Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

The premise of this book greatly appealed to me.  What does happen if you wake up dead one morning, the world you knew is still there you can see it quite clearly but there is no way to communicate with it or it's inhabitants.  You can see your family and friends going about their daily lives but you cannot interact with them no matter how hard you try.  There is no sleep, no hunger and, worst of all no emotion.

This happens to Lily after taking a fateful shortcut down an unlit country road.  There is no suspense over what has happened.  We know she was run over and we know exactly who was responsible.  This, then is to be a book about emotions and how individuals deal with love and loss.  The extremes they can go to to make themselves feel a little bit better, a little bit more normal.

The first clue I was not going to enjoy this book was when discussing the arrangements for Lily's funeral.  We are told it is the last Friday in February, then it is dated clearly as the 3rd of March, as the day rolls around it is suddenly February again.  For some reason this grated with me and I did find it colouring my perceptions of the book throughout the rest of the read.  The funeral itself was dealt with well and I loved the little touches of humanity in the mourners.

Unfortunately, I found Lily , and her twin brother, Ben to be completely unsympathetic characters and their actions to be unrealistic.  I can suspend disbelief when reading and believe in a Fantasy World, I can suspend disbelief and believe in the Supernatural, I can suspend disbelief and believe that characters made of paper and ink are real and root for them to triumph in the story.  What this author failed to me do was suspend disbelief and believe in any, or all, of the above.

I can see where she was going with the tale but felt it needed a heavier hand with the editing.  although the editing is clearly there because somehow a cold glass of water is poured and a slice of lemon added without this having being offered as refreshment - it just popped up out of nowhere.  I did read the preceding passages two or three times but it is not mentioned and nobody went to the tap either.  Strange that something was cut here but that the story itself wasn't tightened up more, in my opinion at least 50 pages could have been cut and it would have strengthened the story and maybe 100 pages could have been cut with little detriment to the tale.

The start of the book is strong and the end is strangely warming and life-affirming.  The problem comes in the middle 250 or so pages where it all becomes a little tedious.  I am aware that this is a first novel and I believe that the author has talent and can tell a good tale but her editing team let her down badly here.  Although I feel a little harsh leaving this review I can only be honest and remind readers of this review that this is my opinion of the story, as told, and is not a personal attack on the author (or the editing team or publishing house) it is just an opinion.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

**Review originally published January 23rd, 2018**