The Keeneston Roses finally tells the story of the town fairy godmothers: Lily Rae, Daisy Mae and Violet Fae Rose. When we fall in love with them, they're in their sixties and well established in the town. But how did they come to be the Roses? How did three women who love families and love end up as three old maids?
They each had their heart broken.
The book takes us to after the War. I'm pretty sure the reference is to World War II, because of timing from the other books. The three perfect Rose triplets are growing up in small-town Keeneston, and each has their own dream. Their father owns the local pharmacy and their mother is a well respected matron. Lily falls first, and she falls for the boy next door. It turns out that the boy next door is not as nice as he seems. At the climax of Lily's broken heart, the sisters are armed with their typical weapons: a broom, a wooden spoon, and a spatula. Daisy falls next, for a nice young man who is later involved in the Vietnam War. He dangles her for years before finally breaking her heart. Violet follows her dreams to culinary school in France where she falls for her teacher.... Who later turns out to be a real jerk.
What happens after each of the Roses gets their heart broken is what makes this story great. Although they each give up on love for themselves, they dedicate their lives to helping others find love. And they are incredibly successful! They pair people up with few, if any, inaccuracies, like they have a sixth sense about who belongs together. In the Forever Bluegrass series, they pass their matchmaking mantle on to a younger generation, but they still keep their hands in.
When devastation rocks Keeneston and the Rose family, the triplets have to learn how to survive in a male dominated world as single women. And they work to each of the women's talents. Violet and Daisy convert their father's pharmacy into the famous Blossom Cafe, and Lily converts the large Victorian they grew up in to the Bed and Breakfast. Both are iconic locations to the series, and it was amazing to see their roots.
*Ahem* years later, the Roses are all faced with a second chance at love. Will they take it? If they do, will becoming married women somehow change their relationship?
Step back in time in Keeneston to find out.
I also want to make a note on the cover choice I made here. Normally, I choose to show my faithful readers the most current version of the cover of a book, because as we know, covers change and it's easier to find something if you know what you're looking for, I really prefer the original cover of this book. A Rose, of course, symbolizes all three of the sisters, but their bond and the link between them is what takes them from lovable grannies to the amazing, perfect characters that they are; growing up, they never had to worry about taking a chance--their sisters and their parents would be there to catch them. I missed that in my life, and I feel that I would be an entirely different person if I'd had someone who believed that I really could do whatever I wanted to. That is the reason I always return to this book. It's my bad day book, my rainy day book, my I want to feel like I'm in love book. And it always will be.
Okay, now that I'm in a sufficiently sappy mood (reading this one, above all of the other Bluegrass books, makes me believe in love, and I'm already a hopeless romantic!), I'm going to turn on some music and do the cleaning that I've been avoiding while reading! I'll be back in Keeneston again in less than TWO WEEKS, and I couldn't be more excited. Kathleen Brooks picks the best teasers, and they always make me want to read the books more than I already do!
There's a running hope in the Facebook Blossom Cafe group that Ms. Brooks will turn the Roses into vampires so we never have to lose them.
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