A purely stunning book. Wonderfully detailed and well written. Raw & very real.
Thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers for gifting me the book

This broke my heart and made it fill with love all at the same time. As a mother, I can't help but feel the emotions deeply in this memoir.

This is a beautifully written memoir that spans a lifetime. Its full of love, courage, honesty as well as laugh out loud moments.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Netgalley.

This is the memoir of Rica's turbulent experience of motherhood. From a young life tainted by sexual abuse and a mother who refused to believe her, Rica fell quickly in love with a charming man. But his charm was a mask, and after marrying young and becoming a mother to two sons in her early twenties, she moves herself and her children across the country to escape his erratic behaviour, violence and infidelity. From clinging to religion during her marriage, Rica turns away from the church and finds her own spirituality in the practice of yoga to help her as her youngest attempts suicide at a young age and is diagnosed with ADHD.

On the surface, this sounds like a depressive and difficult book to tackle. But there are two very important reasons why this isn't the case. Firstly, Keenum's writing has a lyrical quality and some beautiful turns of phrase. She is able to convey her emotions and describe the darker parts of her story, without graphic details but in a way which gets right to the heart of the impact. This comes from her love of reading and the steady, loving presence of her grandmother during her worst times. Secondly, Keenum has the ability to find and be guided by hope. I found that this story is infused with hopefulness, an uplifting quality that I'm sure is why Rica wasn't broken by all that she went through.

This story drew me along. I wasn't keen on the ending, which seems churlish to say. I don't mean the outcome itself, as that is so well-deserved. I just felt we lost a bit of Rica as key to her own salvation, almost as if she is crediting someone else other than herself for making it through, when to me it is entirely her own spirit that should be praised. But even with that slight quibble, this is a really heartening memoir.

A beautifully written memoir, I loved the author's poetic style and the way she boldly and truthfully looked at all aspects of her life, the good, the bad and the ugly, never shying away from even the most difficult of topics. Her raw vulnerability engages the reader and although only a short read, she tackles a lot of difficult subjects thoroughly and honestly. In a better scoring system, I would rate this book as a 7.5/10.
Thank you to Net Galley, Rica Keenum and Leschenault Press for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This story feels sad all the way through, even during the times reported as happier, it's hard to feel the happiness. Perhaps the past is too hard to overcome. Perhaps she doesn't feel her new situation is real or that it will last. When she served God during her worst times, she seemed happier than she does after she lost faith in God, even though her circumstances appear to have changed for the better.

What a beautiful book. Keenan begins the book by explaining that is a non linear story and it is, flowing effortlessly like a river through her early childhood trauma, the safety and security of her Grandmothers house, to her struggles as a new Mom, back to her own Mom, and forward again surging on with waves of introspection and an incredible lack of judgement. Rica seems to be one of those rare human beings who can see situations for what they are, to examine them, acknowledge them and accept them.
I was impressed by her ability to move forwards, when so many people become stuck in a loop repeating the same things over and over hoping for or expecting a different outcome. Rica instead makes decisions, sticks to them and carries on.
The segments about her Grandmother are by far my favourites. As someone who loves words and books I can totally identify with both women. I had different struggles as a child, none as traumatic as hers but I also spent much of my childhood taking stacks of books home from the library to devour. Having a son with ADHD too a lot of the book really resonated with me.
Definitely a highly recommended memoir!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, this is such a good memoir. Beautifully written. I really admire the author's strength to overcome some really awful experiences and learn to love again. I also really identified with how the love of a dog (I love pit bulls) can make a huge impact. I highly recommend this book.

PETALS OF RAIN
BY RICA KEENUM

This little gem of a thought provoking memoir was read quickly on a Sunday morning taking approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. The author writes using a lyrical style that reads like poetry. She examines her childhood memories of sexual abuse with a mother who turned a blind eye as if she is an observer as a third party during a meditation exercise. Her voice is gentle as she describes loving memories of her grandmother who encouraged her to love poetry, literature and writing as a young child of only nine years old. She turned to religion at an early age and encouraged her ex-husband and two young son's to attend Services. When her oldest son marries and he has made his own home he encourages his mother to attend a Christmas Service. Clearly her gentle oldest son has picked up some traits and beliefs that his mother modeled for him as a young child. She had given up on organized religion after her divorce from a young charming young man who swept her off her feet at a young age.

She looks back over her stormy marriage with self doubt. Pondering if only she watched more sports on the television during night's she spent reading he wouldn't have stayed. She found underwear in his lunch box and her ex-husband blamed it on the guy's he worked with saying it was just a prank. As a young mother with two young son's to raise she tried to be the perfect housewife even though as she reflects back that there were several red flags. It is understandable that an adult of sexual abuse who survived that trauma would try very hard to keep her family in tact at all costs. Her ex-husband worked days and she worked nights and she rationalized that sleeping in separate beds was efficient in not waking each other up. Her ex-husband asked for a divorce and swore under oath to the judge in family court that there wasn't any infidelity which there was on his part. The author moved out into an apartment with her two young son's and while he was late picking up the kid's so she could go to work she discovered his mistress at their former family home. The mistress answered the door and said she would babysit which shocked this author and she smartly declined opting to call in sick to work.

It is clear that this author is also gentle just like her eldest son. Her youngest son later in life was diagnosed after a suicide attempt drinking bleach. She had moved to Florida to put some distance between herself and her ex-husband. He agreed to her moving their son's out of state if he could cease paying child support which he already wasn't doing. She turned her spirituality towards strengthening her body mastering yoga. This woman is courageous to tell her story and rebuilt her life in the sunshine state. She doesn't feel an ounce of self pity and found a kind and stable man named Wes five year's after her divorce by online dating. They rescued a female pit bull who her boyfriend said at first no dog's on the bed or the couch. He relented once he also fell in love with their new pet. This book was cleverly put together from a bunch of essay's the author wrote. She is a staff writer of articles at a magazine and plans to get re-married and write another book. I enjoyed watching her grow and evolve and think she will succeed in her writing career based on her ability to cover her life story so poetically in such a brief memoir. I wish her the best of luck and love the title she picked for this literary memoir.

Publication Date: February 14, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Rica Keenum and Leschenault Press for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#PetalsofRain #RicaKeenum #LeschenaultPress #NetGalley