It's been two months and 20 days since I read this book. I usually never wait this long, but this time I couldn't summon up the courage, nor find the words, to write a review. 
 The Wild Rose was a very, very, very difficult read, and that's probably the best way I can describe it, because I'm not sure how else I could make you understand the variety of emotions I felt while reading. 
 Let's start with the fact that I love Donnelly's writing: I read two of her novels and I found them both mind-blowing. Besides her prose, I also love her character and the way she builds the story around them. I love the minutely detailed historical background she describes every time, the fact that her books don't just revolve around the main character's story, but about the world's story. 
 So it's not necessary to say that I started this third installment in the Tea Rose series with the highest hopes I've ever had. 
 I wasn't disappointed, at least not in the way I usually am. It's very hard to explain how I didn't like this book and at the same time enjoyed it immensely, so I'm going to give you only one example of something I found both unsettling and incredibly realistic. 
 There aren't bad guys in this novel. At least, not completely bad guys. There are liars. Wife-cheaters. Spies. Murderers. But nobody, not even the one seems the devil himself owns an evil souls. He's just human. A human being who was obliged to take some hard decisions for the safety of thousands of people. Even though thousands have died in the process, the fact that he did save someone still stands. 
 The Wild Rose was very different from the other two installments: you couldn't hate the villains right away, because there weren't any. Each character had something good and something bad inside of him, and that made it way too real for the book to be considered like pure fiction. And that's the main reason this was, as I said, a quite difficult read. 
 I almost wanted to give it three stars, but I spent some time thinking about it, I realized this book made me face some pretty tough topics and made me mull over them way more than any other book ever did. Oh, and that I was also so engrossed in the reading, I finished it before I could fully comprehend it. So even though my favourite one is still The Winter Rose, I find this to be a great add to the series and, if my instincts are right, I anticipate a fourth installment in the Tea Rose series, main character being Kate Bristow, Fiona and Joe's strong-willed firstborn. 
 (That is my way of saying: 
 Dear Mrs Donnelly, I would be the happiest woman on earth if you ever decided to another installment in the Tea Rose series. 
 Faithfully yours, 
 Claudette) 
 (Pretty pretty please?)