Good love story and about hate against the Japanese during the second world war. A gentle spinster who had taken care of her mother falls for a gentle Japanese man in the South. ( )

Sophie, a middle-aged single woman, lives in a small town in Georgia. Her neighbor, Anne, takes on a Japanese gardener, Mr. Oto. Slowly, Sophie and Mr. Oto begin to speak, eventually developing a relationship. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Mr. Oto's life is in danger.

This book was a bit slow and meandering. The plot never really seemed to go anywhere. I didn't really enjoy this book, I felt like I was just plodding through. There was also no real conclusion, which drives me crazy. Overall, 2 out of 5 stars. ( )

Lovely sweet story of two 50somethings finding love at the start of the second world war. The hero was an extremely mild mannered man of Japanese descent and the heroine was a spinster who had spent her whole life looking after her mother and aunts. Most of the story was told through the eyes of the hero. I really enjoyed how he felt so much for the heroine without even really knowing her. And after they met, he really treated her like a princess. I loved the description of the painting that he did of her and would have loved to really see it.

The book was a fast read but the story was slow moving and rather lyrical. The imagery was lovely and the relationship seemed destined and true.

I could have used just a bit more concreteness at the end but all in all a very sweet story.

I received this from netGalley for review. ( )

Loved this, even though it started slow imo the characters & the lives they led were interesting, descriptions wonderful. The pace picked up & turned up all sorts of unexpected things to end in an unexpected way - I was able to get the full southern feeling by hearing the audible version too. ( )

I am not sure what I was expecting when I started this book but what I got was a beautiful chaste love story between southern belle Sophie and Japanese American Mr. Oto. This was a beautifully written look at the south during the time of Pearl Harbor and everything changed for Mr. Oto and the women in his life his boss Miss Ann and his friend (and woman he loves) Miss Sophie. But this was so much more than a love story; it’s a friendship story and also a historical look at a very tough time especially for Japanese Americans and the people who cared about them, and the people who blamed them for everything.

This was a sweet story and even the “bad guy/woman” was redeemable she wasn’t so much a bad guy just an old busybody. My favorite character was Big Sally, or Queen Sally as she’d rather be called, she took such good care of everyone. I liked the friendships in this book between Sally, Sophie and Miss Ann.

This is a short, but good story , if you are a fan southern fiction and/or friendship stories I would recommend this one.

This was narrated by Rue McClanahan of Golden Girls fame and she did a good job but sometimes with someone so recognizable her voice almost gets in the way of the story because you are picturing her as all the characters instead of the characters speaking for themselves.

4 stars ( )