one of my childhood favorites

books:

	• The China Garden Liz Berry HarperTeen, 1999 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 125 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

one of my childhood favorites

I have had this book since early high school and it's still one of my favorites 10 years later. I re-read it once every few months. The love story tears at my heartstrings and the coming of age storyline is one that can hit close to home

Need Tea Reviews

I was both disappointed and grossed out by this book. How is that possible? Well, here it is. The writing was pretty good for the most part with great descriptions when the book needed it and the premise/some of the plot ideas were fun and cool to dig through BUT you know that premise up there? Yeah, the one that mention a hot biker dude named Mark? It took over 132 pages to introduce him. The amount it took to introduce one of the major players in the novel in a 254 paged book was far too long.

You have this interesting beginning with the whole set-up of this beautiful place hiding a lot of mysteries and you're just eager to dig in and get into the meat, right? I certainly was, but that's where the structure of this novel let itself down. What could've been a great book was bogged down by a long meandering section which could have been shortened and made faster if Mark was introduced much earlier.

Now, that's not the worst of it. Later on, there was a plot twist that had me going yuck. I know it's in my policy not to reveal major plot spoilers but ugh, there was a slight touch of incest added to "enhance" the story. I've read quite a few of Nabokov's books so I'm not a stranger to this taboo topic but he treats the topic with the proper respect, and he's a bloody damn amazing author who blows my brains out with his awe-inspiring way with prose, which wasn't done for this book. The older characters in the book thought this was perfect fine and it was expected. Tradition or not, that's just gross.

Anyway, I loved the whole searching for the treasure of Ravensmere, and the quest to find it. And the added plus of a curse if characters refused to protest it was a fun twist. But... meh. So in short, took too long to set up the romance and just no on the other thing. It's a pity Amazon doesn't allow us to put half stars because this is worth 3.5 stars instead to me.

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Amazing

This book is a perfect mix of history, mythology, and romance. I have owned this book for years and have read it many times over it is an absolutely amazing story!

Not really a romance novel

If you're looking for romance more than ancient mysteries, this book is not it. I was so eager to read it since it's got 5 stars and over 120 reviews, but I was disappointed. Clare and Mark didn't really talk until after 130 pages. The writer did not convince me of their great love. The mysteries part kept you reading but I was disappointed by the ending. It was obvious to me early on what the Benison was and as usual Clare thought it was something quite lame.
I recommend A Certain Slant of Light.

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It was sort of like meh, whatever, so? and who really cares? sort of an affair not something i would ever read again and am surprised that so many people were interested enough in the plot line to actually care.. sooooo boring...

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

When Clare moves with her mother from London to Ravensmere, an historic English estate, she can't shake the feeling that the residents already know her, especially Mark, a maddeningly attractive biker.Clare also feels compelled to take midnight walks in Ravensmere's abandoned China Garden. Then her mother reveals that their own past is tragically linked to the estate. But when Clare discovers that Ravensmere is in grave danger, will she risk her future-and Mark's-to save it?

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