Review: The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume by Lisa Rumsey Harris

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The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume by Lisa Rumsey Harris, AF, 2012, 304p, Rating=5
Source: provided review ebook copy by author in exchange for an honest review

With her love of sweaters, goofy hair, and awkward manners—not to mention her family curse—Treasure Blume knows love is not in her future. That is, until she matches wits with Dennis Cameron, a divorced chef with a six-year-old daughter. Full of mischief, mayhem, and laugh-out-loud humor, this is an unlikely love story you’ll want to read over and over again!

Oh no! Treasure as a name? I had such a hard time with it that for the first quarter of the book I had to read it quickly and shorten it to Treas to make the read tolerable. I'm usually alright with symbolism but I just didn't like it this time. Call me fickle.  Oh, did I tell you her sister's name was Patience?

That was a hang up but I persevered. I’m glad I did because it ended up being my kind of book. I’m a big fan of books with heart (see my URL) and this had a lot of it. It had many chuckle moments (gotta love Grammy!) as well. The whole story in general was sweet and tender. It dealt with a variety of life issues such as single parenting, self-esteem, social economics, misconceptions, death and dying, dating heartaches, altruism, and so on.  With such a grand span, you risk losing depth. But that wasn’t the case here. The entire cast of characters played a collaborative role in bringing forth great meaning and richness to the story. It was nice to see people caring for each other, hence this would make for a wonderful feel good, fun, chick movie because that’s how this read was reeling in my head. I even have part of the cast picked out: Amy Adams as Treasure, Jude Law as Dennis, Mackenzie Foy as Micaela, Bette Midlar as Grammy, Christina Ricci as Aussie, and Robert De Niro as Varden.

I saw a bit of Treasure (yikes, I have an odd name too; but in my defense, it’s common in the Philippines) in me so that’s probably part of the love for this book. I too like children and the elderly. I too initially repel people (in my case, my meekness is mistaken for “get away from me” aura). I too have a kind heart, though I need work in having the level of altruism that Treasure possessed. That said, I was able to empathize with her walk in life because I’ve experience similar animosity and I try to live my life as beautiful as hers. Plus, I’m a romantic at heart so I enjoyed the love story between her and Dennis. Wow, I seriously felt my heart swell (you know, the feeling when you love someone) at the description of their love for each other. Oh, Dennis you’re now in my list of fictional hotties!

Including a Filipino character was also a big plus. Ligwayway, a 6yo Filipina girl, put a big smile on my face. Her little segment with the tinikling (folklore dance) and the teacher house call scene where Dennis can understand and speak a little bit of Tagalog (extra hottie points for him!!) left me with sweet memories of my homeland.

This book spoke to me, hence the highest rating. So if you’re a sentimental softie like me then this is a book for you too!

By the way, the name finally grew on me because the symbolism fit her but if my eReader had the capability to exchange words, I would have used it. ;)

Lisa Rumsey Harris grew up writing stories and riding horses in Southeastern Idaho. She received a bachelor's and master's degree in English from Brigham Young University. She lives in Orem, Utah, with her ancient Siamese cat, her multi-talented husband, and her three adorable daughters.