The Scent of Gardenias by Lorraine Haas – Review by Elizabeth Sanchez

The Scent of Gardenias by Lorraine Haas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Scent of Gardenias was very well written for the time period. It really felt like I was in the 40s. There were little details that really made it come to life. I loved the parts with the sticks of gum-There were a couple parts where Margaret talked about splitting sticks of gum in half, because it was a treat and to make it last. It really helped the readers understand their life, and the poverty she lived in. I felt for bad for Margaret. She was raised poor and wanted nothing more than to get away from that life and her controlling father. But she was young and naïve and too quick to “fall in love” – declaring so after just a couple times of meeting a boy/man. I was happy that she never gave up, and continued to work hard to raise her daughters. The characters were all well written and I enjoyed watching them all grow up throughout the book. I like how things were implied without outright saying them (references to certain people and their professions- I don’t want to ruin anything so keeping it very vague)
I love that it was loosely based on true events- if you read the part after the story the author describes how she based the story and characters on her mother and events she went through.

View all my reviews

Reviewed by @way2gosmartguy