Do you have a passion for flowers? Do they speak to you, or mean more than they might to the average human? Did you absolutely adore The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh? If you answered yes to any of the above, then you will probably enjoy this book. For me, it was a little difficult to get past the similarities it held with The Language of Flowers, but I had heard this book was good and decided to give it a try.

I suppose there was nothing really wrong with the story itself, but to me it felt fluffy and almost too “feel-good”, and just kind of like a copycat of The Language of Flowers. None of the characters had a lot of depth and the plot was fairly weak and predictable. What I did enjoy was the description of the flowers used to make arrangements, and the way the main character, Ruby Jewell, relates to the flowers she uses. For much of the novel Ruby seems to be taken advantage of. She is a master flower-arranger. As the title implies, it is an art, and when someone knows what they are doing, you can usually tell. Ruby knows which dates she needs an arrangement on weeks before the customer knows they will need one, but despite her adept knowledge of her craft, she might need a little taking care of here and there, even if it’s easier to deny it than face it. I think there are times in our lives where we all try to take too much control, when really, we need to just let someone else step in for a bit. That seems to be the situation Ruby is in.

Although at times I felt like I wasn’t reading a book that meant a whole lot, there is a deeper meaning behind much of what happens in The Art of Arranging Flowers. When I got to the very last page, I was glad I read the book, and although I probably won’t be looking for more books by this author, this story was one that left me feeling good when I was finished with it, which is better than feeling let down or disappointed!