Wednesday 25 February 2015

The Dandelion Years – by Erica James

Original Cover
My own copy


The blurb:

A gorgeous tale of friendship and love from Sunday Times bestseller Erica James.

Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl. A rambling pink cottage on the edge of the Suffolk village of Melbury Green, its enchanting garden provided a fairy-tale playground of seclusion, a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood.

Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and as a book restorer devotes her days tending to the broken, battered books that find their way to her, daydreaming about the people who had once turned their pages. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible - and realising someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide a story of their own - Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love...

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Saskia, now 32 years, has been living in Ashcombe with her father and grandfathers for 22 years now. A family tragedy forced to be strong and start new, just the four of them. Saskia is a book restorer and works from home. I was immediately impressed by the relationship the four of them had: Deep, understanding and so caring.

Saskia finds a notebook and is immediately draw to it. She is fascinated by it and wants to find out more. This leads to Jacob’s story from many many years ago, it’s his notebook and some chapters are only dedicated to his story of finding and fighting for love. I really enjoyed the changes between present and past, it was like I was reading the notebook with Saskia together and I also wanted to find out what happened.

The notebook is also connected to the male lead in this story, Matthew Gray, Jacob was like a father to him and he now has to deal with his loss.
Matthew and Saskia don’t seem to like each other at first, but that changes when they spend time with each other and the attraction is definitely there. I was actually waiting for something to happen between them ;) And it did, but of course not with some drama involved. It gave the story an extra touch and I loved the connection to Jacob’s story. It was Jacob’s journey of love and now Saskia is going through the same. In this story she had to learn to let go and have the courage to change something in life and be willing to leave the sanctuary of Ashcome. I was glad she had her father and grandfathers to guide her. Throughout the story they have to deal with another sad thing, which brought the family even closer together in my eyes.
I thought that the ending was really sweet and adorable, I actually would love to hear more about it all.

This novel is a story of melancholy, family, love and of learning to take risks. Erica’s writing is beautiful, emotional and very gripping. I’m very curious about her other books right now ;)

Rating:




My possible cast:

Saskia: Emily VanCamp
















Matthew: Jos Bowman




Erica on Twitter: @TheEricaJames
Website: http://ericajames.co.uk

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