Book Recommendation: The Amaranth Enchantment

I purposefully ignored my bedside clock last night as I became engrossed in Julie Berry's debut novel, The Amaranth Enchantment. This book fits in the young adult fantasy fiction genre. Although this has never been a genre I've sought out, I found this story to flow beautifully with interesting characters, themes of love and forgiveness and surprises along the way. I love 15 year old Lucinda's self discovery and personal development. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Christina enjoyed it as well. I shared The Amaranth Enchantment with my friend who is a sophomore in college and when I went to pick it up she asked if she could keep it a little longer because her grandmother was reading it; truly a delight for pre-teens on up.

My favorite part of the Amaranth Enchantment is found in Chapters 28 & 29 when Beryl and Lucinda walk through the beautiful garden of Lucinda's childhood. Lucinda sees her parents, who have since passed away, sitting as they so often did on the garden bench, talking & reading. It was a beautiful memory for Lucinda, and Julie's descriptive writing brought me to tears as my mind wondered to my beautiful memories of my own parents.....

• The evening I happened to be near the entry of our home when my parents came home from an evening at the LA temple. I knew they had a lot of stress they were dealing with. Watching them walk in the door I sensed a peaceful aura about them. They seemed stronger as a couple, and happier than when they left that evening; not giddy happy, but peacefully happy. I noted that the temple made a difference in their marriage.
• On several occasions I saw my parents sitting in the car talking after a date night. This wasn't as appealing as the garden bench of Lucinda's home, but with 10 kids in the house, sitting inside the car was sometimes the only private, quiet place they could talk. Seeing them talk in the car let me know they were working on their marriage and worked as a team raising us kids.
• Many times in the morning I'd walk by my parents room and find them kneeling in prayer; a beautiful image in my mind.

Further, this tender garden scene made me reflect on the images of marriage that Wayne & I are offering our children. Will they see our work, faith, sacrifice, love, devotion, (& rated G PDA)? I hope so. Will they have memories of kind, supportive, and humble forgiving conversations? I hope so.

For more on Julie Berry and The Amaranth Enchantment, you can go HERE to Julie's website. You can find book group discussion questions HERE. I think this book would be perfect for a mother-daughter book group, but like I said, it appeals to all ages pre-teen on up.

Go grab a copy & ENJOY!