Return to Magnolia Bloom: A Magnolia Bloom Novel Book 1

When Paige MacInnes gets word that her closest relative, Aunt Violet, has passed away, she makes the trek to the family castle in East Texas. True to their heritage, the MacInnes family have even held their own authentic Highland games on the castle grounds for more than eighty years, and this year will be no exception, funeral or not. Pending divorce, Paige begins to realize she must figure out who she is before she can continue to be the dependable and reliable one in the family. When a sexy, Scottish architect visiting the castle catches her attention, Paige sets her sights on discovering what these feelings and questions are that keep coming up. Upon receiving Violet’s diaries to read after the funeral, Paige’s world is turned upside down with the family secrets held inside.

Ms. Adler’s tome, with all its mystery and magic, does not lack in imagination and detail. In fact, it literally encompasses too much detail to the point of overkill. The characters are lovely and beautifully written, but the story lacking. Overall, Paige’s individual story is great. Unfortunately, this book contains many, many other storylines, so much so that it becomes hard to keep track of who is related to whom, what time period it is, as all the time periods use modern terms, and matching nicknames to actual names. This added much confusion causing this reader to repeatedly have to turn back pages to figure out what was happening. Splitting this novel into a series of its own with each character’s story would surely have led to less frustration and a more enjoyable read.

Marie Sanderson