Book Review: The burning of Isobel Key by Jen McConel : Blog tour @ RABT

Title:The burning of Isobel Key
Author: Jen McConel
Publisher:Bright Fish Press
Pages: 286
Price:$9.54
ISBN:0615684688
Genre:New Adult/ historical
Rating:4.5 out of 5
Source: Review copy @RABT


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Summary:

When Lou travels to Scotland, she’s a mess.  She’s twenty-six, unemployed, and unsure of herself.  It doesn’t help that she’s traveling with Tammy, her best friend, who is everything Lou is not.

At first, the trip pushes Lou towards the brink of depression, but then she meets Brian, a handsome local tour guide.  When Brian tells the tourists about the countless witches burned in Scotland, Lou starts to listen.  And when she discovers information about Isobel Key, one of the victims of the seventeenth century, Lou finds renewed purpose.

Lou has begun exploring the Neo Pagan faith, a dramatic shift from her wealthy Catholic upbringing.  Despite her fears of being too “hocus pocusy”, Lou turns to her new faith as she struggles to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Isobel Key.  But faith or not, Lou must face her demons if she has any hope of righting the wrongs of the past.

Review:
Thanks to my participation in blog tours that are bringing in these genre which I have been hesitant to pick otherwise..The lives of Isobel from the early age and Lou come to a cross road in the most unexpected circumstances..
 Isobel is a caring and a kind midwife/healer who lived in the late 17th century..Brought up in a family filled with love and warmth...She is only too glad when she has a baby sister but by twist of fate and horrible choice she spends the rest of her life all alone in a cottage away from the town on her natural talent of healing and being a midwife...With her sister's second pregnancy(both she was not allowed to assist) and her subsequent death ,everything seemed to blur away.. This eventually coincides with the witchcraft being banished by the royal family..But Isobel has nothing to worry about or that's what she thinks...But what if none believe in her innocence..
The other part of the novel is about Lou who has no plans in her life..Quitting her job as a cashier in a bookstore her life looks bleak with nothing around her to push her forward.That is until her best friend takes her to Scotland for New Year..There she meets Brian a handsome guide and the flame ignite and they live happily ever after..Haha no no !!!! I just just kidding the happily ever tale after has to wait until our Lou who has developed an interest in the life after death and her fascination for orbs take her to the story of burning of Isobel Key.. Lou finally finds a purpose in her life a renewed reason to her otherwise dull life...
The book swings from Isobel's life to the present day,though Lou's part had Brian and the picturesque highlands , I loved Isobel's era and her part more..I didn't mean that I skipped Lou's but I rushed through to know what happened to Isobel..
I just loved each and every character of the novel, what appealed to me was the other characters were just as memorable as the main character..Tammy was ever vivacious loving friend who complemented the otherwise shy Lou..When time strikes to take someone with her for an official trip to Scotland,Tammy didn't have to think twice on her choice...Brian the charming and handsome Scottish came along as a soft breeze gentle yet strong..Lou's mother a bossing character who plays a cameo also came as an amusing character...McConel had created a perfect set to stage the lives that gets intertwined after sometime ..The character developed slowly in front of the reader's eye that created a bond between them..Romance too slowly developed and I was thankfull to the author for not overdoing it...I loved it and finished it in a single row..I am already looking out for the sequel..I would definitely recommend to the people who are deep into New adult genre..

About the author

Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the people’s choice 3rd place award for her poem, “Luna”).

She is also an active reviewer for Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA), and proud member of SCBWI, NCWN, and SCWW.

A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.

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Disclosure
I am a member of the Reading addiction blog tour and I received a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion..

Book Review: Fractured Legends by Kranthi Askani

Title:Fractured Legends
Author: Kranthi Askani
Publisher: APK Publisher
Price: Rs 192
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9381791074
Genre: Fiction/ Contemporary/ Indian writer
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: blogadda.com
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Summary
Three lives string together by fractured past though in a different way yet similar to each other....

Review:
The book opens up with temple slave who a life of immortality..She eventually leaves the life for a life in flesh..She believes that a life with people surrounded by love and bit of sadness is better than a life frozen to time immemorial..There are three protagonist plus a character with a shade of grey...First protagonist , is a temple slave who takes the form in flesh at night and freezes back to rock as the day dawns, there are thousands of them in the temple..One day she decides to leave all that behind to become a human after being blessing by her queen, oh yeah these temple slaves do have their queen who has her own misery and trouble to take care of , yet she blesses her with a silver ring, that supposedly carries some magic...After becoming human She like all mortals grows up in a household surrounded by love and sibling, sister -in law ( she share s a special bond with her), and then she gets married to Narisimha..He is a lovely husband and a dotting father, she goes on to have a baby girl Pravalli..Aradya is one of the temple slave who doesn't choose a life of flesh and remains as a temple slave for ever ., as time passes she turns into a shade of grey to dark causing lot of trouble ....Aradya's soul goal is to destroy the manuscript written by the former so as to protect the other temple slaves... This introduces the reader to the next character Nandhini, she is a professional assassin..Through her actions and every moment she contemplates her life before and after her choice of work... Her own father left her at a tender age and as a newly wed she loses both her husband and mother her leaving her with yet to be born baby to raise alone...She makes her choice to become an assassin and is portrayed to have done the job to perfection till date....Her current assignment is to retrieve the manuscript .,when her own life gets entangled in a bloody affair, she has no choice but go for it as her own son's life is at stake...Then finally we are introduced to Pravalli daughter of the temple slave who grows up to hate her mother ....Her mother's secret as a temple slave as it unveils becomes very hard for Pravalli to take in and accept her...Final chapters are her long letter describing her mother ....Askani's writing is fresh and interesting,what I liked was his love for  details..I liked the way he chose the characters to be draped in saree  even Nandhini was quiet comfortable in it...Nandhini's character was the most developed she had substance and character, she was strong and a determined lady..her son Dilip was a wonderful treat to read..Fractured legends explores an agonizing past of all the protagonist,  they are all trying to forget and erase the past and move on , yet from the back of their mind it pops up time and again tormenting them...Askani's writing quite poetic during the first few chapters but the readers do get the hint that he is a debutante writer..But his love for the contemporary with a dash of grey and unique vantage makes the book enduring...

Book 20 for SAC - 10 more to go!!!

 

Disclosure
I received a copy of this book to review..The thoughts expressed are my own reflection and I am not in any away associated with any third party for a positive feedback..