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reviews July 26, 2016

The Secret Language Of Stones by M. J. Rose

The Secret Language of Stones

The Secret Language of Stones by M. J. Rose

AS WORLD WAR I RAGES AND THE ROMANOV DYNASTY REACHES ITS SUDDEN, BRUTAL END, A YOUNG JEWELRY MAKER DISCOVERS LOVE, PASSION, AND HER OWN HEALING POWERS IN THIS RICH AND ROMANTIC NOVEL BY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR M.J. ROSE.
Nestled deep within Parisís historic Palais Royal, safe inside La Fantasie Russieís once-bustling workshop, young, ambitious Opaline Duplessi spends her days making trench watches for soldiers at the front and mourning jewelry for the mothers, wives, and lovers of those who have fallen. Opaline has a rare gift, a form of lithomancy that allows her to translate the energy emanating from stones. Certain gemstones enable her to receive messages from beyond. In her mind, she is no mystic, but merely a messenger giving voice to soldiers who died before they were able to properly express themselves to loved ones. Until one day, one of these fallen soldiers communicates a messageódirectly to her. So begins a dangerous journey that will take Opaline into the darkest corners of wartime Paris and across the English Channel, where the exiled Romanov dowager empress is waiting to discover the fate of her family.

This is second book in a series but works well as a stand-alone too.

The book follows Opaline Duplessi who is the daughter of Sandrine from the previous book. She’s a jeweler who during the war makes talismans for women who have lost their loved ones in the war. She hears things through the stones and can give their last word to their loved ones.

Opaline just want’s to be normal and isn’t too happy with La Lune gifts she has. She doesn’t want her mother to teach her any magic and I didn’t get what her problem was with her mother. There were some issues between Opaline and Sandrine and I would have liked to learn more about that.

One time she makes a talisman for a woman who’s lost her son. Usually when she speaks with the dead through the stones, the dead leave her right away. But Jean Luc keeps speaking with her for a long time, and Opaline starts to fall in love with her ghost lover. I think it went on too and started to feel bit weird.

I liked Opaline, she’s loveable and kind, but at times I felt fustraited with her lack of wanting to learn about the magic she posses.

While I loved this book, it did not captivate me as much as The Witch of Painted Sorrows. Can’t really say why that is but there you go. But all in all, I loved this book and would have wanted to know what happens next. I look forward to the next book!

4/5

Published: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster (July 19, 2016)
Format: ebook
Source: France Booktours

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M.J. Rose grew up in New York City exploring the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum and the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her motherís favorite books before she was allowed. She is the author of more than a dozen novels, the co-president and founding board member of International Thriller Writers, and the founder of the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz.com. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Please visit her website, her blog: Museum of Mysteries
Subscribe to her mailing list and get information about new releases, free book downloads,
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reviews April 12, 2016

The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie

The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy 2) by Sally Christie

In this scandalous follow-up to Sally Christieís clever and absorbing debut, we meet none other than the Marquise de Pompadour, one of the greatest beauties of her generation and the first bourgeois mistress ever to grace the hallowed halls of Versailles. The year is 1745. Marie-Anne, the youngest of the infamous Nesle sisters and King Louis XVís most beloved mistress, is gone, making room for the next Royal Favorite.

Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a stunningly beautiful girl from the middle classes. Fifteen years prior, a fortune teller had mapped out young Jeanneís destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. Eventually connections, luck, and a little scheming pave her way to Versailles and into the Kingís arms.

All too soon, conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeois interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivalsóincluding a lustful lady-in-waiting; a precocious fourteen-year-old prostitute, and even a cousin of the notorious Nesle sistersóshe helps the king give himself over to a life of luxury and depravity. Around them, war rages, discontent grows, and France inches ever closer to the Revolution.

Enigmatic beauty, social climber, actress, trendsetter, patron of the arts, spendthrift, whoremonger, friend, lover, foe. History books may say many things about the famous Marquise de Pompadour, but one thing is clear: for almost twenty years, she ruled France and the Kingís heart.

