Two for the money...

Book number two for 2011 is done. Besides being book number 2 of 52, it is also the first book in my Seconds Challenge.  Watching the Roses is the second book in the Egerton Hall series. The first book is titled The Tower Room and I read it back in 2008. Each of the books in this trilogy is a fairytale retold revolving around 3 best friends living in the 1960's who met at their boarding school in England. The first book is a retelling of Rapunzel and stars the one friend, Megan. This second book is Sleeping Beauty and is about Alice.
About halfway through the book, you find out that it is about rape. Alice has many Aunts and on the day of her birth each Aunt gives her the gift of a wish each holds for her life and future. The outcast Aunt puts a curse on her that says she will die by her 18th birthday. In an attempt to squelch this curse, one of other aunts wishes for her to have a long life. Because of the curse, Alice and her family decide to have a large party for her 18th birthday as opposed to waiting for her 21st both in an attempt to show they are strong against the curse and to be sure she gets to celebrate just in case. At the party Alice is raped by someone from her past. After this she goes into a semi-catatonic state. When people are around she lays in bed unmoving, eyes closed and silent. When no one is nearby she eats just enough to sustain her, takes quick trips to the bathroom, writes in a book and looks out the window at her dad's roses. She refuses to look in the mirror, knowing that she must not look like her. The book is basically her writing in a notebook about the events that led up to the party and the incident at the party. Every so often she writes about a different type of rose, its name, what it looks like and where it is in their yard. (I enjoy weird little facts like these so I loved each time she would describe a rose).
This book is only 174 pages and could be read in one sitting. I didn't have the time to do this and I have to say that it made it difficult to read. It is the type of book that you need to read almost straight through to get the full feeling behind it. Reading in small bits whenever you have time makes it seem inconsequential. Once I had the time to sit and really fall into it I was able to see the significance of it and really feel the pain and suffering that Alice and her family were going through.