Summary: In her twenties, Emily Wilson was on top of the world: she had a bestselling novel, a husband plucked from the pages of GQ, and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. Ten years later, the tide has turned on Emily’s good fortune. So when her great-aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, Emily accepts, longing to be healed by the sea. Researching her next book, Emily discovers a red velvet diary, dated 1943, whose contents reveal startling connections to her own life.
(Summary from Penguin.)
A first time novelist, Sarah Jio uses two story lines and two different generations to form one captivating novel. Within pages I was hooked.
Emily needs time to regain herself after a divorce so she flies out to Bainbridge Island and settles in with her Aunt Bee. Shortly after arriving Emily finds a diary that was written in the 1940s.
It’s the story from within the diary that really grabs my attentions. I found myself trying to put the pieces of Emily’s family secret together myself. Sarah does a good job of revealing clues slowly; although it seemed a little forced at times.
The correlation between the diary and Emily’s real life frustrated me at times, but it’s what kept me reading to the end. I wanted to know more. I wanted a different story to unfold. I wanted love to reunite in another way. But as the reader I don’t get to decide how it ends.
Violets of March is an enchanting story of betrayal, truth, forgiveness, and love.
Coffee With Sabrina 
This sounds like a really good book. I may have to pick it up!!!