Book Review: Desert Flower by Angela Scott

Review: Desert Flower
Series: —
Author: Angela Scott
No of Pages: 216
Genre: Upper YA – Women’s Fiction
Date Published: 1/21/2013
Received From: Reading Addiction Blog Tours

Synopsis:

“Bodies have a canny way of finding Samantha Jean Haggert. The first, the dead body of her mama. The second, a naked man in the middle of the Arizona desert. For Sam, dealing with one dead body in her lifetime is more than unfair. Two, is downright cruel.

Seven years after running from West Virginia, Sam’s now a young woman of nineteen, trying to put the pieces of her life together with the help of her family—Jacob, Boone, and Laura. But the naked man in the desert spirals her world out of control, resurfacing past hurts, revealing old secrets, and pitting her between two men who via for her heart. Carson, her friend, her first kiss, and the one man who knows everything about her past and loves her despite it. And Turner, the stranger who knows nothing, but who excites and frustrates her all at once.

When bad choices made as a child leads to more bad choices as a young adult, Sam finds herself at a crossroads and is forced to face her demons head on if she plans to have any future at all—with Carson, with Turner, or with anyone. But fixing the wrongs of the past takes time, and learning to forgive herself is damn near impossible.”

My thoughts:

After reading Desert Rice last year I just knew I had to get my hands on this one. Now, I know sometimes sequels can be really iffy but somehow Angela Scott has managed to make this just as memorable as Desert Rice.

You have the same characters that you fell in love with before and I was really glad that she threw in a bit here and there about Sam’s past. It’s nice having your memory jogged but not having SO much detail that you’re dragged down and Angela has a great middle ground with this. Actually, you could probably read this without reading the first but the first really does introduce the characters and gives you a sense of what they’re fighting for. Also, some things come back to bite Sam in the behind and if you’re not knowledgable about them, although Angela again reminds us what happened, but still it might not make complete sense.

So, we’re given book two, completely thrown into the fire. And it really does feel like that from page one. They finally have their lives in order and then ALL this stuff crops up. And it’s not even stuff out of the ordinary, it could happen to anyone, but Sam really does have a knack for finding some crazy stuff in life.

What I love about this story is the raw emotion. Everything that Sam and her brother have gone through are right there. This brought tears to my eyes multiple times and really makes you just want to reach into the book and give this poor girl a hug!

What I didn’t like were her choices. Sometimes she does what she thinks OTHER people want, particularly men. Now I’m not saying that’s a bad thing but after what she went through in Desert Rice, it is a bad thing. She needs to put her wants and needs above anyone else!! And although this adds to the plot, it absolutely killed me! After pulling her out of the book and hugging her, I wanted to just shake her!

The plot is there, movement was fabulous. Characters as always with Angela Scott are amazing. Sam is so strong and yet so fragile, it’s so real. I love these kinds of characters and although the plot is a lot (the first story is about rape) it’s not something that has to be trudged through.

About the author:

I hear voices. Tiny fictional people sit on my shoulders and whisper their stories in my ear. Instead of medicating myself, I decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. I’m not crazy. I’m an author. For the most part, I write contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, I found myself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West—and loving it. My zombies don’t sparkle, and they definitely don’t cuddle. At least, I wouldn’t suggest it.

I live on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. I graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of my love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn’t require math. I can’t spell, and grammar is my arch nemesis. But they gave me the degree, and there are no take backs.

As a child, I never sucked on a pacifier; I chewed on a pencil. I’ve been writing that long. It has only been the past few years that I’ve pursued it professionally, forged relationships with other like-minded individuals, and determined to make a career out of it.

You can subscribe and follow me on my website, where I blog obsessively about my writing process and post updates on my current works. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook, but be forewarned, I tweet and post more than a normal person.

Website: www.angelascottauthor.com

Twitter: @whimsywriting

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaScottWriter

Buy Links

Amazon

DESERT RICE http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Rice-ebook/dp/B008U04YU4/ref=la_B007N3J0L2_1_3_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1358357000&sr=1-3

DESERT FLOWER http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Flower-ebook/dp/B00B0QNQF4/ref=la_B007N3J0L2_1_4_title_0_main?ie=UTF8&qid=1358357000&sr=1-4

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/angela-scott (DESERT FLOWER SHOULD SHOW UP THERE SOON)

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/angela-scott/id486086004?mt=11 (DESERT FLOWER SHOULD SHOW UP THERE SOON)