#9: The Lady's Slipper

I'm going to keep this short. This was book was a disappointment. I put it on my list after a lady in my church book club suggested it as one of three options for the next month's read. We ended up choosing a different book as a group, but her description of this one piqued my interest.

Basically, this book is set in England in the 1600s. The cast of characters includes, but is not limited to, Alice, a young wife and plant enthusiast who recently lost her little sister, whom she cared for more as her daughter; Richard, a former soldier turned Quaker on whose land a rare orchid, the Lady's Slipper, is found; Sir Geoffrey Fisk, a truly awful man; and Ella Appleby, Alice's servant and, as it turns out, a skanky homewrecker.

When Alice learns of the Lady's Slipper growing on Richard's land, she tries to get him to let her take it and use it to grow more. Richard believes it should be left where God intended, so Alice steals it. In doing so, she inadvertently sets off a chain of events that kind of ruins her life. I doubt any of you are going to read this, so I'll just go ahead and say that Alice ends up in jail, framed for a murder that Geoffrey Fisk actually committed, and in the end she and Richard escape to the New England colonies. Along the way she learns a lot about Richard's Quaker beliefs. Oh, and Ella seduces Alice's husband away and plays a large role in the framing of Alice for murder. Wah wah wah.

Why didn't I like it when it has such an incredibly awesome story? Ha. Well, first, I was not expecting there to be any romantic element to the plot, and I have to say I didn't like the love story. It was weird and unconvincing. I also could have done well without the gratuitous sex scenes involving Thomas and Ella, which did nothing to further the story except make me hate both of them. I found none of the other characters very sympathetic, except for maybe Richard, but that's neither here nor there. In short, I didn't "like" any of them, and completely despised several. I expected the story involving the orchid to be compelling, but it, too, fell flat for me. I hate to say it, but I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this one.

I'm giving this book one star, mainly because I did keep reading it, and because there are an awful lot of good ratings for it on Goodreads, so I know there are people out there who would like it.