To Flame a Wild Flower: A Novel (Crystal Bloom, 3)

Amazon Customer

I thought this was a finished trilogy.. it's not.

"I know nothing about the authors history or this books concept, excluding what is in the afterword. I acknowledge the hard work that goes into writing and publishing a book and boy can this author write a story!! On Amazon, this is marked book 3 of 3 (aka trilogy). I liked the 1st book a lot, great plot and lots of questions presented!! Jumped right into book 2, the angst level turned up to 100. I sludged through every bad plot twist thrown at the MC but was still excited to get answers in book 3 and the story telling was still great (but long). I was really confused when about 65% through book 3, there was no way they were going to circle back to the whole reason the quest was started, but I trudged on. 85% into the book I couldn't stand it, I went back to the book details to figure out if there was another book, when I didnt see anything on Amazon I skipped to the afterwords, the author said she had more story to tell but had no planned publish date. This really soured the last 15% of the book which was supposed to be the spicy love parts (which I felt was rushed and fell flat after waiting 1,520 pages for it). The angst was too much! Every character had a sob story to tell, it was gloom on top of gloom with rain clouds on every page. The MC kept making all these really impulsive decisions and everyone around her kept letting her (even though they had 100% more life experience and were all in on the secret). I mean think of every bad plot twist, and the MC made it, mostly because of her own actions, and then she wallowed in her own misery and self-loathing. I didn't see any growth in her character. The same niave character making impulsive decisions all the way up to the last pages of book 3. The book split the narrator and storyline, which makes sense since the MC was not with the other characters during book 2 and 3 but it was a lot of character voices that I'm not sure we needed especially bc at points "their growth" during their own story didnt even correlate once they met back up with the MC and the main plot (Kai found Vicious, Blaze in the north with Zali). I guess in short it was too much, every weather pattern and new character was symbolism for something, but I dont know what that "something" is and I'm not interested enough to read however more books it will take to get to the finish line. I still gave this book a 4, the author is a really great story teller, and the story was really interesting, just too long and definitely not what I signed up for when I thought this was a finished trilogy. ["

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August 9, 2023 Verified Purchase

Cane

A Stunning 3rd Installment!!

""I know the hurt is loud, but it won't always be. One day it'll stop screaming at you. It'll become nothing more than a whisper." This haunting 3rd installment to the Crystal Bloom series plants us immediately back into Orlaith's dark and gritty world. Nestled among the shadowy repercussions of Orlaith's choices, we finally begin to see streaks of light cutting through the unrelenting darkness and uncertainty of her past, present, and future. As Sarah's immense world continues to expand, we get to learn more about each character inside and out. Long-held secrets are revealed, but in true Sarah fashion, more sprout in their wake. This is Dark Fantasy at its finest. Gritty. Real. Twisted. Emotional. However, in Flame, we also have moments of joy and light that help soothe the sting of Stem's abrupt end. What truly sets this story apart are its characters. All of them are wonderfully morally grey and complicated, but Orlaith is one of my favorite characters of all time. She is hauntingly and tangibly real. A fully fledged person with flaws and self-destructive tendencies, hobbies, people she loves, demons inside of her fighting to come to light. We truly see Orlaith grow in Flame and watching her vulnerability, strength, and tenacity start to sprout was so gratifying. To Flame a Wild Flower is a book for people who have ever felt like they couldn't go on, but did. It is a book for people who have found themselves lacking but allowed themselves to feel goodness, love, or forgiveness anyway. It is a book about hope. About defying fate, despite the uncertainty of each new day. It is a book about people with loud hurts, brave enough to wait for the days when all they hear are whispers. One of my favorite series of all time. Thank you Sarah A. Parker for your words. ["

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March 30, 2023 Verified Purchase

Mia Mar

Good but definitely not as good as the first two

"There were many very exciting parts and the POVs were great but I felt too much time was spent in Orlaith’s mind. The time spent on her inner turmoil would have been better spent on story development. I ended up skipping over it because it was the same battle, just with different words. There were transitions that didn’t make sense and weren’t explained. She falls in the ocean and wakes up on a strange beach. No explanation how she survived unconscious in the water. (spoiler alert - stop reading if you don’t want to know) When she wakes, Rhordyn just so happens to be there but we have no idea how he got there either. on top of that he somehow knows that her friends are safe back in the capital city. I loved how thoughtful the first two books were but this one was not as tight. Despite this being the 3rd book in a three book series, the series didn’t end. BUT there is absolutely no talk of another book. That is so frustrating when I’m enjoying but have no clue when, and if, there will be another book. This series could have easily ended with book 3. 538 pages was plenty to wrap it up. I don’t know if I’ll circle back to see if there’s another. Unfortunate. ["

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June 9, 2023 Verified Purchase

Robin

Blown away!

"“𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓊𝒹, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒷𝑒.” 𝐻𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝒹𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈, 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎’𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒸𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓂 𝒽𝓊𝑔. “𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓉’𝓁𝓁 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝓈𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝐼𝓉’𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓇.” This was another incredible installment in the series. Parker continues to blow me away with her poetic writing style that finds a way to both tear you apart and put you back together again. The journey that Orlaith has traveled from the first book to now is astonishing and is portrayed so well. The depictions of the trauma Orlaith has experienced and how she deals with this emotional weight while navigating her world is truly inspiring. Please check trigger warnings as her guilt/trauma is depicted so well that you will share every emotion with Orlaith and bleed right along with her. For me it is so beautifully described that I embraced the emotional warfare this book took me through but I can easily see how for some this may be triggering. There were so many twists and turns in this book that I did not see coming. We continue to see more of the world Parker is building, some secrets are revealed, prophecies are told, and we get more characters/story lines as this series continues. There is so much I want to say but want to keep this spoiler free. While the cliffhanger at the end of this book is not as traumatic as book 2, it stills leaves me not so patiently waiting for the next installment. ["

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January 11, 2024 Verified Purchase