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A review by ctorretta
The Burning of Isobel Key by Jen McConnel
5.0
I have to admit, I started reading this, getting into the characters not thinking a thing about the title, and then it hit me! This girl you’re getting to know is the girl that is going to be burned! I wanted to put the book down straight away!!! But it was so compelling, her story drove me on, hoping against hope for a better outcome. But the interesting part of it all was that although you’re getting to know Isobel who lived back in 1667, you’re also getting to know Louisa, who lives in the present day and how their lives collide.
Most of the story is about Louisa with some peppered in chapters on Isobel. It’s never difficult to understand who you are reading about. You know immediately firstly because of the chapter titles but also because each girl is totally different. I loved the yin/yang portion of this although I wanted more and more about each and Jen McConnel just gives you enough and then switches! It was maddening but brilliant!
Isobel is a lovely person who cares about people but sadly something happens early in her life, or late if you’re back in the 1600′s, that makes her sort of swear off men. Now imagine, a twenty five year old living alone in a cottage, five miles outside of town. People are going to talk. It may not be straight away but I knew it was coming sooner or later, I just didn’t know how. What I didn’t like about this portion of the story was what happens between the sisters. It doesn’t make sense to me that they are so close but Margaret would choose to hurt Isobel. It just doesn’t completely mesh for me.
Louisa is also a bit of an introvert. She hasn’t dated in years, since her last relationship, and doesn’t plan to but her friend Tammy keeps pushing her to do just that. Tammy as you can probably imagine, is quite the opposite of Louisa which didn’t bother me until Tammy starts pushing religion onto Lou. It’s VERY frustrating to say the least. Again, it didn’t totally mesh. Why would someone be so unwilling to believe in the occult (tarot readings, scrying, etc) because she’s a Christian and yet she’s totally willing to sleep with guys. A little bit of an annoyance for me, but something that didn’t totally distract from the story. I just wanted Lou to tell her to shove it! But being a good friend Lou keeps her feelings to herself and keeps quiet, most of the time.
Although Tammy distracted me a little, the rest of the story was amazing. Louisa finding out about Isobel was interesting and from there on the story just got better and better. Both Louisa and Isobel are strong women and they are wonderful to read about. The ending was exactly what I was looking for. Honestly I was quite worried about how this was going to end and there was something missing until, quite literally, the last sentence but Jen McConnel brings everything together wonderfully!
This was a book I could not put down and although I am a huge fan of the paranormal and historical fiction, this was something a bit different from the normal read. It was intriguing and keeps you wondering what is going to happen, even after you put together that one of the main characters is definitely going to be burned to death. It’s the story of how Isobel got there that kept me wanting to continue, and the story about how Louisa decided to finally start making decisions for herself! Fabulous read!
More exciting is the news that the sequel to this, The Key Inheritance, is scheduled to be published January 15th!!! Nearly in time for my birthday! I can’t wait to see what Louisa has gotten herself up to!
Most of the story is about Louisa with some peppered in chapters on Isobel. It’s never difficult to understand who you are reading about. You know immediately firstly because of the chapter titles but also because each girl is totally different. I loved the yin/yang portion of this although I wanted more and more about each and Jen McConnel just gives you enough and then switches! It was maddening but brilliant!
Isobel is a lovely person who cares about people but sadly something happens early in her life, or late if you’re back in the 1600′s, that makes her sort of swear off men. Now imagine, a twenty five year old living alone in a cottage, five miles outside of town. People are going to talk. It may not be straight away but I knew it was coming sooner or later, I just didn’t know how. What I didn’t like about this portion of the story was what happens between the sisters. It doesn’t make sense to me that they are so close but Margaret would choose to hurt Isobel. It just doesn’t completely mesh for me.
Louisa is also a bit of an introvert. She hasn’t dated in years, since her last relationship, and doesn’t plan to but her friend Tammy keeps pushing her to do just that. Tammy as you can probably imagine, is quite the opposite of Louisa which didn’t bother me until Tammy starts pushing religion onto Lou. It’s VERY frustrating to say the least. Again, it didn’t totally mesh. Why would someone be so unwilling to believe in the occult (tarot readings, scrying, etc) because she’s a Christian and yet she’s totally willing to sleep with guys. A little bit of an annoyance for me, but something that didn’t totally distract from the story. I just wanted Lou to tell her to shove it! But being a good friend Lou keeps her feelings to herself and keeps quiet, most of the time.
Although Tammy distracted me a little, the rest of the story was amazing. Louisa finding out about Isobel was interesting and from there on the story just got better and better. Both Louisa and Isobel are strong women and they are wonderful to read about. The ending was exactly what I was looking for. Honestly I was quite worried about how this was going to end and there was something missing until, quite literally, the last sentence but Jen McConnel brings everything together wonderfully!
This was a book I could not put down and although I am a huge fan of the paranormal and historical fiction, this was something a bit different from the normal read. It was intriguing and keeps you wondering what is going to happen, even after you put together that one of the main characters is definitely going to be burned to death. It’s the story of how Isobel got there that kept me wanting to continue, and the story about how Louisa decided to finally start making decisions for herself! Fabulous read!
More exciting is the news that the sequel to this, The Key Inheritance, is scheduled to be published January 15th!!! Nearly in time for my birthday! I can’t wait to see what Louisa has gotten herself up to!