All posts tagged: France

Why I’m on the fence about the critically-acclaimed INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE, plus a writing prompt

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By Leslie Lindsay A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. ~ALWAYS WITH A BOOK | Leslie Lindsay~ Spotlight: Historical Fiction I  might be an outlier on this one. It seems everyone either loves ADDIE LARUE, or they could do without. I’m in the ‘without’ category, and I don’t say that to be lightly. Really, I wanted to love this story, it just didn’t strike like I hoped.  Quick Take: France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. New York City, 2014: But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. Quick Thoughts: I was all-in with …

Wednesday with Writers: Enthralling, highly Sensory 17th c. France Scandal, Poisoners, Prisoners, Fortune-tellers, & More in Kate Braithwaite’s historical fiction THE CHARLATAN.

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By Leslie Lindsay Kate Braithwaite’s CHARLATAN is brimming with intrigue, power, mystique. There’s more.  Scandal. Panic. Fortune tellers. Scheming woman. Love affairs. Prisoners in dungeons.  It’s dark, intricate plotting, well-developed characters will pull you in and not let you go even when you’re taken on a bumpy journey in a royal carriage down rutted roads to the execution pyre. You’ll feel the heat, your nose will singe with the scent of burning flesh and hair; you’ll hear the guttural screams and wonder how human nature could be so cruel. Not being a huge French history connoisseur, I found Kate Braithwaite’s historical depth impressive, her writing highly sensory (there was a time I had to sit the book down it ‘got’ to me so much), and the braiding of two plot lines impeccable. The story centers around Athenais, King Louis XIV’s glamorous mistress and mother to seven of his children. Athenais has left her older two children and husband to play this part for the king. She lives at Versailles in a well-appointed apartment, but has …

Write On, Wednesday: Julie Christine Johnson on her gorgeously written debut IN ANOTHER LIFE, featuring southern France, reincarnation, love, and her ‘addiction’ to re-invention

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By Leslie Lindsay  Gorgeously written with a descriptive hand, this debut is one not to be missed. I was immediately transported to the southwestern region of France (Languedoc, to be precise), and found the poetic writing had me yearning for the luxuries found only in Europe. Through Julie Christine Johnson’s evocative use of words had me bathed in a richness of wonder, scent and visual images. Be sure to scroll to the end of the interview where you can link to Julie’s website and learn all about her editing services, query clinic, and story development services.  Lia Carrer, a historian by education finds herself seeking out southern France as a grieving widow, following a freak accident of her cyclist husband. She plans to rebuild her life, but she does not plan to fall in love. Blending romance, mystery, history, and suspense, IN ANOTHER LIFE is ultimately about love and loss, but it harbors an ancient murder, a fantastical view of reincarnation and time travel, presented through the lens of an alternating time period between present-day and …