Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

I will tell you a story that is all of those things, a story of magic and love, of daring and death, and one to comfort your heart. It will be the truest story I have ever told. Now listen, and tell me if it is not so.

I was sixteen years old the day I was lost in the forest, sixteen the day I met my death.

--from pages 9 and 10, Keturah and Lord Death

Oh, the books I've been reading lately. They are sad, sad, tragic tales that make my heart hurt... but they are written so beautifully, and it is often stories such as these that stay with me long after I've read the last page. I am referring to the previously reviewed Any Bitter Thing and the currenly reviewed Keturah and Lord Death, both of which I read over the past four days.

This books tells the (fairy) tale of Keturah, who is herself a skilled tale teller. Keturah repeatedly bargains for her life and the lives of those she loves with Lord Death by charming him with her gift for storytelling. She wins a twenty four hour reprieve from death to find her one true love and marry him; if she can do this, she can live longer than just one more day.

The fairy tale feel of the story is reinforced by the author's writing style that lends itself well to the fairy tale. The story itself is suspenseful, beautiful, heart pounding and heart breaking.

I hope you'll check it out the next time you're in the library where it is located at YA/Fic/Lea. It can also be requested from Lebanon Community Library and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Comments

In The Woods by Tana French

"What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with the truth is fundamental, but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies ... and every variation on deception. The truth is the most desirable woman in the world and we are the most jealous lovers, reflexively denying anyone else the slightest glimpse of her. We betray her routinely ... This is my job ... What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this--two things: I crave truth. And I lie." opening lines of In The Woods chapter 1, pages 3-4 In The Woods by Tana French, an Irish writer, is an extremely well-written and well-crafted mystery novel. The downside is that this is French's debut novel, and her website (located at http://www.tanafrench.com/ ) does not off...

Broken by Karin Slaughter

Before I begin the formal review there are a few things I need to get off my chest in the wake of finishing this book; I'll do so without giving away too many (or any) spoilers. The OUTRAGE!: the identity of Detective Lena Adams' new beau; the low depths to which Grant County's interim chief has sunk and brought the police force down with him; agent Will Trent's wife, Angie's, sixth sense/nasty habit of reappearing in his life just when he's slipping away from her. Thank God for small miracles though because while Angie was certainly referred to during the book, the broad didn't make an appearance. One sign that I've become way too invested in these characters is that I'd like to employ John Connolly's odd pair of assassins, Louis and Angel, to contract out a hit on Angie; do you think Karin Slaughter and John Connolly could work out a special cross over? Hallelujah: Dr. Sara Linton and agent Will Trent are both back. There is no hallelujah fo...

How To Be A Heroine: Or What I've Learned From Reading Too Much by Samantha Ellis

I feel as if I could write a book subtitled "What I've Learned From Reading Too Much" except all my lessons would be culled from Greek mythology, the Babysitters' Club, the lives of British queens, crime mysteries, suspense thrillers and celebrity and entertainment gossip. I first ran across How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis in an ad in BookPage. The title sounded intriguing and once I looked it up on Amazon, I was in for reading it. It reminds me of the literacy autobiography writing assignment that I had in one of my English composition classes in college--except this is the literacy autobiography on steroids. The premise of this book is that the author revisits the seminal texts that she read in her youth by examining the lessons and impressions of the novels that she had upon her first readings when she was younger. Ellis has then re-read the novels as an adult specifically for the writing of her own book to see if the novels hold up to her original ...

A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

Search This Blog