“Go to Heaven for the climate, and Hell for the company.”
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
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Synopsis:
Annabelle Aster doesn’t bow to convention—not even that of space and time—which makes the 1890s Kansas wheat field that has appeared in her modern-day San Francisco garden easy to accept. Even more peculiar is Elsbeth, the truculent schoolmarm who sends Annie letters through the mysterious brass mailbox perched on the picket fence that now divides their two worlds.
Annie and Elsbeth’s search for an explanation to the hiccup in the universe linking their homes leads to an unsettling discovery—and potential disaster for both of them. Together they must solve the mystery of what connects them before one of them is convicted of a murder that has yet to happen…and yet somehow already did.
Genre:
🍋 Historical Fiction
🍋 Science Fiction
🍋 Women’s Fiction
🍋 Fantasy
🍋 Mystery
Tropes & Themes:
🍋 Time Travel > Portals > 1895 – 1995
🍋 Misadventures and Magic
🍋 Omniscient, “God-like” POV
🍋 “Women are delicate”
🍋 Orphans & Misfits
🍋 “Action Girl”
Annie’s new pen pal has been dead for over seventy years…”
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster, a magical time travel misadventure story told in omniscient, or “all knowing” POV, by Scott Wilbanks, is a book I set down and came back to many times since I first received it for review, nearly ten years ago. — (Sorry Source Books!)
When I picked it up this time and began to read it again from page one, I couldn’t fathom why it was that I set it down last time with less than one hundred pages left of a four hundred page book?!
For instance, I was totally sweet on Annie, Elsbeth, Christian, Cap’n, and Edmund, the five misfits; four of which are Annie’s sidekicks but really were main characters in their own right. Annie Aster and Elsbeth were my faaaaaaaaavorites and I loved the mystery of the unexpected brass mailbox on a white picket fence, and how it connected them, even a hundred years apart! The worlds were vastly different between them, being one hundred years apart, and I found the historical time setting of 1895 to be a fun period to explore.
I wasn’t too far into the book when the magical sweetness bittered like a sweet & sour candy, leaving an unpleasant taste in my mouth. 🍋 It started with the letters shared via portal-mailbox, and Annie’s and El’s jokes about animal cruelty, specifically cats. Throughout the book, cats and kittens are mentioned or, later, handled in an abusive way. It was a hundred pages until the finish line when the weird cat stuff culminated in ridiculous cruelty, when one of the many villains in this story held an orphaned kitten over an oven burner. Really? No wonder I put this down. I have three rescue cats, two of which we took in this year, and I have no plans on stopping at three, (even though one of said rescues woke me up this morning by draping his huge frame across my body, right over the side I’m about to have surgery on, and boxed my nose with his paw until I got up). 🐾 😂
If all the weird cat stuff was edited out, and a few other things that lacked historical accuracy, this would easily be a five star read for me. It was unnecessary and added nothing of value to the fanciful and whimsical storytelling in this work of fantasy fiction. It seemed so out of place, like it was the author’s thoughts, and after reading his bio I understand he’s extremely sarcastic (so am I) and might have a little bit of a dark sense of humor, (also guilty –but not with cats!) so maybe, just maybe, that’s why?
This book is classified as Science Fiction and Mystery, but I’d argue The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is also a Women’s Fiction. Women’s fiction is basically a story with a focus on the life journey of a FMC and her personal growth. Often there is a romantic subplot. Wilbanks’ novel has both. This was a plus for me. Annie, the FMC, has a rather unique and absolutely non-linear life journey, but it’s still a “life journey” and ultimately her personal growth is revealed and it’s wonderful.
The concluding chapters were heartwarming and just when I thought this book couldn’t possibly be more twisty, the reader is hit with yet another revelation and connection between the characters.
That’s excellent writing.
I also like the author’s interpretation of the phrase “if life gives you lemons” and his word, lemoncholy. I like to think of myself as a person who habitually makes the best of a bad situation, like Miss Annie Aster. The lovely title fits the whimsical storyline. Also, the art on the cover is so beautiful! I just love all the scrawled wildflowers, both on the cover and around chapter headings. I went nuts with my gel pens! 🖋 😁
The characters of this novel are truly what makes the story, and while there are quite a few to get to know through the omniscient knowledge of multiple POVs, each character was extremely memorable — and I’ve read this multiple times finishing at different marks, and starting again, for nearly ten years. I really can’t think of many other books I read ten years ago that I’ve remembered the details of the characters in the same way I have with this book.
For instance, there’s Elsbeth, an elderly widow and loner whose only company is that of a tattered scarecrow erected in her Kansas wheat field 🌾 outside of her cabin in the 1890’s. Her sarcastic pov and comments were side-spliting-ly HILARIOUS. She had me cry-laughing.
