Watching the Roses: Volume Two

This is book two of the Egerton Hall trilogy, and much like "The Tower Room," the story is told after the fact. Alice (Sleeping Beauty) is in her room, writing in a journal of roses that her father used as a young man. She tells of the doctors that have come to examine her, why she does not speak or even open her eyes when her family visits her, how quiet the house has been since the night of her party, and the actual preparations for her eighteenth birthday bash. Also, Alice muses upon Jean-Luc, a young Frenchman who was supposed to come to her party but is running late. He might have to climb the gate to reach her. This book is the heaviest in the trilogy, but the most stunning in its simplicity. The reader can figure out what happened to Alice long before she is brave enough to write it down, but your heart breaks again when she finally does. I highly recommend this book and the rest of the trilogy, "The Tower Room" and "Pictures of the Night."

_Watching the Roses_, the second book in the Egerton Hall trilogy, tells the story of Alice, the shyest, most sheltered, most romantic of the three friends. Echoing the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" and a little bit of "Red Riding Hood", it is also the most romantic, most gothic, and darkest of the three books. Alice was cursed at her christening by her aunt, "the dreaded Violette", who was angry at not being invited; the curse stated that she would be "snuffed out" on her eighteenth birthday. Another aunt tried to mitigate this by wishing her health and a long life, assuring her parents that, while Alice might fall ill or have an accident that year, she would recover. Eighteen years later, the family throws a grand coming-out party for Alice, to defy Violette's dark words. And at this party, Alice is raped.Alice retreats into silence, hiding in her room and refusing to speak to anyone. Her parents fall into despair as well, drinking and taking sleeping pills, and letting even the precious rose garden go to ruin. Alice sits alone, writing her thoughts in an old notebook of her father's, peppered with his notes on this rose or that. The rose descriptions at the beginning of each of Alice's entries are easy to skim over, but don't--they set the mood for the next installment of the story. Alice wants to break out of her shell, and can't find the strength to do so; the only thing that sustains her are dreams of her long-distance sweetheart, Jean-Luc. How will she "wake up" back into normal life? Read and find out...

Having already read 'The Tower Room', first in the series, and been given a taster of this story, I was eager to read it, and I wasn't disappointed. It begins just as 'The Tower Room' did, with 'once upon a time', but the fairy tale atmosphere is far deeper in this book, as it should be, because Alice's life is much more rarified than Megan's. There is a hint of something awful from the first page, drawing you deeper into the story, and more hints are added as you progress, a sense of doom overhanging the heroine. You really get a sense of Alice, an only child surrounded by doting adults who are all much older than her, very sensitive and very close to her two friends Megan and Bella, who also act as her protectors. The reader is also made aware of how unexperienced Alice is with men, and how she finds this lack of experience rather difficult faced with her friends' progress. There are many little details which lift the book above the norm-Alice's hint of foreign blood, her excellence at Art, the rose descriptions which serve as a frame for the story, a nice touch which links it back to the original. Finally, I was also pleased and impressed that Geras makes Alice sound different from Megan, despite both stories being told in the first person. An excellent read which I keep coming back to.

Watching the Roses was among one of the most wonderful books I have ever read. It's a definate page turner that you'll NEVER put down! This book will send you on a carousel of emotions from love, to being at the hands of death. Adele Geras has a true talent for reflecting the thoughts of the main character of the story, and making you believe you are right there with Alice by her window watching the roses. Meet Bella and Megan, Alice's two best friends who are also total opposites, but make the friendship of a lifetime in the meantime. Meet all of Alice's aunts, each different and unique, and each who have their own story to tell. And finally meet Jean-Luc, the handsome foreign boy that steals Alice's heart, a kiss, and brings Alice up from her "coma". I give this book 5 stars, and can't wait to read other two books in the series!