Take a photo of a barcode or cover
foxglovefiction's reviews
1335 reviews
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
5.0
One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction…
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it’s already been stolen.
London’s underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself…
I received this as an ARC from Netgalley and Penguin Random House.
The Invisible Library is Genevieve Cogman’s debut novel, but it was originally published in the UK on January 15, 2015. The Invisible Library is Harry Potter meets Doctor Who meets Kate Daniels, with the best of each world combined into a Victorian setting, with human-shaped dragons and a female main character. Who doesn’t love that?
Our main character is Irene, who is originally introduced to us as a no-nonsense thief, dedicated to the books and the Library. And yes, Library must be capitalized. Slowly but surely, Irene shows that maybe she’s not as trusting of the Library as she lets on. I loved that she always wanted to read the books she was hunting for.
“She just wanted -had always wanted- a good book to read. Being chased by hellhounds and blowing things up were comparatively unimportant parts of the job. Getting the books – now, that was what really mattered to her.”
She also slowly but surely learns to trust her mentee, Kai. Kai is not what he seems to be, and Irene spends the whole novel learning who he actually is and what’s important to him. I’d really love to know more about his people, especially given the remarks that Coppelia made about them towards the end. I wasn’t as enthralled with him as Irene seemed to be, but I liked him. I could see myself really enjoying him later on.
This is a super duper slow burn romance between Irene and Kai, with this adorable quote near the end of the book.
“He was looking up at her with that lost, puppy-like look again, as if she had somehow perfectly filled a hole in his personal universe. It was no doubt immensely flattering, but she didn’t have time for that.”
Bradamant was an interesting character – she was halfway set up to be the antagonist, and then almost became a friend to Kai and Irene. I really hope we see more of her in later books. I can see a fun friendship forming between the three of them in the face of adversity.
I love the idea of the Language, and the nuance that that brought to the world. It’s magical, but definitely limited – by reality, by the nature of the object/person and by the speaker’s vocabulary. However, I really wish we could have learned more about the culture of the Library, as Irene’s faith in the Library kind of crumbled throughout the book. I would have liked to know why she believed so heavily in it. Especially with the implied rivalry between their bosses, I wanted to know more about why.
The sequel, The Masked City is already out in the UK, and will be released in the US on September 6, and the third and final novel, The Burning Page, is set to be released on December 6, 2016. As you might have guessed, I’m rating this one 5 stars, and have already recommended it to at least three people.
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it’s already been stolen.
London’s underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself…
I received this as an ARC from Netgalley and Penguin Random House.
The Invisible Library is Genevieve Cogman’s debut novel, but it was originally published in the UK on January 15, 2015. The Invisible Library is Harry Potter meets Doctor Who meets Kate Daniels, with the best of each world combined into a Victorian setting, with human-shaped dragons and a female main character. Who doesn’t love that?
Our main character is Irene, who is originally introduced to us as a no-nonsense thief, dedicated to the books and the Library. And yes, Library must be capitalized. Slowly but surely, Irene shows that maybe she’s not as trusting of the Library as she lets on. I loved that she always wanted to read the books she was hunting for.
“She just wanted -had always wanted- a good book to read. Being chased by hellhounds and blowing things up were comparatively unimportant parts of the job. Getting the books – now, that was what really mattered to her.”
She also slowly but surely learns to trust her mentee, Kai. Kai is not what he seems to be, and Irene spends the whole novel learning who he actually is and what’s important to him. I’d really love to know more about his people, especially given the remarks that Coppelia made about them towards the end. I wasn’t as enthralled with him as Irene seemed to be, but I liked him. I could see myself really enjoying him later on.
This is a super duper slow burn romance between Irene and Kai, with this adorable quote near the end of the book.
“He was looking up at her with that lost, puppy-like look again, as if she had somehow perfectly filled a hole in his personal universe. It was no doubt immensely flattering, but she didn’t have time for that.”
Bradamant was an interesting character – she was halfway set up to be the antagonist, and then almost became a friend to Kai and Irene. I really hope we see more of her in later books. I can see a fun friendship forming between the three of them in the face of adversity.
