Where Petals Fall – Melissa Foster – Fiction Addiction Book Tour

I’m delighted to be taking part in the tour for Where Petals Fall

“With vivid prose and a tender heart, Melissa Foster has crafted a psychological and emotional mystery fueled by love in all its forms”

Jennie Shortridge

Author of Love Water Memory

Description:
 
On the surface Junie Olson’s life looks idyllic, from her handsome husband and beautiful daughter to her successful business, the bakery she always dreamed of opening. But in the past few months her world has slowly unraveled. Her precocious child is withdrawing, showing unexplainable signs of emotional regression, a condition that frays the bonds of Junie’s once impenetrable marriage. When her father dies suddenly of a heart attack, Junie packs up her daughter and goes home to help her mother. Her homecoming stirs up memories of the nightmare she thought she had put behind her, the disappearance of her childhood friend, Ellen. Haunted by recurring memories of what happened on that fateful day, Junie must gather the courage to revisit her past and untangle the secrets surrounding her missing friend, and the trauma that has caused her little girl to climb back into herself. As the pieces come together on the event that shook her small town, and at the risk of losing everyone she loves, Junie will question everything she thought she could rely on and everyone she thought she knew.

WHERE PETALS FALL is a gripping and emotional novel with an undercurrent of suspense, featuring a determined mother whose world slowly comes apart around her. Where Petals Fall will appeal to fans of Lisa Scottoline’s Save Me or Jodi Picoult’s Salem Falls, who love an emotional and gripping read. They will root for Junie as they follow her transition into an indomitable heroine who must reconcile what she discovers about her husband and family’s tragic past, and find a way to put the pieces of her family back together and carry on.

My thoughts:

Junie Olson has a handsome and successful lawyer husband, a lovely 4 year daughter, and has achieved her dream of having a successful bakery business but despite all this, her life is not entirely happy. Their daughter Sarah, has changed from being an outgoing and friendly little girl to being silent and uncommunicative and nobody, not even the professional therapists, can understand why. Her daughter’s regression has created a great divide between Junie and her husband Brian and Junie is unsure what the future holds for them as a family. To add to her worries, a family tragedy drives her back home to her mother where she is confronted with the past memories of her childhood when her best friend Ellen suddenly disappeared without trace.

This was the first book by Melissa Foster that I had read. I love stories with an element of suspense and mystery and it was this that drew me to the book and I wasn’t disappointed. Melissa Foster has cleverly woven the feeling of tension and suspense through the story by use of flashbacks and fragments of memory. The reader is taken through the story with Junie and her quest for the truth, she remembers nothing of the day that Ellen disappeared – however the risk she takes is that knowing the truth may destroy her family completely.

All the characters were so well written, Brian, her husband, seemed at times to be cold and uncaring compared to Junie’s softer, caring side. My favourite character however was Junie’s mother, Ruth. She was a strong woman, who despite tragically losing her husband, was someone that Junie could completely rely on for advice and reason. I liked Junie although I have to admit that I did find her frustrating at times. I completely sympathised with her predicament but sometimes her inability to face up to things and her habit of running away in denial made me irritated with her.

I would describe this book as a family drama with suspense. If you like contemporary fiction that has that little something extra then I would recommend that you give this a try.

My thanks to the author and Fiction Addiction Book Tours for the digital copy to review.

About the Author

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women’s fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, and the World Literary Café. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.

Visit Melissa on The Women’s Nest, Fostering Success, or World Lit Cafe. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.

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