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I recently read a book that captured not so much my imagination but my heart straight away. Whom Must I Kill to Get Published? features a main character I compare to a scrawny dog – not much on looks but on a level of being so pathetic that you can’t help but love him.
That’s how I put it, anyway…
Anywho, it’s a murder mystery novel with a sense of humor that features a writer. Sounds pretty good. And it is pretty good. But in the end, when everything was wrapping up… I felt lost, and I didn’t find my way back in.
Have you ever read a book that you loved… right up until the end?
About the Book
Rosette is a child of two worlds: Gaela, steeped in magic, and an Earth choked with failing technology. The key to their survival is literally in her blood, a spell passed down through her family line to preserve the one they’re sworn to protect.
Unaware of her lineage, Rosette runs scared when her family is murdered. She takes refuge with Nell, a shape-shifting high priestess of the ancient blood, who teaches her the arts of witchcraft, stars and sword.
Shadowed by the fabled Kreshkali, queen of the underworld and mistress of the wolf-like Lupins, Rosette and the temple cat, Drayco, find themselves little more than a step ahead of those who will do anything to control the portal that links the many-worlds.
The Long Story
When I first began reading The Spell of Rosette, I found the beginning to be slightly confusing. However, the synopsis sounded interesting enough for me ignore the niggling confusion and keep reading. I am definitely glad I did.
For the first time in a long time, I was swept away by a book. It was quite easy for me to sit down with this book for a few hundred pages and not realize I had been reading for as long as I had. I’m not sure if it’s Falconer’s writing style, the story itself or a combination of both, but this ‘epic but intimate’ novel kept me turning pages.
Readability is paired with a main character I quite like: Rosette. While she is a heroine (of a sort; see my comments about the ending), she is also engaging through her flaws. Stubborn and seemingly quite willing to make silly mistakes, I identified with her more than I usually do with fantasy or sci-fi heroines.
The end, unfortunately, came with a slight twinge of disappointment. Nell makes the comment, “That was easier than I thought” about a certain event (not the ‘final battle’) and therein lies my problem with the ending: it was too easy. I felt as if Falconer was in a hurry to get things done.
The ending is good, yes, but things felt rushed and I would have liked to have seen Rosette have a bigger role in ‘the final battle’ given all the build-up about how special she is. Perhaps more in the next book?
The Short Story
All in all, I quite enjoyed The Spell of Rosette and recommend it.
***
Rating: 3 ½ stars
***
The Spell of Rosette
Kim Falconer
http://www.kimfalconer.com
ISBN: 9780732287719
Length: 506 pages
Welcome to this week’s By Any Other Name book game!
We didn’t quite get to the challenge number of titles last week, so it remains the same.
If you’re new to the challenge, this is a game from my dear friend Calliope that gets us to play with book titles.
The game works like this:
1. Each week I will choose and a book title that features that word.
2. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles). The author would be nice, too, in case I want to check it out.
It’s really not complicated. I pick a word and you list titles with that word. Easy peasy.
The current challenge:
Titles to Reach: Seventeen
Titles Per Person: Three
What can you win? The winner receives any one of the books on this page along with a bookmark (or two!).
I’ve decided this is a much better way of doing things rather than offering the SAME book over and over. Plus, I will be adding to the giveaway shelf as much as I can, so keep checking in to see what’s on offer.
So if you’d like a chance to win, join in!
If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Wednesday where you’ll get another chance to win a book – regardless if you have won a book previously!
The word this week is:
Fall
I Say: Fall by Colin McAdam
You Say…
Hello!
Please forgive the late post. My husband was struck down by the flu last Tuesday (and is still sick) and he passed it onto me a couple days ago, so I’ve mostly been sleeping. Anyway, we’ve finally managed to do the draw for the contest, so here are our winners:
1st prize: Cheryl!
2nd prize: Amanda!
3rd prize: Chick Lit Author!
Thank you to everyone who entered. I love holding contests, so hopefully I’ll be able to do so again soon. Stop back this Wednesday for my weekly book giveaway game.
About the Book
Lucy Springer thinks she’s got it tough. She’s living through renovation hell, her two kids seem more challenging than ever, and her once successful acting career has been reduced to the odd commercial.
Then Max, her husband, absconds to Bali with an unknown companion and things go from bad to disastrous.
But Lucy doesn’t give up easily. Juggling increasingly chaotic building dramas, bewildered children, her crazy best friend-slash-agent Gloria, her ever ‘helpful’ mother and chasing after Max, Lucy Springer is determined to get her life onto an even keel – and more.
The Long Story
Lisa Heidke has written a fun, diary-style novel that will having you smiling, laughing and shaking your head over everything Lucy Springer has to deal with. Can she sort it all out in just sixty-four days?
Lucy Springer is far from perfect, but those very things make her an incredibly loveable character. She takes things in stride, and I love that she never becomes vengeful or sour with the world even when it seems she’s getting it from every angle. She deals with things a lot better than I would, that’s for sure.
The juxtaposition between mature woman and young woman with unachieved dreams makes it easy to identify with Lucy as a woman.
Heidke’s style of writing – including and beyond the dairy-style of this book – is fresh and ‘real’. She doesn’t waste words (being similar to Lucy in that way) and has a dry humour I would expect from an Australian author.
The Short Story
I recommend this book as a fun, easy to lose yourself in read with a main character you’ll come to love.
***
Rating: 4 stars
[What do the ratings mean?]
***
Lucy Springer Gets Even
By Lisa Heidke
http://www.lisaheidke.com/
ISBN: 978-1741755831
Length: 384 pages
This is just a reminder that Win a Book won’t be happening until next week because of the contest above.