Mundie Moms

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Book Review: The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell


Published by: Harcourt Children's Books
To Be Released on: April 17th, 2012
Source: ARC from publisher/author
5 Stars: I Loved It!
Pre-Order from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Series: The Vespertine Bk #2

Heartbroken over the tragic death of her fiancé, seventeen-year-old Zora Stewart leaves
Baltimore for the frontier town of West Glory, Oklahoma, to help her young widowedaunt keep her homestead going. There she discovers that she possesses the astonishingability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a“springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells, Zora feels the burden ofholding the key to something so essential to survival in this unforgiving land.Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way the prairie thirsts for water.Maybe, in the wildness of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply survivingand start living. -quoted from Goodreads

An enthralling story about heartbreak, second chances, love, and learning to find yourself, The Springsweet is the perfect sequel to Saundra Mitchell's The Vespertine. Starting off where Amelia's story ended, Zora's story is one fans of this series will quickly fall in love with. Zora not only has to come to terms with her broken heart, but she learns as she heads out west, leaving the comforts of her home behind to carry on and find herself again. Zora's an enchanting character with a voice that's just as beautiful as Amelia's. She's courageous, endearing and strong in her own right as she learns to adapt to her new life in the Wild West, learns to let go, and delicately balances the fine line between being a respectful young women in her society vs being true to herself.

Saundra has done such a suburb job creating compelling characters in this series. No matter how great or small their roles is, how lovable or horrible they are, they each have a purpose in this story's rich plot line. I thoroughly enjoyed the presence of a few characters from The Vespertine and quickly fell in love with a few new characters. Emerson Birch is one of those characters. Though Saundra created two wonderful, yet completely different love interests, Emerson grabbed my attention from the moment Zora meets him. Like Zora, he's lively, flawed, goes against the norm during this Victorian era period, and intriguing. There's something about Mr Birch that draws you in and leaves you wanting to know more about him. I loved the way Saundra carefully peeled back the layers of this rugged character. 

As much as I love the characters in The Springsweet, it's Saundra's passionate writing that completely swept me off my feet with this book. Saundra has a way with words that just pull me into her story. She made me feel as though I was there with Zora through out her entire book seeing what she was seeing, and experiencing what she was. Whether it was standing in a cool spring in the middle of the hot Oklahoma prairie during a scorching day, or slowing learning to over come the heartbreak from The Vespertine and learning to love again, everything Zora does is described so beautifully. Saundra's words are poetic, beautiful, and so elegant. Her attention to detail and her ability make me visualize the rich setting left me longing for so much more after I finished this book. 

I loved this book. It's one of those books that completely whisked me away during the duration I read. The writing is flawless, the romance is sigh worthy and the setting was enchanting to say the least. Plus I'm a sucker for this time period and absolutely love of this book. Much like The Vespertine, The Springsweet has a rich feel to it with a voice that reads like a classic and leaves you wanting much, much more. I highly recommend picking up this book for the writing alone. It's breathtaking and mesmerizing all at the same time! The Springsweet is a fabulous, clean cut read that both YA and adult readers will enjoy.


3 comments:

  1. I've been dying to read this one! I absolutely love Saundra's writing style and The Vespertine is one of my all time favorite books. This review, only makes me want to read Springsweet even more!

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    1. You will LOVE it! I loved The Vespertine, but this book is simply amazing writing wise. It's such a fabulous sequel. Saundra definitely has a gift for writing! I can't wait for you to read it.

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  2. Yay! We thought THE VESPERTINE was a gorgeous book, completely lovely and satisfying. We're so glad to hear that SPRINGSWEET lives up!

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