Review: Missing Buds of May ... and meat and potatoes!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 11, 2013
Mild Spoiler Alert: I will be describing some details in ... detail here. So if you want to experience this novel for yourself, skip reading my review. If spoilers don't deter you, please read on with my blessing.There is something to be said for a good story. I liked this story. Since I couldn't give a half-star, I rounded down because of some pet-peeves I had with the story. I read the story with no expectations really other than a hope of being entertained and get into a new author and a new serial (I love series work). However, there was just a little something missing in the tale for me. Don't get me wrong. There was enough to enjoy here, but the character building left a little to be admired.It was like a sitcom romance- thirty minutes to marriage! The plot was almost non-existent. We know that Rose wants her husband to love her as much as she loves him (a husband she picked based on looks alone and one introduction with no other knowledge of what sort of fellow he was or anything). In truth I had a huge issue with her process of selecting a husband. Why was he the one? Because he was handsome and had good teeth? Is that the way all 1880's brides picked as spouse? It kind of kills the romance for some of us if there's no electric chemistry between the pair other than a "She'll do" and "his teeth are heavenly." Not very admirable qualities in either, but I guess for a girl like Rose (the spoiled sister) it made sense.Dr. Shawn Henry was a good enogh I suppose, though in truth he was a very vague character. I never really understood him as a hero. Was he a bookworm all his life? Did he have a close family? Any brothers? Any sisters? What was he except a dentist dropped fully formed into society two months earlier with a family he sends an odd note every so often? And why was he so unaffected by Rose except the need to end the courtship early and get on with the booty? Hmm... seems legit, but if that's what we're loving for a hero, I think I may have to disagree.For me, the real meat and potatoes of the romance were missing. The sex scene was good enough, but there weren't any real scenes to show me any sort of development other than a few lines here and there to tell how someone was feeling or acting. There were no demonstrations of that feeling or action. Shawn was all about gifts and flowers because that's what others advised him to do. But it wasn't like he did them for any reason other than that's what everyone said he should. Did he have no ideas of how to woo the willing even? Was he a virgin or did he just pay prostitutes before he married-- would money to Rose have been too crass, you think?-that was almost what I speculated he was thinking at times. For a Doctor, supposedly a scientific scholarly gentleman, he was really kind of dumb and disconnected.Now, I'm not really intending to tear this book apart. There were many things I did enjoy. I liked the interactions and the family connections in this story. I think it builds well into a series when future characters and foreshadowing are laid out. And the message about battered women and shelters being available is always a good idea in my opinion. It did get a little heavy in this book at times, but mostly because there was no viable connection to the abuse as far as the main characters were concerned to lend it any credibility. Had Aunt Harriet Farmer been the main character, the heavy doses would have made more sense (Perhaps when I read Brides of Beckham it will connect?). Her back story seemed more interesting than Rose's trials and tribulations most of the time.The women's shelter as a venue for Rose to spend her days seemed to me more normal than the force-feed of information about abuse that seemed to have no valid vent. The continued hounding of the message had a very adverse effect for me personally. I was worried throughout the book that Shawn was going to grow bitter and start smacking Rosie about. I'm glad it didn't go there, but surely the author can see what it may have done to the hapless readers on occasion?I read it from start to finish in a little under six hours (I read very fast). Rose was vapid in the beginning and seemed to mature without any sort of revolutionary change other than realizing she married a man who didn't fall all over himself for her. It was believable enough. Unfortunately the character of Dr. Shawn Henry (a.k.a. the hero or male romantic lead) seemed like a transparent celluloid rather than an actual character. He was about as romantic as fast food. In his attempt to be a good husband  instead of trying to get to know Rose personally, he just went for suggestions and did them exactly. No creative juices needed on his part at all (yawn). The picnic on the beach was nice, I suppose, but it would've been stronger if he hadn't had to ask another guy for the idea. It was really like the dentist had never met a woman nor knew how to do anything with one except bed them or tell his family about them in distracted telegrams- for little to no purpose to the story.In truth, the story was okay, but it wasn't great. The whole business seemed a little lacking. "Too easy" is the best description I have for the business. In fact, I also thought the story was taking off when Dr. Shawn found the green-eyed monster of jealousy. But this jealousy would have been more believable and had more credibility if we (the readers) had been given more evidence of proof to the sort. I think it's the old adage, "don't just tell the reader ... show them!" Rose and Shawn drifted apart from the news of the baby until Christmas. Yet the author merely mentioned this without showing any scenes of real conflict or evidence that they were hurting or upset other than to say Rose was sad. Really, you can't mention a rift big enough to put a wife out of joint with her husband so much so that he kicks her out of his bed and then skip over nine months without showing us a little of how it worked (or didn't work) for the couple. There seemed to be more about the background here than the actual story. I felt more depth from the static characters like Annie and Myrtle than I did from the hero and heroine. And yet I still gave it three stars because essentially it was still an okay story. Just needed some filling to make the doughnut worth the calories (or the cost)!And while we're on the subject of needs I'll mention a huge pet peeve of mine- Ms. Osbourne goes to great lengths to mention that Rose has seven sisters often throughout the book. But she never told us what the elusive eighth sister's name actually was?  Rose was supposedly the eldest of eight (described more than once in the book as having seven sisters), but it bugged me that they were never introduced as a group. I finally had to go back and skim the entire book trying to find the name of the eighth flower-I mean, sister. We have 1. Rose, 2. Lily, 3. Amaryllis, 4. Jasmine, 5. Hyacinth, 6. Violet, and 7. Iris, but where's number eight? And I know she has to be above Violet and Iris in age because they were identified as the next youngest and youngest respectfully. So, who did I miss? Or if she wasn't named, who will she be? Chrysanthymum? Azalea? Buttercup? Daisy? Bouganvillea? How about a hint in the next book? It will drive me nuts.Again, I like the story but just not as fond of the author's storytelling process. I've made plans to try some of her other works to see if this is just a fluke. I will definitely stick with this series so long as the author doesn't lose me with continued withholding of the eighth sister's name. If she won't give it up by Amaryllis's book (which is the latest available as I have just begun this series), I'll just write my own story about a girl named Gladiola or Myrtle (as in Crepe). She'll be the sister no one mentions because she's such a loose floozy with lightskirt morals who shames the family and runs away with the no-good Mr. Samsom who kept coming in to have teeth pulled instead of taking the time to practice good oral hygiene. She'll end up as a gold-mining town prostitute with a heart of gold who falls in love with a fellow who ends up making her the Molly-Brown Debutant she never thought she'd be... as his mistress. And then I'd make her go back and flaunt her money and show those other pretty sisters what sex out of wedlock will get you!Okay, I'm just kidding. But really, Ms.Osbourne, who is the missing eighth sister?