Book giveaway and review for THE ENCHANTED ORCHARDS by Kristin Maddock

It's my absolute pleasure to host this book giveaway (see bottom of post) for The Enchanted Orchards by Kristin Maddock. I haven't been this wowed by a book since reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter or a book by Rosamund Lupton.

Title — The Enchanted Orchards
Author — Kristin Maddock
Rating — 6/5 stars!
Pages — Estimated 307 pages on Kindle
Genre — Literary, Coming of age

♥♥♥

Book description:

When Fern’s sister died, she left more than a void—she left a dark secret. As the one year anniversary of her death begins approaching, a haunted Fern’s only goal is to survive the summer in her beloved peach orchards without a mental breakdown; a difficult task as her family is unraveling at the seams. But that is not to be her only challenge: two visitors arrive, one her childhood crush, one an intriguing stranger—both stirring up more than just trouble and emotions for Fern. Suddenly, her life and town are turned upside down.

As the days lengthen and the breathless heat of summer swallows up the orchards, Fern tries to navigate her way through a maze of grief, friendship, love and guilt. But as the past is revisited, secrets are revealed, and soon, Fern finds herself at a crossroads with some tough decisions to make.

Sometimes all of life’s answers can be wrapped up in one hot summer. Especially if peaches are involved…

My thoughts:

Kristin Maddock (Image credit: kristinmaddock.com)

The Enchanted Orchards had me at the prologue. It's this tiny thing—not even a page—yet Kristin Maddock has your heart aching before you get to Chapter One.

Then it struck me. I've read a book that hurt so much to read in that first instance. Fans of Rosamund Lupton (Sister and Afterwards) and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards will, guaranteed, be left sleepless whilst reading The Enchanted Orchards.

Let me describe. This book is genius, yet easy to read for hours at a time. The message Kristin spills onto every page about death not defining how people live after suffering such loss is just ... magical. It's magical that she can make you feel that sense you've actually lost someone—that empty, angry, guilty distant-from-everyone-else feeling.

The Enchanted Orchards is many things. It's a self-help for those struggling to find who they were, who they feel they should be after losing someone. It's watching your heart break page after page. It's a warming love story. It's a story about how humans are living without life when too focused on the death.

Most of all, this story feels like my past memory, and something I'll forever treasure, and always keep in mind for the rest of my life.

Fern, the main character, is too easy to fall into. That's the trouble with this novel. She speaks directly to you, and you love it or hate it. Let me tell you, this isn't someone else's story. The Enchanted Orchards is already within your heart from the moment you open it.

Fern's pain, grief, loss and misplaced feelings towards her sister's, Lily's, death is yours and you ride this journey with Fern meeting Rocky, who should be her match made in heaven; with her best friend, Fancy, who's old enough to be her grandma in biological years, but is an eighteen-year-old in her heart; and with the parents who live quiet, mechanical lives, living each day because it'll come and go regardless, while Fern is forgotten and left to drown in her own grief and trauma about Lily who's forever changed her family's lives.

Best of all, this novel is also about love romantically (Fern and Rocky) and platonically (Fern and Fancy), and will make you as giddy in love as it will be raw through troughs of rip-your-heart-out sadness.

I can't praise this book enough, and YOU guys can win this book. Free. Just see below.

♥♥♥

Giveaway details

To celebrate how much I love this book, I'm hosting a book giveaway so ya'll can read this stunning debut novel from Kristin Maddock too! See the rules below. And trust me, you don't want to miss this one.

Rules

• The winner of the competition will receive The Enchanted Orchards as an Kindle (mobi) file — BUT don't stress! It's non-DRM enabled, which means programs such as calibre or other eBook file conversion software will be able to convert this file to ePub, PDF, etc. (For your personal use only. Sharing is criminal activity.)
• You must complete the mandatory fields to be In It To Win It.
• I suggest completing all steps for a better chance at winning!

Here goes ...

♥♥♥

Book links:

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK  |  Goodreads

Author links:

Website/Blog  |  Twitter  |  Facebook page

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway