Wildflowers

by Lyah Beth Leflore

Twenty-three dollars and eleven cents–that’s all that thirty-five-year-old Chloe Davis Michaels has to her name after she is driven from her home and career as a jet-setting Hollywood publicist, desperate to protect her unborn child from her crazed newlywed husband. She thought she had it all. Now Chloe seeks refuge in her Midwestern hometown to “get prayed up” by the women in her family. Chloe’s impromptu homecoming takes us into the world of eight African-American women who make up the Davis clan–three mothers and five daughters, including Chloe, who soon discovers that the secrets she’s been keeping about her own life don’t compare to the secrets the other women in her family have been hiding.As the bonds of family are tested, the women call upon their strong faith and spiritual teachings of deceased family matriarchs, MaMaw and Muh, in order to weather the storm. With rippling boldness and crackling prose, Wildflowers is a beautifully written novel that explores the richness and complexity of the love between mothers and daughters.

Genres: Family, Fiction

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Felicia (Ferishia) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was book selected by my book club to read for the month. I'm not a fan of 'church, preachy' book. There was entirely too much drama and too many characters to keep track of. I was glad to finish it.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I forced myself to finish this book as part of my mission to read all of the books currently in my possession. Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy the experience. Let’s begin with the underlying misogyny in the faux feminism. The characters make several comments about how women are too much and there’s no way a man can survive being around so many women, etc. Meanwhile, most of the problems the women in this book face are at the hands of the men they’re dealing with! Which brings me to the next issue: the racialized comments. There were characters being xenophobic to Latino and Asian characters during arguments, and a character whose nickname is an anti-East Asian slur… next, there were many errors, from typos and double-printed words to instances of mentioning the wrong characters in a scene. The dialogue was poor; it seemed the author was trying to create a bunch of characters who “keep it real” but so much of the dialogue was clunky and unrealistic. I agree with other reviews that there were too many characters and too much drama. Now I LOVE drama! But the book bounces between the perspectives of 8 different women and a lot of their drama didn’t get properly resolved. What will happen to Thora? When exactly did Ceci reconcile with her mother and daughter? I also feel that Chloe didn’t seem to learn as much as she thinks by the end of the novel. She rushed into her romantic relationship with Gregorry then turned around and rushed into a business relationship with Lance… I think the poems at the beginning of each section were lovely, but this was overall not a great read, and I truly believe you can get the gist of the entire book if you’ve ever seen a Tyler Perry play.

[Sophia TooSweet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love

[~Gen hearts books.~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the women characters in this book. I also liked the names of the characters, some were unique to me. These women were really strong and loving. They loved until it hurt, and some of them had to figure out when to let go.

There is nothing worse than giving your love to someone who doesn't want it or deserve it. I think that I indentified more with Chloe, but I could also relate to most of the other female characters. Wildflowers was inspirational.

[Ziara Albritton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The theme of family is weaved beautifully throughout this book. It makes me wish I was closer with my siblings. My issue with this read however is that there are numerous female characters that make up the tapestry of this book and it is hard to keep track of them. I found myself flipping through to the family tree in the beginning just for reminders. If you are looking for something that is a slow burn, but that is relatable, Wildflowers is it.

[Amneet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like there was no plot, the story was all over the place and the ending was lackluster. Chloe still hasn't learned to be independent or actually heal herself in anyway. Overall, the drama sucked me in but at the end I felt like I had wasted my time reading this book.

[Laquetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

church,laughter, drama and family secrets. The inner workings of every family so its nice to know other ppl have crazy, lovable and disfunctions families just like mine.

[Mahoganie Jade Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review via my blog http://mahoganie.wordpress.com/2010/1...

[Cia]

Takes you on a whirlwind. A story I would not ever want to be happening to me or anyone I know. But I did enjoy the ending.

[Shante · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked this one way more than i thought i would. the main character's story line was pretty lame, but the family stuff was fun. familiar.

[Janecia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book.

[Leillani-truso · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book if you like to hear about people personal life or relationships