Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech: Book Review

The Lenore women grow a rare flower that is the secret ingredient in their powerful perfume. Each generation, only a few women are chosen to wear their coveted scent. These women inevitably rise to the top of their professions and become the envy of the world. But Willow, Mya, and Lucia Lenore, the current generation, aren’t doing so well. Willow’s not as sharp as she once was, Mya would do anything to run the company, and Lucia wants no part of it. They’ve made a mistake with one of their chosen few and there could be some dreadful consequences to pay.

Eh.

I really liked the premise of the book. A family of women, the Blue Ridge Mountains (my home), a touch of magic–what’s not to love?

These characters.

Willow and Lucia were okay, but holy cow, I could not like Mya. Not one little bit. The point of view shifts between the three women so it’s not like I could really ignore her. I felt like I was getting mixed signals about her. She’s the one with the great nose, the talent for mixing perfumes, the magic touch to get it right, and the one that forest animals flock to. She’s a regular Snow White. Until she mixes a terrible perfume for their problem child of a crossover pop queen/actress. The actress was being a witch, no doubt about it. But Mya gets way out of line with what she does.

Willow was the aging matriarch and I was mostly okay with her. Except that she let Mya have a free rein. Lucia was almost forgettable. She was the broken hearted divorcee who comes back home to the Blue Ridge from New York with her tail between her legs. And that’s about all the personality she had. Well, at least she had a conscience.

If you’ve read many of my reviews, you know that if I don’t like any characters, I’m pretty much guaranteed to not care about the rest of the book. The plot itself was okay. I remember more now than I expected to but it still seems like it was a bit too long for what it was. That said, I would have liked a bit more story about the founding of the company. Granny Lenore (or whatever she was called) was pretty fascinating and a strong woman.

I have a feeling I’m going to be in the minority on this one. Most of you will probably enjoy it more than I did, especially if you aren’t as dependent on likeable characters as I am. If you like the idea, go ahead and give it a try.

Thanks to the publisher for lending me a copy for review.

Read an excerpt.

Find author Sarah Creech on her website and Facebook.

Buy Season of the Dragonflies at

I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site. My opinions are completely my own.