She said a quick prayer, ending it with an appeal for rain. Kansas was experiencing an uncommonly long dry spell, and she was starting to run out of patience with the good Lord. If he didn’t answer soon, she decided she wasn’t above stripping to her knickers and doing a rain dance in the pig pen to see if that would get his attention.”
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
Connected to Elsbeth is Annie, (the FMC), who begins her morning one day to discover a random brass mail box, on a mysterious white picket fence wrapped with greenery and healthy, established roses that definitely weren’t there yesterday. In the distance, Annie notices a wheat field and a smoky cabin. Stranger yet, is the letter threatening Annie with trespassing.
Trespass is dealt with at the business end of a shotgun in these parts!”
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
Unlike Elsbeth, Annie is portrayed as fragile, complete with a serious illness that isn’t partially revealed until the end. Her symptoms are shown and her use of syringes to deliver medication to herself are casually mentioned, sometimes a hundred pages between, eluding that something is very wrong with Annie but we are left in the dark as to what.
Loved the friendship between Annie and Christian, but it did add to her fragility because he was like a mother hen, tucking her under his proverbial wing. This was very endearing of Christian’s character, but did little favor to the perception the reader has of Annie.
The time travel theme is a fun element to any magical Sci fi or fantasy and while I loved the differences between 1895 and 1995, there were historical inaccuracies that were too glaring to ignore. For instance, Annie, an unmarried young woman, time-traveled back to 1895 and opened up a checking account.
Listen… I can accept that she time-traveled but I can’t accept that she somehow took the 1974 equal credit act back in time with her. In the 1960’s if a married woman opened a bank account, it was with her husband’s signature (permission). In 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act changed this. It’s absurd that she would have been able to withdraw funds or open an account, unmarried in America, year 1895. Like I said, time-travel is more believable.
I loved Cap’n and the “Sandlot Gang”, the young street kids and orphan castaways of the 1890’s and how they rallied around Annie, protecting her from danger.
Nathaniel was a nice addition, as were the complications of a relationship between a man from 1895 and a woman of 1995. Their love story was for sure, complicated, and many misunderstandings ensued between then.
And of course Edmond, a man who discovers a new friend in Christian, after the most unusual of first impressions. These characters made up the fabric of this story, all connected by a single string. As the story unravels, it’s revealed how everyone is connected.
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is also a murder mystery, but one that transcends the bounds of time and space making this story unique and unexpected.
Overall, Wilbanks’ debut novel is a great blend of misadventure, time travel, magic, alchemy, and even romance!
Even though I’m rating this novel 4 stars, I’m reluctant to recommend it because of the Triggers I mentioned above. In addition, there were study group questions in the end that were completely inappropriate and random, regarding “sin”, homosexuality, and drug abuse. What?! Why was this included? I was expecting meaningful questions I could ponder and respond to and I get that.
So let’s make this quick:
1.) Sin is a socially/religiously constructed word that I don’t believe in nor subscribe to. So no, I don’t believe in “sin”.
2.) No. Homosexuality is not a “sin”. What does this have to do with the story?
3.) Yes, substance abuse is a disease. Again, and this has what to do with what?!
I received a complimentary copy from Source Books in return for my review. This did not influence my thoughts or rating.
About the Author
![Sleeper Protocol (The Protocol War Book 1) by [Ikenberry, Kevin]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51tObMcbt1L._SY346_.jpg)
Kieran Roark awakens in a wheelchair, unable to remember anything. As part of a classified experiment, he will have one year to learn his identity and recover his memory, or he will be euthanized by the state.
Armed with the knowledge they need to return to their time, they try to make the most of what they believe will be a four-month vacation. But their sixties adventure becomes complicated when they meet a revered great-grandmother and fall in love with local boys.
John A. Heldt is the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage and American Journey series. The former reference librarian and award-winning sportswriter has loved getting subjects and verbs to agree since writing book reports on baseball heroes in grade school. A graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Iowa, Heldt is an avid fisherman, sports fan, home brewer, and reader of thrillers and historical fiction. When not sending contemporary characters to the not-so-distant past, he weighs in on literature and life at johnheldt.blogspot.com.
When Kevin Johnson, 22, goes to Wallace, Idaho, days after his college graduation, he expects to find rest and relaxation as his family prepares his deceased grandfather’s house for sale. Then he discovers a hidden diary and a time portal that can take him to 1910, the year of Halley’s comet and the largest wildfire in U.S. history. Within hours, Kevin finds himself in the era of horse-drawn wagons, straw hats, and ankle-length dresses.
Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. 
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