Moonstone by Laura Purcell
20 May 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, fiction, Gothic, Laura Purcell, Moonstone, Romance, Werewolves
My Five Word TL:DR Review : I Wanted to Love It
Well, I had mixed feelings about requesting this book because it is YA and to be fair YA rarely works well for me as I have too many questions along the way. But, I do so love this author and I thought if anyone can write a winning YA it could be Purcell so I couldn’t resist. So, pinch of salt time, I’m not the target audience for this book and it could very well work wonders for younger readers. I would also say that this is packed with glorious writing and the author’s trademark gothic atmosphere.
This story is told in two timelines by Camille. Camille has been sent away for a cooling period following a scandal that has impacted on the family in a negative way. She’s been sent to live with her godmother Rowena and her daughter Lucy. Lucy suffers from a mystery illness that the whole household revolves around. When I say the ‘household’ this is quite different from what Camille is used to, no servants here. This is a working farm and Camille is expected to muck in. The only other person is Bridget who is something of an apothecarist herself and a dab hand at knocking up concoctions for Lucy’s ailments.
Rowena has ran away from a violent marriage and is effectively in hiding. She lives almost like a recluse and Bridget is their connection to the local village. Of course there is much gossip about the family, particularly as Bridget visits the local apothecary on a frequent basis, often purchasing items that are highly toxic.
The timelines jump between Camille’s time on the farm and then takes us forward to Camille, once again reunited with her family but suffering herself from a terrible illness.
My feelings about this book.
I loved that the story is set in the Regency period, it really plays into the plot, particularly Camille’s obsession with gothic novels which were all the rage during the period.
The setting of the farm was really well done. Rowena’s family had an old hunting lodge which is nestled in the forest. A foreboding stone structure with creeping ivy and crenellations poking out through the tree tops.
The writing is lovely, which is exactly as I expected. Purcell creates fantastic atmosphere and a wonderful sense of foreboding.
What didn’t work so well for me.
Well, firstly, there’s the whole issue of keeping Camille in the dark about Lucy’s condition. It was so obvious as a reader what was going on and yet Camille, with her fantastic imagination, was unable to piece things together and in fact went off on totally the wrong tangent. Personally, given the danger of the situation it surely would have been more sensible for Rowena to share with Camille what was really going on. As it was, the secrecy and veiled conversations simply led her to keep digging and causing much more of a nuisance than was necessary.
Camille was a little bit shallow. She questions things all the time and yet things that are really as plain as the nose on your face she fails to pick up on. It was a bit frustrating, like she was willfully ignorant. And some of her actions were infuriating.
There are two potential love interests here but for me both lacked any sort of chemistry.
The ending felt rushed and a little bit incredulous.
I realise that this comes across as very negative and it pains me to write such a review for a favourite author but even with the wonderful setting and gorgeous writing this one just didn’t work for me.
Again though, I’m not the target audience, I had misgivings in the first place and I think I should have stuck with my gut feelings. YA rarely works for me, it simply fails to answer my need for information. And, to be honest, I felt like Purcell’s wonderful storytelling ability was shackled by the restraints that writing in this bracket placed upon her.
Anyway, I will still avidly await Purcell’s next work.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating
2.5 of 5 stars
Top Ten Tuesday : 10 Shades of Love
11 February 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Romance, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic, probably in light of the fact that this Friday is Valentine’s Day, is:
Love – a freebie, any topic you choose
Well, I do tend to bang on about not reading love stories or romances but then when I look at my own shelves I do read more of it than I think, or at least books that aren’t all just about love but do have a romantic theme at their heart. Here are 10 books that immediately spring to mind, I will warn you upfront that not all of these were favourites. Some definite ‘Yeses’ and some positive ‘Nos’:
- Maybe not the most popular starter but given the title I had to go their – The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Well, I confess, I loved this series and I know it’s become one of those things that people now seem to deny liking but what can I say – I loved this series – okay, maybe not the fourth book – but the first three, yeah, I couldn’t get enough of them. I might not feel the same if I reread these now but at the time I totally swept up by the whole thing.
- The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare – this is another series that I simply inhaled at the time. Looking at this in the cold light of day, I don’t think this would be a series that I would pick up today – I don’t tend to read as much YA and I have become very tired of love triangles – but at the time this was very entertaining – although I never got on board with all the other spin off series.
- The Poison Study series by Maria V Snyder. I finished the final instalment in this series not that long ago and thought it concluded on a really good note. This is a series that just worked very well for me.
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Bloody hell I loved this series, although, I don’t think I ever concluded the full set. I got as far as No.6, a Breath of Snow and Ashes and I could have sworn that was the conclusion of the series (at the time) and yet it now appears there is a book 9 in the offing – who knew! Did I mention that I live under a rock. I’m not sure that I would continue reading these, I did love Jamie but at the same time I quite like the ending from No.6 and if I picked up the following books and didn’t enjoy them, well, it would probably taint the whole series for me. Ostrich? Who me ?? I have completist issues.
- The All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches) by Deborah Harkness. I’m going to go with the unpopular opinion on this one. This series didn’t work for me. I found the first one okay, I quite liked it in some respects in fact, or at least it started well but then seemed to keep spiralling down, but Matthew got on my last nerve and so although I read the second book it didn’t work out for me at all. Matthew was too controlling and he came across as one of those characters who everyone seems to wax lyrical about being so fearsome but when push comes to shove he’s about as much use as a chocolate teacup. He’s one of those chaps who seems to do a lot of growling with the overall notion of ‘hold me back’ or ‘there’ll be hell to pay’ but his bark seems worse than his bite (pun not intended). Sorry, it’s just me, but I wanted to flick him on the nose.
- Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. I love this series so much. Phedre and Joscelin are the most amazing couple, the world building is fantastic, the storylines are thrilling. I. Love. It. The end, goodbye.
- The Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I read all of these, ngl – I was a bit disappointed with the ending – but, overall an entertaining series that maybe just exceeded it’s welcome a little. Good fun though.
- The Princess Bride by Williams Goldman – more a silly adventure than romance but I do feel this should make the list. And, it’s one of the rare occasions that I love both the book and the film.
- The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross. A fairytale retelling of one of my favourite stories – Beauty and the Beast – told from the beast’s perspective. I really enjoyed this one and should give it a reread at some point.
- In conclusion – I had to go there, given the title, Twilight and the fact it’s fanfic – 50 Shades of Grey by EL James. Yes, I got caught up in all the hype and the fact that everyone seemed to be reading this, plus fanfic for Twilight so I wanted to check out what all the furore was about. Seriously, this book was not for me. If you loved this, I’m not having a go, it’s all personal choice at the end of the day, but this is a book that I would have liked to throw across the room. Nope, no sirree.
Books and travelling with Lynn 