“Who is Vanessa Diffenbaugh?” my husband would ask me with a huge grin on his face. “Huh? I have no idea.” Thinking he was asking me about his latest  Facebook friend request. “She’s the author of the book you’re supposed to be reading, the book that is supposed to be ‘Instantly entrancing.'” Oh right. That Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  One of my book club books, the Language of Flowers sat out on our coffee table for almost a month begging to be read yet I constantly found myself passing it up for some other interest or pressing demand. Finally I picked up this book about a week ago (just in time for my book club meeting only a couple days away) and honestly I couldn’t put it down. I’m not often drawn to anything having to do with flowers, but the interweaving of the Victorian language of flowers used to convey romantic expressions, and the story of Victoria, a young girl emancipated from the foster care system with a gift for helping others, proved to be a story I could not put down. In the end Victoria finds that while she not only helps her customers with the flowers she chooses for them, she finds herself confronting her past with the opportunity for a second chance at happiness.

Who is Vanessa Diffenbaugh? A gifted and talented author who instantly captured this non-flower loving reader through tears, tragedy, hope, family, romance, redemption and the Language of Flowers.