The Orange Grove by Rosanna Ley Review

Hi ForeverBookers, 

How are you all? Hope you’re enjoying the hot weather if you’re in the northern hemisphere like I am. It feels like we get so little of it!

I’ve just finished “The Orange Grove” by Rosanna Ley, which I absolutely loved! The story is set in the UK and Seville, Spain. I loved learning more about Spain, a place that I haven’t ever really wanted to go. This review will be pretty basic because “The Orange Grove” doesn’t have any magical aspects. 

I read “The Orange Grove” for a couple of readathons. They were:

Reading Rivalry - A book with a colour in the title - the title is “The Orange Grove,” which refers to the fruit but it’s still a colour too!

Popsugar Challenge 2021 - A book set somewhere you want to visit in 2021 - If I could I’d LOVE to visit Seville, where “The Orange Grove” is set primarily because the author just makes it sound perfect and magical, even though this is very much a contemporary story.

We follow Holly, a girl in her early thirties who wants to start a business to do with oranges, hence the title “The Orange Grove.” She wants to call said business “Bitter Orange.” Her love of oranges started with a recipe she found in her mother’s recipe book, which is key to this story. This leads her to Seville in Spain. She invites her mother to go with her. Ella, her mother is hesitant to go. Why? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

“The Orange Grove” is told in a dual timeline format. The first timeline we read from is present day and follows Holly. Our second timeline is from 1988 and follows Ella. 

Flamenco plays a big part in “The Orange Grove” as well. It’s how our main characters meet in both the past and present timelines. 

Spoilers Below

Holly starts the novel by making the orange and almond cake. “But the colour . . . it was so vibrant, so bright. The first time she had seen a box of Seville bitter oranges in the farm shop just outside Bridport, she’d been smitten.” This explains Holly’s love for Seville oranges. 

“Holly had found the recipe, studied it, been fascinated by it, but had never baked the cake – never dared, after the way her mother had reacted to the suggestion.”

Ella hid the recipe of the Seville orange and almond cake for a reason that I don’t really want to spoil as it’s what the story hinges on. If you think about it enough while you’re reading “The Orange Grove,” you might be able to work it out. I did. 

“Of course I’ve been to Spain,” her mother said breezily. Too breezily? Holly wondered. “I went with your father.”

Was that when someone had given her the recipe for the Spanish orange and almond cake? Holly decided that it was wiser not to ask.

“When did you go?” she asked her mother instead.

Her mother’s expression changed. “Oh, I don’t know exactly, Holly. Does it matter? Back in the 1980’s, I can’t remember the exact year.”

Was that suspicious? Holly supposed not.” 

This is Ella avoiding telling Holly about what happened in Spain when she went with Holly’s father, Felix years before in 1988. The present timeline is set in 2018. Ella doesn’t want to go back to Seville, though. as is seen below. Why does she want to avoid it? What secrets is she keeping? You’ll need to read to find out!

“Where are we going then?” She felt a warm dart of excitement. A holiday with her daughter. What could be nicer? Well, not a holiday exactly, but . . . She reached over to put the tray of glasses on the counter.

“Seville.”

There was a crash as the tray and four champagne flutes fell to the floor. Ella stared at the hundreds of tiny shards of glass. No one spoke.”

When Holly gets to Seville with her mother they are staying in a hotel, by an Orange Grove, where oranges grow. This is where the title comes from and why the cover has the hotel with orange trees on it. 

The past story was my favourite part of the book. It tells of Ella and Felix’s past and what happened between them. 

“I want to live, Felix. I want to have fun. I need to get away — just for a week, that’s all.”

Here, Ella is telling Felix that she wants to have fun, to live. Felix came across as an old spinster to me, throughout the novel. He didn’t want to try anything new. He was fine just being boring. Ella, on the other hand, wanted to live! This was the main difference between them and why I hated Felix. 

Felix receives a phone call from his mother telling him that she’s fallen and injured herself. He feels like he has to go back to England to look after her. Of course, Ella doesn’t want to go back! This was another reason why I hated Felix. He just seemed to keep Ella from doing the things she wanted to. He’s not even in the novel too much but was still really annoying. After he leaves the Spain, we only get two or three chapters from his third person POV back in the UK. Ingrid, Felix’s mother was horrible to Ella. Why? You’ll need to read to find out...

The rest of the story is focused around Ella and Holly’s relationship, as well as Ella and Caleb’s story who I’ll get onto next.

Caleb was my favourite character, I think to learn about. He is a guitarist who plays the flamenco. In the past timeline, Ella is going along by herself when she sees a pottery shop. That’s where she meets Caleb, who is behind the potter’s wheel.

“Suddenly, he was just an ordinary man. But a rather attractive one, Ella thought. What was she thinking?”

This is Ella’s reaction to Caleb when she first meets him. I predicted where this relationship would go and I don’t want to spoil it because again, it’s really central to the story. What happens between Ella and Caleb? You’ll need to pick up the book to find out!

Holly, in the present timeline is learning all she can about the products that will feature in her shop. She goes to watch the Flamenco one night like her mother did. While there she meets Rafael, who becomes important to her. There’s relationship drama here too, in that Raphael has apparently been promised to Valentina, the daughter of Sofía, the woman who will provide Holly with some of the orange products for “Bitter Orange.” What happens? You’ll need to read to find out!

Overall then, I really, really enjoyed “The Orange Grove.” I’m giving it five stars because it had everything I love in a good book, great, well fleshed out romances, a great setting, high stakes. It’s perfect for this time of year too, when it’s hot. I’ve been very vague and haven’t gone into great depth above about the plot because I think it’s better to go into the book almost blind and learn for yourself what’s so special about it. I loved reading the cultural aspects of Spain that the author put in to the book. It made the reading experience really authentic. I FELT like I was actually in Triana, Seville in Spain! It was a little predictable but I didn’t mind that. It’s a contemporary so there aren’t any huge plot twists. Although, you might find one thing surprising if you don’t put it together, like I did. I loved the characters. They were fleshed out well, especially Holly, Ella, Caleb and Rafael, who are the main characters. I believe I gave Rosanna Ley’s previous book, “From Venice With Love” 3 stars, so I much preferred this one, even though I generally prefer Italy to Spain.

My next review will be for a middle-grade book so I hope to have it up soon for you...