Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: The Secret Language of Stones Author: M.J Rose ISBN: 9781476778099 Publisher: Atria Books Part of a Series: The Daughters of La Lune Type of book: France, WWI, mother/daughter relationships, White Russians, Revolution of 1917, 1918-1919, magick, witchcraft, special powers, lithomancy, gemstones, opulence, wealth, mentoring, Paris, coming-of-age, running away, rumors, thriller, travel, love letters, death and life, energy Year it was published: 2016 Summary: 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 ghost story, the perfect follow-up to M.J. Rose’s “brilliantly crafted” (Providence Journal) novel The Witch of Painted Sorrows. Nestled within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other. La Fantasie Russie is owned by Pavel Orloff, protégé to the famous Faberge, and is known by the city’s fashion ...

Name of Book: The Witch of Painted Sorrows Author: M.J Rose ISBN: 978-1-4767-7806-8 Publisher: Atria Type of book: 1895, Belle Epoque, France, marriage, infidelity, French culture, art school, arts, esoteric matters, body posession, secrets, grandmother/granddaughter relationship, running away, breaking traditions Year it was published: 2015 Summary: Possession. Power. Passion. New York Times bestselling novelist M. J. Rose creates her most provocative and magical spellbinder yet in this gothic novel set against the lavish spectacle of 1890s Belle Époque Paris. Sandrine Salome flees New York for her grandmother’s Paris mansion to escape her dangerous husband, but what she finds there is even more menacing. The house, famous for its lavish art collection and elegant salons, is mysteriously closed up. Although her grandmother insists it’s dangerous for Sandrine to visit, she defies her and meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing young architect. Together they explore t...

Name of Book: The Collector of Dying Breaths Author: M.J Rose ISBN: 978-1-4516-2153-2 Publisher: Atria Books Part of a Series: Reincarnationist series Type of book: 1500s, Italy, France, perfumes, collection, death, reincarnation, love, timeless love, France, family legacy, step-sibling relationship, obsession, ruthlessness Year it was published: 2014 Summary: A lush and imaginative novel that crisscrosses time as a perfumer and a mythologist search for the fine line between potion and poison, poison and passion…and past and present. Florence, Italy—1533: An orphan named René le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Medici’s perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from Italy to France, René brings with him a cache of secret documents from the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fragrances and potent medicines—and a formula for an alchemic process said to have the potential to reanimate the dead. In France, René becomes no...