When Jeanne Poisson is a young child, a fortuneteller tells her that one day she will be the king’s mistress. From that time her whole life strives for her to become the mistress of king Louis XV’s mistress and her mother calls her Reinette from now on. She does fulfill that prediction and falls in love with the king but soon learns that her position won’t bring her friends in the court. She learns the ways of the court and is elevated to the title Marquise de Pompadour.

Like with the last book, The Sisters of Versailles, I hated all of the characters but I liked the book. That surely takes some talent.

I didn’t really warm to Pompadour who at first was too naïve and sometimes I wondered how she could keep her position. I can’t say exactly why she annoyed me but se did. But you have to admire her for rising from nowhere, becoming the confidante to the king and managing to stay there despite not sharing the kings bed. She’s practical enough allowing the king other mistresses and becoming more like a mother figure for him.

I didn’t like Louis in the first book and I liked him even less here. I just wanted to shake him so many times. He’s come far from the man who had doubts about straying from his wife’s bed. He really started the path to the Revolution and it’s a shame he’s not the one to pay for it. I wondered how Pompadour could put up with him so long because he really wasn’t easy man to be with.

The first part was from Pompadour’s view point but in the later it shifts between her and some of the girls trying to get in her place. Through their eyes you can see how Pompadour has learnt her lessons in shrewdness.

I really enjoyed this and I can’t wait for the next and final book.

4/5

Published: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster (April 5, 2016)
Format: ebook
Pages: 448
Source: France Book Tours

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sally Christie
is the author of The Sisters of Versailles.
She was born in England and grew up around the world,
attending eight schools in three different languages.
She spent most of her career working
in international development and currently lives in Toronto.

Learn more about the sisters and the mistresses in the Versailles trilogy on her website
Become a fan to hear about her next novels!

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reviews April 16, 2015

Scent of Triumph: A Novel of Perfume And Passion by Jan Moran

Scent of Triumph:
A Novel of Perfume And Passion

Perfume is the essence of beauty, the heart of illusion, the soul of desire. It is my past, my present, my future. ófrom the journal of Danielle Bretancourt

When French perfumer and aristocrat Danielle Bretancourt steps aboard a luxury ocean liner, leaving her son behind in Poland with his grandmother, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. The year is 1939, and the declaration of war on the European continent soon threatens her beloved family, scattered across many countries. Traveling through London and Paris into occupied Poland, Danielle searches desperately for the remains of her family, relying on the strength of Jonathan Newell-Grey, a British shipping heir and Royal Navy officer. Finally, in the wake of unspeakable tragedy, she is forced to gather the fragments of her impoverished family and flee to America. There she vows to begin life anew, in 1940s Los Angeles.

Amidst the glamour of Hollywoodís Golden Age, Danielle works her way up from meager jobs to perfumer and fashion designer. Still, personal happiness eludes her. Can her sheer force of will attract the elusive love she desires, or will it only come at the ultimate cost?

This is the story of a strong, determined woman who, after losing her family during World War II, builds her life in America and becomes successful perfumer. It was interesting to see the perfume making and how sensible she was to different smells and it would have been interesting to see more about perfume making.

One of the continuing themes was Danielle’s search for her missing son Nicky. Nicky stayed behind in Poland with his grandmother, but when Poland is occupied by the Nazis things soon gets worse. Even when everyone else believes that Nicky didn’t survive, Danielle won’t give up.

WWII setting was what drew me to this book so I liked the first part more than her time in Los Angeles.
There’s lot going on and at times it goes little too much on the melodramatic side. But on the whole I really enjoyed this.

4/5

Published: St. Martin’s Press (March 31, 2015)
Format: ebook
Pages: 384
Source: France Book Tours

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JAN MORAN is the author of Fabulous Fragrances I and II, which earned spots on the Rizzoli Bookstore bestseller list, and other contemporary novels, including Flawless, Beauty Mark, and Runway. A fragrance and beauty industry expert, she has been featured on CNN, Instyle, and O Magazine, and has spoken before prestigious organizations, including The American Society of Perfumers. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and attended the University of California at Los Angeles Extension Writersí Program.