I love the idea of the Language, and the nuance that that brought to the world. It’s magical, but definitely limited – by reality, by the nature of the object/person and by the speaker’s vocabulary. However, I really wish we could have learned more about the culture of the Library, as Irene’s faith in the Library kind of crumbled throughout the book. I would have liked to know why she believed so heavily in it. Especially with the implied rivalry between their bosses, I wanted to know more about why.
The sequel, The Masked City is already out in the UK, and will be released in the US on September 6, and the third and final novel, The Burning Page, is set to be released on December 6, 2016. As you might have guessed, I’m rating this one 5 stars, and have already recommended it to at least three people.
The Language of Silence by Peggy Webb
5.0
Following in the footsteps of her tiger-taming grandmother, a woman flees her abusive husband to join the circus in this masterful, heartfelt work of women’s fiction.
Nobody in the family talks about Ellen’s grandmother, Lola, who was swallowed up by the circus and emerged as a woman who tamed tigers and got away scot-free for killing her husband.
When Ellen’s husband, Wayne, beats her nearly to death, she runs to the only place she knows where a woman can completely disappear—the same Big Top that once sheltered her grandmother.
Though the circus moves from one town to the next, Wayne tracks it, and Ellen, relentlessly. At the same time, Ellen learns more about her feisty, fiery relative, and the heritage that is hers for the taking—if she dares.
With her violent husband hot on her trail, Ellen must learn to stand up and fight for herself, to break the cycle of abuse, and pass down a story of love and redemption to her children.
I loved this book. It's the story of a woman growing into herself in the same way that her grandmother did. It's a wonderfully written story that brought me so fully into the story that I felt everything Ellen - or Eve, as she'd prefer to be called- was feeling, and learning Lola's past was a great way to contrast the two women who were similar in many ways. I absolutely loved the way the circus took both women in, and I won't spoil anything, but I absolutely loved this book.
Also read: Water for Elephants
Nobody in the family talks about Ellen’s grandmother, Lola, who was swallowed up by the circus and emerged as a woman who tamed tigers and got away scot-free for killing her husband.
When Ellen’s husband, Wayne, beats her nearly to death, she runs to the only place she knows where a woman can completely disappear—the same Big Top that once sheltered her grandmother.
Though the circus moves from one town to the next, Wayne tracks it, and Ellen, relentlessly. At the same time, Ellen learns more about her feisty, fiery relative, and the heritage that is hers for the taking—if she dares.
With her violent husband hot on her trail, Ellen must learn to stand up and fight for herself, to break the cycle of abuse, and pass down a story of love and redemption to her children.
I loved this book. It's the story of a woman growing into herself in the same way that her grandmother did. It's a wonderfully written story that brought me so fully into the story that I felt everything Ellen - or Eve, as she'd prefer to be called- was feeling, and learning Lola's past was a great way to contrast the two women who were similar in many ways. I absolutely loved the way the circus took both women in, and I won't spoil anything, but I absolutely loved this book.
Also read: Water for Elephants
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet by Rachel Kiley, Kate Rorick
5.0
Review to come closer to publication.
Morning Glory by Sarah Jio
5.0
Morning Glory was my first novel by Sarah Jio, but I loved the style, and I can see why she’s a NY Times Bestseller! I got an ARC from Penguin’s First to Read program, and I’m really glad I got this one. It’s due to be published on November 26, 2013, and I definitely recommend the purchase!
The way that the book was written was in two different women’s perspectives – Penny Wentworth, a 1950’s housewife, and Ada Santorini, editor of Sunrise magazine in 2008. Their stories are tied together by their lives, and sorrows, in Houseboat No. 7 on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington.
Ada Santorini leases Houseboat No. 7 for a summer in an attempt to run away from her grief, and finds out that the last woman who lived there disappeared in 1959, never to be seen again. She then discovers a trunk left behind by Penny Wentworth. Ada learns a lot about herself as she investigates Penny’s disappearance and begins the process of resurfacing from the depths of her grief.
Morning Glory was a well-woven mystery and love story. Not everything ends up neatly, but it does have a happy ending of sorts. It put me in mind of the movie, The Lake House, that I haven't seen in years but really enjoyed. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would definitely give it a 5 out of 5 star rating.
