Forget-Her-Nots

Forget-Her-Nots
by Amy Brecount White

Something - some power - is blooming inside Laurel. She can use flowers to do things. Like bringing back lost memories. Or helping her friends ace tests. Or making people fall in love.

Laurel suspects her newfound ability has something to do with an ancient family secret, one that her mother meant to share with Laurel when the time was right. But then time ran out.

Clues and signs and secret messages seem to be all around Laurel at Avondale School, where her mother had also boarded as a student. Can Laurel piece everything together quickly enough to control her power, which is growing more potent everyday? Or will she set the stage for the most lovestruck, infamous prom in the history of the school? (description taken from Amazon.com)

This was a very good fantasy for readers that don't want to delve into high fantasy. The magic is woven so delicately into the storyline, that non-fantasy readers may even enjoy picking this one up. I had already known about the Victorian Language of the Flowers, but learned a lot more from this book. It's a fascinating topic often forgotten.

The grief that Laurel feels from losing her mother is handled very delicately, but realistically here, as well. She grieves, she feels anger, she forgives, and she works to remember. Laurel forms new relationships with her grandmother and a kind professor at school, both of whom knew her mother well, and through them she is still connected.

I love magic. I love romances. This book had both... neither was the main focus of the book, yet the story could not move on without them. Laurel learned who she truly was and it was all linked together. I cried at the end...in such a wonderful way. I am looking forward to more from this author.