Book of Lost Fragrances

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Average customer rating 4.5 (2 comments)

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Jac L’Etoile comes from a long line of perfumers, she can personally trace the ancestry back centuries and there’s even a myth that they go back longer still. But she gave up the dream of creating scents with the death of her mother. She’d always been plagued by fragments of past lives but the episodes since bordered on psychotic, the treatments she was subjected to were more like torture and without the help of Malachi Samuels of the famed Phoenix Society she might have gone mad. Her brother Robbie is the perfumer, holding the fragile business together by mere threads and her idea of selling their signature scents to pay off debtors is not going over well. Robbie has ideas of his own and they don’t include selling anything except perhaps a family legend, he’s found some ancient pot shards and is hoping that revealing the hieroglyphics will show him the formula his ancestor is said to have brought back from Egypt, to help him he asks long time friend and Jac’s ex-lover Griffin North who’s an expert in the field. Robbie and the artifacts have turned up missing with a dead man in the lab which brings Jac rushing to Paris to find him. But being in Paris brings troubles of it’s own for Jac who’s visions are returning and who finds herself allied with two men from her past, one her savior Malachi and one ex-love Griffin who it seems has never left her heart or her thoughts. And more troubling than that there are forces against them that’s still a mystery to Jac and everyone else as well. As always the work of M.J. Rose is exceptional, she takes a bit of mystery, a piece of legend and slice of reality and turns it into a finished product that’s both contemporary and literary with a portion that’s macabre and paranormal. Her storyline is one she’s revisited with each previous novel dealing with reincarnation but she gives each one a different set of realities. Her narrative is a symphony of chimera and realism where her research is evident in every sentence I read. She presented me with characters some that I came to know as friends and others who were on the fence, but each one she gave a three dimensional visage that made them all the more real. Her protagonist Jac is complex and fragile yet with tensile strength and her supporting characters all compliment Jac and each other and become an essential piece in this puzzle of a mystery that kept me reading til the wee hours. Combining the edge of your seat of a thriller with the flow of a drama and the heart of a love story I know I’ll return to read this over and over again, in fact it’s one of those novels where a re-read is beneficial and the nuances you miss the first time will become more relevant with each renewed look. This is the perfect novel for your permanent shelf and is perfect for gift giving as well. The glossary in the back is reason enough to buy the book as it gives details on the authors research and is ripe with pictures from her journeys. Thank you Ms. Rose for an energizing adventure and I look forward to my next one with you.

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Once again, I am fascinated and impressed with Rose's knowledge of reincarnation. By now, everyone knows about my interest and belief in the subject and I truly never tire of reading about it, whether it be in a fictional context or in non-fiction (although some may argue that it's all fictional). What I like about Rose's portrayal of the subject is her incorporation of it with history, as well as the current events of the day. In this book, the fourth installment in The Reincarnationist series, we are treated to ancient Egypt, another subject of endless fascination for me, and the culture's use of fragrance as a link to past lives, particularly during the Ptolemaic period. From there, we are whisked forward to present day China and the endless struggle between Tibet and the Chinese government to control the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama. As usual, there is mystery and intrigue, which adds a suspenseful element to the story. For me though, the historical aspects of the story are sufficient to keep my interest. Add in a bit of alchemy, and you have a well-rounded and interesting story of history, science, and mysticism. The beauty of this series is that you really can read the books without having read the earlier books. I still have not read the first and second books in the series (although they are on my shelf), but I had no problem reading the third, The Hypnotist, and the fourth (this one) books as stand alone novels. Rose is a talented author, with a gift for writing about a subject of whic she is clearly passionate. I sincerely look forward to any and all future offerings from her, whether it be more books in this series, or a new set of books down the road.