The way that the book was written was in two different women’s perspectives – Penny Wentworth, a 1950’s housewife, and Ada Santorini, editor of Sunrise magazine in 2008. Their stories are tied together by their lives, and sorrows, in Houseboat No. 7 on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington.
Ada Santorini leases Houseboat No. 7 for a summer in an attempt to run away from her grief, and finds out that the last woman who lived there disappeared in 1959, never to be seen again. She then discovers a trunk left behind by Penny Wentworth. Ada learns a lot about herself as she investigates Penny’s disappearance and begins the process of resurfacing from the depths of her grief.
Morning Glory was a well-woven mystery and love story. Not everything ends up neatly, but it does have a happy ending of sorts. It put me in mind of the movie, The Lake House, that I haven't seen in years but really enjoyed. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would definitely give it a 5 out of 5 star rating.
Terrier by Tamora Pierce
4.0
Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, commonly known as "the Provost's Dogs," in Corus, the capital city of Tortall. To the surprise of both the veteran "Dogs" and her fellow "puppies," Beka requests duty in the Lower City. The Lower City is a tough beat. But it's also where Beka was born, and she's comfortable there.
Beka gets her wish. She's assigned to work with Mattes and Clary, famed veterans among the Provost's Dogs. They're tough, they're capable, and they're none too happy about the indignity of being saddled with a puppy for the first time in years. What they don't know is that Beka has something unique to offer. Never much of a talker, Beka is a good listener. So good, in fact, that she hears things that Mattes and Clary never could - information that is passed in murmurs when flocks of pigeons gather; murmurs that are the words of the dead.
In this way, Beka learns of someone in the Lower City who has overturned the power structure of the underworld and is terrorizing its citizens into submission and silence. Beka's magical listening talent is the only way for the Provost's Dogs to find out the identity of this brutal new underlord, for the dead are beyond fear. And the ranks of the dead will be growing if the Dogs can't stop a crime wave the likes of which has never been seen. Luckily for the people of the Lower City, the new puppy is a true terrier!
As a lifelong Tamora Pierce fan, I knew I would want to read this book because it gives great insight into the earlier part of Tortall’s history, but I was unsure if I’d enjoy it because of the diary format. Even with my qualms about the format, I found that Beka’s voice was both strong and realistic, and it gave us a great view of the world that was completely different from the ones we got from Alanna, Daine, Keladry, and Aly. I loved the pages that were ‘ruined’ by the whistle. It added a more realistic view of the journal aspect, considering I’ve never yet had a journal that I haven’t gotten something on at least one page of, and she was using actual bottles of ink!
For those who are familiar with Pierce’s work, it gives insight into the underbelly of Corus, both in their budding police (Dogs) as well as the history of the Court of the Rogue, not to mention giving background into one of the most beloved male characters in Song of the Lioness, George Cooper. You get to see the beginning of a changing society, much different than the one we see in the more modern Song of the Lioness, Immortals, and
As I said earlier, Beka’s voice is realistic, as is the world she lives in. Some people in the Provost’s Guard are just there for a paycheck, some of them are corrupt, and some of them, like Beka, really are there to help others. She has to count her money to see if she can afford things like laundry or extra food, especially when she ends up with four unexpected houseguests near the end of the novel. Beka gets completely tongue-tied
Beka is idealistic, despite knowing the harsh reality of the lives of those she helps in the Lower City. Even knowing the reality, Beka has to learn that even though they do their best, the Dogs cannot catch everyone who has wronged others, and the lives of multiple people are more important than the lives of one person, even if that person happens to be Beka’s best friend’s husband. Even learning this lesson, Beka doesn't give up on anyone that she has the chance to help.
Beka had a wide group of friends that included three criminals who are on the rise in the Court of the Rogue, the wife of a mob boss’s grandson, older dogs, as well as Puppies and Dogs that were of a similar age. She had a healthy social life, and despite not being overly talkative, has wonderful friends that really cared about her, which is different from most of the shy characters that you see in a lot of YA fiction. I see a lot of characters that are shy, and therefore have no friends, but as usual Pierce remembered that just because you don’t like to talk all the time, you don’t have to have absolutely no friends.
I loved learning Dog’s work along with Beka, and this reads like a police mystery novel, something that I have always loved in my television, and I also loved in this book. Terrier has stood up to the re-reading test. It is as enjoyable every time I've read it since I bought it several years ago.
