Blog Tour: Winter In Full Bloom

Author: Anita Higman

Publication Date: August 15, 2013
Publisher: River North

Lily Winter's wings are folded so tightly around her daughter that when empty nest arrives, she feels she can no longer fly. But Lily's lonely, widowed life changes in a heartbeat when she goes to visit a woman who is almost a stranger to her-a woman who also happens to be her mother. During their fiery reunion, her mother reveals a dark family secret that she'd been hiding for decades-Lily has an identical twin sister who was put up for adoption when they were just babies.

 Without looking back, Lily-with her fear of flying-boards a jumbo jet and embarks on a quest to find her sister which leads half way around the world to Melbourne, Australia. Befriended by imprudent Aussie, he might prove to be the key to finding her sister. But her journey becomes a circle that leads her back home to attempt a family reunion and to find the one dream she no longer imagined possible-the chance to fall in love again.

A distant gaze crossed his face, as though he were starting off into a faraway serene and lovely place. A place her music created, perhaps.

“He was supposed to be my prince, the one who would rescues me, protect me from harm, but what he did was far from noble. When he gave away his heart and body to another woman after he’d promised to be faithful, well, my hero became a villain.”

As if he were still connected to my sister, I didn’t want to let go of him.

“I think of those sweet babies when I play my music. I’m playing for them and for the lost little girl inside me who never got to grow up.”

Lily has just become used to living a lonely, widowed life. At the start of our journey with Lily, readers find that she has just found out a secret that her mom kept from her for many, many years: she has an identical twin sister who was given up at birth. Lily does what most people would probably do, and leaves on the next flight to Melbourne, Australia where her twin sister lives. Lily hopes to have a better meeting with her sister than with her fiery mother, and she has no idea what lays waiting for her overseas. Lily meets a man named Marcus who might be able to help lead her to her sister, but might he also lead her heart to love again?

Lily didn’t immediately pull me into her story because her story is just like so many other heroines in books I have read. However, once I met Lily’s mother and found out the secret her mother had been hiding from her for her entire life, I was hooked and really started looking at things from Lily’s perspective. Lily was a truly endearing and likeable character. Her heart and her mind are on the same page; she is caring and compassionate even in a time when her life is a huge mess. It was wonderful to see this story through her eyes and be able to watch her put her life together again.

This story is ultimately a story of relationships and the changes and healing that we must go through in life. Lily’s life was life a puzzle waiting to be picked up and put together. The writing style used by Higman was very lyrical and soothing. I had no trouble zooming through this story. Not to mention the cover! If that cover did not sell you, then you should have your eyes checked!

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at River North and the Liftuse Blog Publicity group in exchange for my honest review and for the purposes of the blog tour***