The Scent of Lilacs

Ann H. Gabhart's writing sparkles in The Scent of Lilacs. When you finish this book, you will want to read all that she has written. Ann H. Gabhart shows so much love and care with her characters. So many times while reading I was wishing that I could actually meet them and talk to them!

The author brings the story of the characters in Hollyhill, Kentucky in 1964 alive and makes you hope that things will turn out alright for them. This story begins with Jocie Brooke, a thirteen year old girl who says one prayer for a dog to come into her life and another one for her sister, Tabitha to return home. Jocie narrates and we meet her unusual friend, Wes who has all sorts of stories of coming from Jupiter and her Aunt Love who spouts bible show more verses constantly but who is hiding her own tragic story. Then her father takes his turn in telling the story. He is hoping to be the fulltime instead of a temporary preacher. He loves both of his daughters deeply hides his pain from his wife’s desertion of him. He thinks he has failed. We go back and forth the narrators and the pieces of the puzzle of this story fit so neatly.

There are plenty of quirky characters and all of them have their own secrets which spill out bit by bit through this story. There is humor throughout and the characters feel closer to each other as their private secrets are revealed. This is a tale of forgiveness and the building of love.

I recommend this book to all lovers of Christian fiction and everyone who loves the story of To Kill a Mockingbird as this book is about human values and love. This is a book that you will want to hug! show less

Life in Hollyhill!

I have read several books by author Ann H. Gabhart and have enjoyed them all. Scent of Lilacs is a book you will enjoy once you get into it. The beginning was a little slow for me.

I fell in love with Hollyhill because it reminds me so much of the small town I grew up in. Everybody knew everyone’s name and everyone knew everybody’s business!

Jocie captured my heart from the start . A young innocent girl who struggles to find out who she is. Her father, preacher David, tries so hard to please everyone. He is definitely a person after God’s own heart. Just wait until you meet Wes; A strange man? Perhaps in his own way he is but I could not help but grow fond of him too. Loved his stories!

There are life struggles, show more hurts, and spiteful mean spirited characters that are vital to this story. Take heart, there is also love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and hope.

I urge you to pick up a copy of Scent of Lilacs. I think some of you will relate to small town living as much as I did.

I am looking forward to reading book two, Orchard of Hope. show less

This was a very unexpected pleasure. My husband got it as a freebie four years ago and it’s sat on my virtual shelf since. When I decided to read it I thought I would struggle through the first few chapters and then give up and shelve it as dnf. But it turned out to be an endearing story, with humour, loveable characters and some very deep and challenging issues. It just proves that you don’t really know how you’ll much you will enjoy a book until you start reading it.

I had a hard time getting into this book but once I did it was absorbing. It's the story of Jocie, a preacher's kid who will be starting high school in the fall. Jocie's mother left her and her father many years ago taking Jocie's sister with. How Jocie and her family go through life really is what make this such a good book.

I realize this is the first book in a series, so a lot of questions went unanswered in the end. This is a Christian fiction novel, but it's not very preachy, actually. One problem I had with the book is that many of the main characters just blindly accept anything that comes their way. The good characters are almost unbelievably good, and the bad characters are almost laughable in their extreme badness. Still, I stuck with the book to see what would happen in the end, so the writing was interesting enough to keep me going.

Wow. What a wonderful book. Set in the summer of 1964, Jocie is a spunky spirited girl of thirteen. I love her innocence. I feel sorry for her too. A mother and sister absent. An old batty woman who spouts Scripture like Old Faithful. A father struggling to make ends meet. She's stuck between childhood and womanhood. Then everything changes. Nothing is what she thought it was anymore. The truth can hurt, but it can also heal.

13 year old Jocie Brooke has never felt a lack of love, despite the fact that her mother left the family in the middle of the night seven years ago, taking Jocie's older sister Tabitha with her. Jocie is raised by her father, who is a pastor and also runs the town's weekly newspaper, and her great Aunt Love, who is slowly going senile, and loves Jocie in her own stern way.

During the summer of 1964, everything changes. Jocie's prayers for a dog and for her sister to come home are finally answered, but long buried family secrets start to come to light after Tabitha's return. Even scripture-quoting Aunt Love has a secret. As Jocie searches for answers, she finds that there are some secrets that she wished she had not discovered at all.

This show more heartwarming novel is full of stories of family and life in a small town, with touches of humor and nostalgia sprinkled throughout. I really enjoyed this story. It is the first book in a series of the three books in The Heart of Hollyhill series. The ending of story was satisfying while still leaving the reader wanting to read the second book series, Orchard of Hope, to find out what happens next. show less