(Other books in the trilogy are Bloodhound and Mastiff, which I will be reviewing later!)
Beka gets her wish. She's assigned to work with Mattes and Clary, famed veterans among the Provost's Dogs. They're tough, they're capable, and they're none too happy about the indignity of being saddled with a puppy for the first time in years. What they don't know is that Beka has something unique to offer. Never much of a talker, Beka is a good listener. So good, in fact, that she hears things that Mattes and Clary never could - information that is passed in murmurs when flocks of pigeons gather; murmurs that are the words of the dead.
In this way, Beka learns of someone in the Lower City who has overturned the power structure of the underworld and is terrorizing its citizens into submission and silence. Beka's magical listening talent is the only way for the Provost's Dogs to find out the identity of this brutal new underlord, for the dead are beyond fear. And the ranks of the dead will be growing if the Dogs can't stop a crime wave the likes of which has never been seen. Luckily for the people of the Lower City, the new puppy is a true terrier!
As a lifelong Tamora Pierce fan, I knew I would want to read this book because it gives great insight into the earlier part of Tortall’s history, but I was unsure if I’d enjoy it because of the diary format. Even with my qualms about the format, I found that Beka’s voice was both strong and realistic, and it gave us a great view of the world that was completely different from the ones we got from Alanna, Daine, Keladry, and Aly. I loved the pages that were ‘ruined’ by the whistle. It added a more realistic view of the journal aspect, considering I’ve never yet had a journal that I haven’t gotten something on at least one page of, and she was using actual bottles of ink!
For those who are familiar with Pierce’s work, it gives insight into the underbelly of Corus, both in their budding police (Dogs) as well as the history of the Court of the Rogue, not to mention giving background into one of the most beloved male characters in Song of the Lioness, George Cooper. You get to see the beginning of a changing society, much different than the one we see in the more modern Song of the Lioness, Immortals, and
As I said earlier, Beka’s voice is realistic, as is the world she lives in. Some people in the Provost’s Guard are just there for a paycheck, some of them are corrupt, and some of them, like Beka, really are there to help others. She has to count her money to see if she can afford things like laundry or extra food, especially when she ends up with four unexpected houseguests near the end of the novel. Beka gets completely tongue-tied
Beka is idealistic, despite knowing the harsh reality of the lives of those she helps in the Lower City. Even knowing the reality, Beka has to learn that even though they do their best, the Dogs cannot catch everyone who has wronged others, and the lives of multiple people are more important than the lives of one person, even if that person happens to be Beka’s best friend’s husband. Even learning this lesson, Beka doesn't give up on anyone that she has the chance to help.
Beka had a wide group of friends that included three criminals who are on the rise in the Court of the Rogue, the wife of a mob boss’s grandson, older dogs, as well as Puppies and Dogs that were of a similar age. She had a healthy social life, and despite not being overly talkative, has wonderful friends that really cared about her, which is different from most of the shy characters that you see in a lot of YA fiction. I see a lot of characters that are shy, and therefore have no friends, but as usual Pierce remembered that just because you don’t like to talk all the time, you don’t have to have absolutely no friends.
I loved learning Dog’s work along with Beka, and this reads like a police mystery novel, something that I have always loved in my television, and I also loved in this book. Terrier has stood up to the re-reading test. It is as enjoyable every time I've read it since I bought it several years ago.
(Other books in the trilogy are Bloodhound and Mastiff, which I will be reviewing later!)
Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge
4.0
“Love, Water, Memory” is a bittersweet masterpiece filled with longing and hope, Jennie Shortridge’s emotional novel explores the raw, tender complexities of relationships and personal identity. Who is Lucie Walker? Even Lucie herself can’t answer that question after she comes to, confused and up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay. Back home in Seattle, she adjusts to life with amnesia, growing unsettled by the clues she finds to the selfish, carefully guarded person she used to be. Will she ever fall in love with her handsome, kindhearted fiancé, Grady? Can he devote himself to the vulnerable, easygoing Lucie 2.0, who is so unlike her controlling former self? When Lucie learns that Grady has been hiding some very painful secrets that could change the course of their relationship, she musters the courage to search for the shocking, long-repressed childhood memories that will finally set her free.
