Title: Salting Roses
Authors: Lorelle Marinello
Publisher: Avon A; Original edition
Publication Date: November 30, 2010
Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN: 978-0061443749
Genre: Fiction
A young woman abandoned as an infant on an Alabama porch is horrified to discover that she is the missing heiress to a vast Connecticut fortune—a birthright she is desperate to reject in favor of her Peachtree Lane roots.
Gracie Lynne Calloway—once left in a coal bucket on a front porch in a small Alabama town—discovers on her twenty-fifth birthday that she is the kidnapped daughter of a late New England financier and heiress to a fortune. When the tabloid press and her unwanted greedy relatives descend on her, she has to admit the quiet secure life she’s known and loved is gone for good. As Gracie struggles to stabilize her world and come to terms with her new identity, she learns that belonging is not about where you came from but who you are.
My Review:
Delightful, endearing and insightful, Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello is a lovely work of southern fiction. Marinello crafts a delightful story which takes place in the quaint town of Shady Grove, Alabama, filled with vivid, descriptive characters in which, as is typical in small towns, everyone knows everyone else’s business. While the story is about what defines a person, in this instance Gracie Lynn Calloway, and it is done well, I found myself most intrigued by the characters and their interactions with each other and how these interactions evolved as the story unfolds. Salting Roses takes the reader deep into the south, well for this Northerner, it is deeply south, and I found the dialect helped to help enhance the ambiance of the setting of the book. Marinello has captured a time, place, and topic in a delightfully charming and thoughtful manner and I found Salting Roses to be a truly captivating book and I would recommend Salting Roses to anyone looking for a charming southern book. Salting Roses would also make an interesting discussion book due to the topics and moral issues that arise from wealth and lack thereof.
Lorelle Marinello has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart for Best Single Title Romance in 2005.
Lorelle received her BA in Fine Arts from San Diego State University. She lives in Southern California with her huband and three children. In her free time she enjoys landscape gardening and researching her family’s Southern genealogy. Her first novel, Waltzing with Alligators, inspired by her Southern roots, debuted in 2008.
For more information visit Lorelle Marinello’s website.
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I received a complimentary copy of Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.
I can’t wait to read this one. I love books set in the South and a Harper rep at SIBA raved about this book.
Kathy, this one was was sweet and yet dealt with some huge life changes. It was really well done and a lot of fun.
I hadn’t thought about the discussion potential, but you’re right – the issues surrounding her wealth WOULD lead to great conversations. Great for a book club!
Thanks for being a part of the tour. I’m so glad you enjoyed this one.