The Lemon Orchard
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From bestselling author Luanne Rice—a captivating and sexy novel of love, both enduring and unexpected Year after year, Luanne Rice’s fans eagerly await her next book. Their enthusiasm is soon to be rewarded with The Lemon Orchard, Rice’s romantic new love story between two people from seemingly different worlds. In the five years since Julia last visited her aunt and uncle’s home in Malibu, her life has been turned upside down by her daughter’s death. She expects to find nothing more than peace and solitude as she house-sits with only her dog, Bonnie, for company. But she finds herself drawn to the handsome man who oversees the lemon orchard. Roberto expertly tends the trees, using the money to support his extended Mexican family. What connection could these two people share? The answer comes as Roberto reveals the heartbreaking story of his own loss—a pain Julia knows all too well, but for one striking difference: Roberto’s daughter was lost but never found. And despite the odds he cannot bear to give up hope. Set in the sea and citrus-scented air of the breathtaking Santa Monica Mountains, The Lemon Orchard is an affirming story about the redemptive power of compassion and the kind of love that seems to find us when we need it most.
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I give Luanne Rice credit for leaving her usual Connecticut seashore setting and writing about the illegal Mexican immigrant experience in southern California. She makes a point of reminding us how the Irish immigrants of the 19th century faced similar prejudice and protest, yet became an integral part of our society. It's impossible not to feel for hero Roberto, who is only looking for a better life for himself and his daughter.
However, as usual with most of Rice's recent books, the love story is so insipid and the main characters are so bland that I couldn't feel at all connected to them, even though both hero and heroine have suffered tremendous losses. They seem to inhabit some alternative universe where falling in love is immediate, absolute, and comes without any internal conflicts or personality differences. The addition of several secondary characters, including a former Border Patrol agent and an aging movie star, don't add much to the story. The bittersweet ending, much like the rest of the book, left me cold.
Once upon a time, Luanne Rice wrote interesting novels with nuanced characters, but for the past 10 years her books have had all of the depth of a Hallmark greeting card. I miss the old Luanne Rice but I guess I need to realize that she is not coming back.