I found Shortridge’s “Love, Water, Memory” to be captivating and an easy read. I had thought that it would be more based around the romance of Lucie and Grady’s life together, but it ended up being a kind of coming-of-age story, where Lucie found her identity, even though she was nearly 40. It was also a tragedy in a way, a woman learning of a past that she had apparently repressed when it happened, which in turn caused her to turn into the materialistic, controlling woman that she was originally.
For Lucie, this reboot brought her heartache, but it also brought her back to the only remaining family member she had left, her Aunt Helen, and it brought her closer to Grady's family, who had previously disliked her for being too uptight. She was also able to start over with her neighbors, whom she had originally gotten on the bad side of by being fairly snotty to them.
I definitely recommend this book, and give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.
I found Shortridge’s “Love, Water, Memory” to be captivating and an easy read. I had thought that it would be more based around the romance of Lucie and Grady’s life together, but it ended up being a kind of coming-of-age story, where Lucie found her identity, even though she was nearly 40. It was also a tragedy in a way, a woman learning of a past that she had apparently repressed when it happened, which in turn caused her to turn into the materialistic, controlling woman that she was originally.
For Lucie, this reboot brought her heartache, but it also brought her back to the only remaining family member she had left, her Aunt Helen, and it brought her closer to Grady's family, who had previously disliked her for being too uptight. She was also able to start over with her neighbors, whom she had originally gotten on the bad side of by being fairly snotty to them.
I definitely recommend this book, and give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
4.0
Book: “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Orphaned into the household of her unwilling Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed. With a heroine full of yearning, the dangerous secrets she encounters, and the choices she finally makes, Charlotte Bronte's innovative and enduring romantic novel continues to engage and provoke readers.
I loved re-reading this book, though I’d forgotten almost all of the second half of the book from whenever I read it the first time. I love that she knows full well that she isn’t pretty, but still values herself highly because of her intelligence. I love that she refuses to marry a man that she does not love. I love that this novel was a romance, but that the characters had redeeming qualities beyond their love for each other, even though they were both ‘plain-looking.’
I have to be honest, though. I didn’t much like Rochester. He was high-handed and often rude to Jane, and his secret is one that should never have been kept from Jane as a member of the house, no matter how embarrassing it was. I did, however, enjoy the banter between them, and that she never pretended he was handsome.
I also intensely disliked his general disownment of Adele, who may not have been his daughter, but he was raising her. She deserved his love, and got maybe a small amount of grudging affection from him. I’m glad that Jane seemed to love her, though I wish we could have had a little more information about the child.
Aunt Reed was a horror, as she was supposed to be, and I have to admit that I was glad when her son died. I wish we could have met Uncle Reed, but given how spoiled his children were, I imagine that I might not have liked him that much, either, despite how fond Jane’s memories of him were.
Some of the plot points were a bit unrealistic –the chances of her finding her only relations in all of England are incredibly slim , and the deus ex machine was odd, but it was supposed to be a little bit fantastic in order to remove it slightly from reality, given the time period.
This was a very enjoyable read, though I had forgotten how long it felt to read, and I can see where it loses a lot of people. It’s written in an appropriately old-fashioned style, it’s not a traditional love story, and the characters are not all that pretty/handsome, and it felt really long despite only being like 300 pages for me.
I think my favorite quote is one from Helen Burns, who died far too soon, in my opinion, and that’s how I’ll end this, because it became such a great part of Jane’s character, “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.”
Rating: 4/5 stars
Orphaned into the household of her unwilling Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed. With a heroine full of yearning, the dangerous secrets she encounters, and the choices she finally makes, Charlotte Bronte's innovative and enduring romantic novel continues to engage and provoke readers.
I loved re-reading this book, though I’d forgotten almost all of the second half of the book from whenever I read it the first time. I love that she knows full well that she isn’t pretty, but still values herself highly because of her intelligence. I love that she refuses to marry a man that she does not love. I love that this novel was a romance, but that the characters had redeeming qualities beyond their love for each other, even though they were both ‘plain-looking.’
