Helpful Score: 1
I came across this book at the library of course. Never heard about this author. Glad I picked it up thou. The story has alot of twists & turns in the search of a missing little boy. Interesting ending to the book. Look forward to reading the previous books by this author.
Helpful Score: 1
Good read but predictable. Ms Jio does a good job getting into our main character's (Claire and Vera) thought and emotion. Smooth transtion from past and present. You can easily figure out what will happen. Not quite as good as her other two books.
Im still not sure how I feel about this book. It was good though, despite the main character aggravating me at times. The book goes from past to present and back again but is easy enough to follow, which I liked, because normally, I dont care for that kind of story. I think I felt that Vera, the character of the past, was a little unbelievable, and as I said, she did aggravate me a bit. Overall, I did enjoy the book and Im still giving the book a 4 at least, as I did enjoy the writing style of this author.
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/10/blackberry-winter.html
A blackberry winter is an expression used to describe a cold spell in late spring when the blackberry bushes are blooming. In this case, it refers to two snow storms in May about 80 years apart.
Claire Aldridge is a newspaper reporter assigned to write a human interest story about a storm in 2010. She discovers that a similar storm occurred in 1933. While researching to find an "angle" for her story, she reads about the disappearance of a child during the 1933 storm. Vera Bradley was single mother who came home from work on the morning of that storm and found her three year old son Daniel missing. The mystery of the disappearance was never solved.
The books weaves back and forth between Claire's story and research and Vera's story. Slowly, similarities and connections emerge. The connections continue to build coming to a shared conclusion to both stories.
Claire's story - of her marriage, of the loss of her child - is an interesting one. Vera's story - of love and of single parenthood - is also interesting. The connections between the two, however, create too neat a package. Everything seems to come together piece by piece very conveniently. Unfortunately, that removes some of the "genuineness" of the two individual stories and makes it seem somewhat contrived. It is an okay book, but not great for that reason. Fun to read while it lasts, but not memorable.
*** Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers program ***
A blackberry winter is an expression used to describe a cold spell in late spring when the blackberry bushes are blooming. In this case, it refers to two snow storms in May about 80 years apart.
Claire Aldridge is a newspaper reporter assigned to write a human interest story about a storm in 2010. She discovers that a similar storm occurred in 1933. While researching to find an "angle" for her story, she reads about the disappearance of a child during the 1933 storm. Vera Bradley was single mother who came home from work on the morning of that storm and found her three year old son Daniel missing. The mystery of the disappearance was never solved.
The books weaves back and forth between Claire's story and research and Vera's story. Slowly, similarities and connections emerge. The connections continue to build coming to a shared conclusion to both stories.
Claire's story - of her marriage, of the loss of her child - is an interesting one. Vera's story - of love and of single parenthood - is also interesting. The connections between the two, however, create too neat a package. Everything seems to come together piece by piece very conveniently. Unfortunately, that removes some of the "genuineness" of the two individual stories and makes it seem somewhat contrived. It is an okay book, but not great for that reason. Fun to read while it lasts, but not memorable.
*** Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers program ***
Two different women. Two different times. We meet them both. Vera and her child, Daniel, in the 1930's and Claire in today's Seattle. Claire becomes intrigued with Vera's story because her son, Daniel, disappears during a snow storm. Claire's editor has asked her to write about two different snow storms occurring in the same day. She thinks it's a story just to keep her busy until she encounters Vera.
The tale weaves back and forth between Vera's life and Claire's own. Both women have deep issues. As Claire researches Vera and her life, she finds herself solving her own problems. The book is skillfully written and easy to read. Ready for a charming and lovely story? Pick this one up.
The tale weaves back and forth between Vera's life and Claire's own. Both women have deep issues. As Claire researches Vera and her life, she finds herself solving her own problems. The book is skillfully written and easy to read. Ready for a charming and lovely story? Pick this one up.
Fabulous book. The past and present knit together beautifully. The ending was a surprise too.
I thought this was an interesting story, but too many things fell into place very conveniently and it wasn't hard to figure out certain plot twists. Worth the read though.
