The Poppy and the Rose by Ashlee Cowles

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Poppy and the Rose

Author:  Ashlee Cowles

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

Publisher: Owl Hollow

Pages: 266 (epub.)

Introduction (Goodreads synopsis)

1912: Ava Knight, a teen heiress, boards the Titanic to escape the shadow of her unstable mother and to fulfill her dream of becoming a photographer in New York. During the journey she meets three people who will change her life: a handsome sailor, a soldier in the secret Black Hand society that will trigger World War I, and a woman with clairvoyant abilities. When disaster strikes the ship, family betrayals come to light.

2010: When Taylor Romano arrives in Oxford for a summer journalism program, something feels off. Not only is she greeted by a young, Rolls Royce-driving chauffeur, but he invites her to tea with Lady Mae Knight of Meadowbrook Manor, an old house with a cursed history going back to the days of Henry VIII. Lady Knight seems to know a strange amount about Taylor and her family problems, but before Taylor can learn more, the elderly woman dies, leaving as the only clue an old diary. With the help of the diary, a brooding chauffeur, and some historical sleuthing, Taylor must uncover the link between Ava’s past and her own….

Quick Thoughts

I feel like I took a chance on this book because I don't often read books that tell a story across time, but I am so glad that I took that chance. This book was fantastic. The storytelling was wonderful and I liked all of the characters. 

My only small bit of criticism is that the story takes a while to get going, but the slow pace issue is saved by the writing style. The writing was so smooth and full of beautiful lines that I almost didn't mind that the story took awhile for me to get into. 

The settings of both England and the Titanic were described so nicely, and the emotions of the characters felt so authentic that I truly felt like I was inside the story.

The twists at the end were very good, and I was satisfied with the ending as a whole.

Overall, The Poppy and the Rose was a beautifully written and emotional story, that's worth the read despite the slow start. I think I would recommend this book to teens who are maybe slightly older, as the story does cover the sinking of the Titanic. Because of that, I would recommend that those who may be uncomfortable reading about mass death stay away from this book.

Teaser Tuesday (14): The Poppy and the Rose by Ashlee Cowles

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can participate in Teaser Tuesdays. Just do the following:
• Grab your read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your 
teasers!

This week my teasers are coming from The Poppy and the Rose by Ashlee Cowles. I'm so excited to share teasers from this book because the writing is too beautiful not to be shared. So my teasers this week to give you a taste of The Poppy and the Rose are:

"For its grand finale, Titanic's stern climbed into the starry heavens like a lone Manhattan skyscraper, transforming the miracle of electric lighting into a horror--a great and terrible beauty."

"Waiting cracked open even hearts as hard as a walnut shell and only an open heart can be filled." 

Page 206.

Choosing these teasers was so hard because this book is so full of great lines, but I settled on these, hoping that I am doing the great lines justice.

Music Monday (1): The Poppy and Rose by Ashlee Cowles

Today I wanted to start a new type of post on my blog called Music Monday, where I share songs that I thing accompany my current read quite nicely.

These will just be short little posts to quickly list songs that I think fit my read, like a tiny bite sized playlist.

I don't think that this will become a regular weekly thing that I do, because I only want to post when I feel that I have songs that really fit the writing. I've had this idea for awhile, but this is the first week that I actually feel like I'm reading a book that definitely should be accompanied by a little soundtrack.

This week, I'm reading The Poppy and the Rose by Ashlee Cowles, a story about Taylor, who arrives in Oxford for a journalism program--and to find our more mysterious trip her father took there prior to his death, and the story of Ava Knight, a titanic survivor. Somehow, their stories are connected, and the only way for Taylor to figure out how, is to keep reading Ava's memoir in Meadowbrook Manor, the place where Ava grew up.

The songs that I have chosen that I feel like perfectly accompany the story are two classic piano pieces: J.S Bach's Prelude No. 1 and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. I can only ever picture classical music when thinking about the titanic, and when I picture any Manor setting, in my mind, there's always piano playing mysteriously in the background.

So, if anybody reads The Poppy and the Rose I suggest doing so with classical piano playing in the background.

First Line Friday (5): The Poppy and the Rose by Ashlee Cowles

First Line Friday is a bookish tag hosted over at Abstract Books that is used to showcase your favourite first lines of books.

       There really is something to be said about a good first line, and I'm going to be using this tag from now on to showcase my current read's first lines.

       

Today's First Line Friday is coming to you from The Poppy and the Rose by Ashlee Cowles. This book was published on October 6, 2020, but I was granted an ARC from Netgalley. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but I'm a little bit more than than halfway done, but the writing has had me hooked from the very first line. So with no further introduction, the first line is...

"A few months before the anti-aircraft missile took his life and forever changed mine, Dad and I played our favorite game"

I absolutely love this as a first line, because it puts you right in the calm before the storm that you already know is coming, which affectively hooked me right away.