I have to be honest, though. I didn’t much like Rochester. He was high-handed and often rude to Jane, and his secret is one that should never have been kept from Jane as a member of the house, no matter how embarrassing it was. I did, however, enjoy the banter between them, and that she never pretended he was handsome.
I also intensely disliked his general disownment of Adele, who may not have been his daughter, but he was raising her. She deserved his love, and got maybe a small amount of grudging affection from him. I’m glad that Jane seemed to love her, though I wish we could have had a little more information about the child.
Aunt Reed was a horror, as she was supposed to be, and I have to admit that I was glad when her son died. I wish we could have met Uncle Reed, but given how spoiled his children were, I imagine that I might not have liked him that much, either, despite how fond Jane’s memories of him were.
Some of the plot points were a bit unrealistic –
This was a very enjoyable read, though I had forgotten how long it felt to read, and I can see where it loses a lot of people. It’s written in an appropriately old-fashioned style, it’s not a traditional love story, and the characters are not all that pretty/handsome, and it felt really long despite only being like 300 pages for me.
I think my favorite quote is one from Helen Burns, who died far too soon, in my opinion, and that’s how I’ll end this, because it became such a great part of Jane’s character, “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.”
Seduction by M.J. Rose
4.0
From the author of The Book of Lost Fragrances comes a haunting novel about a grieving woman who discovers the lost letters of novelist Victor Hugo, awakening a mystery that spans centuries.
In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with the likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus—and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.
Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey—where Hugo conducted the séances—hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different—Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.
What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists.
I read this as a stand-alone novel, not realizing that it was part of a series, but this book is actually the fifth book in MJ Rose’s ‘Reincarnationist’ series. Rose’s writing is lyrical, rich, intricately thought through and extremely detailed. I kept coming back to this novel whenever I was forced to stop. Seduction was a mix of the supernatural and historical fiction, and Rose did it magnificently. When I began reading, I felt that the title, as well as the cover, were fairly inaccurate to the novel, but by the end of it, both made sense to me.
One of my favorite things throughout the novel was how attuned to her sense of smell Jac L’Etoile was, and how her awesome olfactory senses eventually tied into the ending. I also really enjoyed their talks about reincarnation, as that is something rarely touched on in books that I have read, and always something that I’ve been intrigued by. I think I’d very much enjoy going back and reading the other books in this series.
I also really loved how we got to learn about Victor Hugo's life in Jersey, how his grief supposedly led him to almost deal with the devil. From what I know of Hugo's life, the things he was saying, how he was helping to rescue the children, all rang true to me as things that he might have said, and I sincerely appreciated that.
Reading through this novel, I wasn’t sure at first how each character was eventually going to tie back in, but it all began making sense afterwards, and I was entirely intrigued the whole way through. I want to know how Theo and Ash were working to solve their issues, but perhaps that’s for another book.
In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspenseful historical fiction novel!
In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with the likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus—and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.
Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey—where Hugo conducted the séances—hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different—Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.
What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists.
I read this as a stand-alone novel, not realizing that it was part of a series, but this book is actually the fifth book in MJ Rose’s ‘Reincarnationist’ series. Rose’s writing is lyrical, rich, intricately thought through and extremely detailed. I kept coming back to this novel whenever I was forced to stop. Seduction was a mix of the supernatural and historical fiction, and Rose did it magnificently. When I began reading, I felt that the title, as well as the cover, were fairly inaccurate to the novel, but by the end of it, both made sense to me.
One of my favorite things throughout the novel was how attuned to her sense of smell Jac L’Etoile was, and how her awesome olfactory senses eventually tied into the ending. I also really enjoyed their talks about reincarnation, as that is something rarely touched on in books that I have read, and always something that I’ve been intrigued by. I think I’d very much enjoy going back and reading the other books in this series.
I also really loved how we got to learn about Victor Hugo's life in Jersey, how his grief supposedly led him to almost deal with the devil. From what I know of Hugo's life, the things he was saying, how he was helping to rescue the children, all rang true to me as things that he might have said, and I sincerely appreciated that.
Reading through this novel, I wasn’t sure at first how each character was eventually going to tie back in, but it all began making sense afterwards, and I was entirely intrigued the whole way through. I want to know how Theo and Ash were working to solve their issues, but perhaps that’s for another book.
In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspenseful historical fiction novel!