This is more of a 3.5 star review from me:

The Roots of the Olive Tree alternates between the viewpoints of all five women. In doing so, I felt like I got just a taste of each woman's life and a few hints at why each had the personality that she had. I would have liked to know even more about each woman's past life. This book was more a slice of all of their present lives. Of course, it did venture into the past to reveal the secrets that some of the women were harboring. While I found the secrets interesting, I didn't find them to be "explosive" as the blurb indicates. And all of these women were so tough and even-keeled most of the time that they didn't seem to be phased much when they found out the secrets either - they definitely didn't seem to be shaken to their roots.

I enjoyed reading this book but I felt like it had unrealized potential. There were some loose ends that could have been developed and I think would have added more dimension. Without spoiling anything, I think Deb and Erin's relationship could have been explored more and I also would have liked to know what happened with the trip the ladies were planning. I also didn't fully understand the symbolism of the tortoise in the story (you'll know what I mean if you read it) but grasping that sort of thing is not always easy for me. If you have thoughts about the tortoise, please share!

Even though I found the story to be somewhat different from what the book jacket promised, I still found this book to be a pleasant and quick read. There is a short e-book prequel (that I have not read)called Under the Olive Tree that is free in the Kindle store as of this writing.