the league, it is still a worthwhile book to take your mind off what troubles you and take you somewhere else for a while. If a book can do that for me, I am usually pretty happy. This book may not have made me grin from ear to ear, it made me smile and want to visit again soon.
review 2: I’ve spent the last couple weeks with four older women. That’s right – four ... moresouthern women. And my wife knew all about it, even excited for her turn to spend time with these women … Roxie, Bobbi, Pollie, and Rose.On a flight home from Oakland just before Christmas, a burly bearded man sat next to me on the plane and wondered why I was with such women, but I was too enthralled with their gossipy lives I didn’t have time to explain my fascination. There is something simple and ordinary about them, yet the quartet is adventurous, humorous, and deeply stunning.I was humbled to be allowed in on their secret thoughts and feelings, like part of the club – a club as important as a never-ending friendship.These ladies are the affectionately stubborn residents of fictional Honeycomb, Alabama, which is the quaint, but spirited setting for the third novel written by Jennifer Youngblood and Sandra Poole. The mother-daughter writing duo both grew up in the northern hills of rural Alabama around such women like the characters in their charming story titled The Paper Rose Club, which is the first in a planned series.The lives of these four women are defined by their exclusive club, which was formed after an act of “vandalism” by two childhood best friends against one of their mothers. Through tears, the mother speaks the motto that would help form The Paper Rose Club, but also define these four women for life.“Just remember that paper roses’ll last forever…just like your friendships.”The modest statement sets the tone for a story with unexpected twists and betrayal when friendships are tested and even damaged. Having grown up in Georgia, just across the Alabama state line, I was quickly transported home to the comfortable blanket of The South through syrupy language and distinctive southern phrases. Your heart clutches and your soul laughs with every paragraph the authors write.A tense line from the novel shares some fears for making mistakes between our friends and our urges.“Everything I ever believed about love has blown up in my face, and yet…I still have the capacity to love. What strange creatures we human beings are. Why do we crave the things that will lead to our undoing?”The Paper Rose Club is a roller-coaster of emotions, that as a man I couldn’t believe I was having, so I put the book down. But I went back, wanting to know what happened to the strong-willed Roxie and craving the unfiltered plainness of Bobbie. I needed to know if Pollie was up to something or what Rose would do next that caused everyone to roll their eyes.I can imagine some readers swallowing this story quickly, with one giant gulp, but I couldn’t. I had to take my time, savoring the thrill of the chase and the sting of betrayal. I had to mourn with these new friends and hold them tight as though I were Gus Malone – the love of Roxie’s life, whose touch she longs for.Wait! Hold-on for a minute. Don’t take my “man card” just yet.I’m not trying to imply this book is a romance novel, though there are hints of romance within the story. Youngblood and Poole have created a story about serious long-term relationships that are shattered when a friend hurts a friend, but how true friendships can overcome such heartache – at least a little with all the gossip flying around a tight-knit community.“It was mind boggling how efficient the grapevine was in Honeycomb,” the authors share.For women, The Paper Rose Club is a great story of crime, mystery, comedy and general small town life all mixed together. I found myself on the edge of my chair, laughing with the group, and even thinking about crying – because I was under the impression that men don’t cry. Wink, wink.For men, that don’t want to say they read a “chick” book, I found when I look back that it seemed I was reading a fascinating, fictional self-help book about how to and how not to treat a woman. I learned from the woman’s mind how she was hoping to be treated, wanted and loved; turn-ons and turn-offs, and even how to keep the magic alive in a relationship … not sexually, but emotionally.In the beginning, the authors set you on a path of thinking with the following sentiment:“I suppose every person who lives long enough is bound to have a secret. … What dark deeds lie beneath the simple smile of the woman walking briskly through the mall, her arms full of shopping bags?”But in the end, you are relieved that life can be just as we “imagined it would be – no better.”And that is simply all we need to be happy. less

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