The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly - Review

Let me just start my review by saying that this may be the best book I've ever read. Not since 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' has a novel captivated me as 'The Tea Rose' by Jennifer Donnelly has done.

I do not feel I can do this book justice by providing any sort of plot synopsis as this is one of the richest, most plot-heavy, character-developed novels I've seen in a long time. If you're looking for a general summary of the book jacket, you can start here: Synopsis

This is not your typical 'women's lit'. True, the main character is a woman, and despite all the hardship she endures, she still pines over her childhood love. But unlike typical women's lit, this novel sends a message of independence and female empowerment. Our heroine makes it her life's mission to avenge her father's death, and in her quest forsakes marriage in favor of career (which was a big deal in the 1890s) and rises to be the most powerful tea baroness on two continents. It is only after she has fully realized her potential and accomplished her goals that she can return to London to enact her revenge and reclaim the love she lost years ago.

In short, this book made me want to visit London, learn the true story of Jack the Ripper, cherish my loved ones, start my own business, and of course, read the second book in this series - 'The Winter Rose'.  

20 Kids and Still Counting?! Seriously?!

I realize this post is controversial since so many people ADORE this family and all that they stand for. I, however, have a different opinion to which I feel I am entitled. Luckily, my viewership is so low that I'm not going to worry about offending the five people who actually read this blog.

I'm talking about the Duggar family who just announced that Michelle is pregnant with her 20th child! http://tv.yahoo.com/news/michelle-jim-bob-duggar-expecting-20th-child-144832226.html

The top 5 things that annoy me about the Duggar family:

1) The parents are selfish. They are having so many kids that it's forcing the older kids to take on parenting roles of the younger ones at too early of an age, rather than being silly, carefree children themselves. Let kids be kids!

2) They are too conservative. Ok - I get that they are Christian and Christians are taught to be conservative, but as such, the expectation is to "live IN this world, but not be OF this world". I've heard this expression multiple times throughout my life and it basically means you should ADAPT to the social climate to the extent that you are able but keep focus on your spirituality and not fall into the worldly traps of materialism, etc. They, however, are not adapting to the social climate but ostracizing themselves from it. Who wears a crew neck t-shirt underneath a very modest v-neck t-shirt?! People who somehow think the vision of a woman's collar bone drives men wild. Are they living in this world? No. They are living in the 1800s. Get with the times, Duggars!

3) This need to spawn as many children as possible is an ADDICTION. If the show were called "19 Cats and Counting", they'd be investigated as Animal Hoarders. In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw that episode on Animal Planet. As I recall, they made the woman give up ALL of her cats because she couldn't control the need to "collect" them.

4) The world is already overpopulated. I guess they didn't get the memo. Talk to an urban family in China - They'll fill you in.

5) They have somehow become FAMOUS for procreating and established a sort of inverted bell-curve for society's acceptance of the number of children any one family has. As the number of children goes up - 6, 7, 8... society begins to turn its nose up: "Look at all those kids... It'll be my tax paying dollars that ends up supporting them!" (Remember how much hatred rained down on the Octo-Mom). BUT, as the number becomes astronomical - 15, 16 ... 20, society changes its tone: "Wow! What a marvel! What an accomplishment! Let's give them their own TV show!" It's a bizarre trend, and I fear many people will try to copy-cat this lifestyle in hopes of establishing their own fame. (See reason #4).

Jim Bob - Please... I BEG you... Stop the madness and GET CABLE!