An Intention of Flowers

Happy Tuesday, fellow readers! Here we are at the end of another month. It's already getting chilly here in Pennsylvania. I am not a fan of the colder weather. That's why I am happy that this week's recommendation is set in the summer in California where it's nice and toasty. Please join me in checking out this amazing artistic mystery called "An Intention of Flowers" that is book one of Ken La Salle's "A Work of Art" series.

Before we jog on in, let's start with the trigger warnings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clean

Trigger Warnings:

Drinking

Perceived vandalism

Bullying

Arrest/police involvement

Mentions of murder and grief

This book does not have a lot of dark elements and it is clean making it a great choice for the majority of readers. The drinking does pop up a few times and eludes to a high tolerance for alcohol, but it isn't presented as a real issue or an addiction. The bullying is also minimal and the arrest isn't too bad. The murder and grief are both themes throughout the story, though. It isn't an oppressive theme, so no worries.

The characters are varied and so interesting in this one. Our main character is Mr. Andrew Hollis AKA Andy. He is a middle aged high school art teacher finding his way in a new career, a new town, a new state, and a new single life. He's imperfect yet somehow mostly satisfied with himself and his life. Don't get me wrong, he is a hot mess like many of Ken La Salle's main characters yet he seems more chill about it. There's a determined mystery of a young artist, his hands off enigma of a father, seemingly estranged mother, a group of street thugs, a broken theater teacher, and a seemingly grumpy front office administrative manager. It doesn't seem like it should work but somehow Ken molds all of the chaos into something intriguing.

Here is my official review.

Unexpected!

When I picked up "An Intention of Flowers" I didn't quite know what to expect other than the impeccable writing and unconventional style of Ken La Salle that I have grown to love. I wasn't quite prepared for a master class on perspective nor the twists that were hiding in those pages. I absolutely couldn't quit puzzling over Joseph Arillo and his parking lot flowers. It's a must read!

I really did not know what to expect from this book but it certainly wasn't a mystery involving painting flowers in a liquor store parking lot. The twists are absolutely unexpected, and I am here for them all.

As I said in my review, "An Intention of Flowers" is an absolute master class in perspective. How many of us stop to think how things affect others or how one thing means different things to different people? A simple act of painting means so many different things and there are even twists in perceptions. It is fascinating.

I highly recommend taking this journey with Andrew and Joseph and all of the other fabulous characters. If you are ready to read "An Intention of Flowers" before the second book re-launches in a few months, you can find it here: https://a.co/d/047dlG8X

That does it for me for this week, dear readers. Please join me again next week for another wonderful recommendation. Until then, curl up with a good book.