Victoria Jones, abandoned by her birth mother at only 3 weeks old, has been tossed around from foster home to foster home. She wasn't born an angry child, but she could not catch a break so she began to act out. Then, at the age of nine, she is placed with Elizabeth, a vineyard owner who desperately wants a child. It is with her that Victoria learns the almost extinct language of flowers, and now she has something to care about. However, the story doesn't end there. Things don't turn out the way Victoria wanted and now she has burned all her bridges. She is sent back to finish her childhood in a home until she is basically tossed out at 18 to live on the streets in San Francisco. The only thing she has is her language of flowers, but is that enough? 
 There is so much that happens in this book. It is all beautifully written that I didn't want to put it down. This will easily be in my top ten of 2011 list. I loved learning the meanings of flowers (and the inclusion of Victoria's Dictionary in the back of the book) and I can really understand the joy that Victoria got from the work she does with flowers. All of the characters were extremely well-developed and likable. The romance is believable instead of being forced. I can't stress that point enough. An actual realistic type of relationship is a breath of fresh air. Victoria Jones is a character that stole my heart from page one and would not let go until I turned that final page. 
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