I highly, whole-heartedly recommend this gorgeous historical and paranormal romance that entices the mind and the senses, and the heart too! THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STONES, by M. J. Rose, can be read as a stand-alone, though it ties in with the first book in the series.
THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STONES is a stunning historical gothic romantic suspense published by Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, releasing on July 19th. Written to be a total and complete standalone novel, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STONES is the second title in M.J. Rose’s The Daughters of La Lune Series. Sexy, compelling, and seductive, be sure to grab your copy today!
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As World War I rages and the Romanov dynasty reaches its sudden, brutal end, a young jewelry maker discovers love, passion, and her own healing powers in this rich and romantic ghost story, the perfect follow-up to M.J. Rose’s “brilliantly crafted” (Providence Journal) novel The Witch of Painted Sorrows.
Nestled within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other. La Fantasie Russie is owned by Pavel Orloff, protégé to the famous Faberge, and is known by the city’s fashion elite as the place to find the rarest of gemstones and the most unique designs. But war has transformed Paris from a city of style and romance to a place of fear and mourning. In the summer of 1918, places where lovers used to walk, widows now wander alone.
So it is from La Fantasie Russie’s workshop that young, ambitious Opaline Duplessi now spends her time making trench watches for soldiers at the front, as well as mourning jewelry for the mothers, wives, and lovers of those who have fallen. People say that Opaline’s creations are magical. But magic is a word Opaline would rather not use. The concept is too closely associated with her mother Sandrine, who practices the dark arts passed down from their ancestor La Lune, one of sixteenth century Paris’s most famous courtesans.
But Opaline does have a rare gift even she can’t deny, a form of lithomancy that allows her to translate the energy emanating from stones. Certain gemstones, combined with a personal item, such as a lock of hair, enable her to receive messages from beyond the grave. In her mind, she is no mystic, but merely a messenger, giving voice to soldiers who died before they were able to properly express themselves to loved ones. Until one day, one of these fallen soldiers communicates a message—directly to her.
So begins a dangerous journey that will take Opaline into the darkest corners of wartime Paris and across the English Channel, where the exiled Romanov dowager empress is waiting to discover the fate of her family. Full of romance, seduction, and a love so powerful it reaches beyond the grave, The Secret Language of Stones is yet another “spellbindingly haunting” (Suspense magazine), “entrancing read that will long be savored” (Library Journal, starred review).
MY OPINION
I'm so happy
when I find such an intriguing story.
Beautifully
written and evocative, it fills the reader with the strange desire to
experience thet fateful magic that animates the heroine's life. I love to
travel through space and time in books. This one has transported to a France
ridden with the grief of war, the mystifying echo of esoteric powers and the
seduction of the arts.
Last year, I
read The Witch of Painted Sorrows, and I was fascinated. Art, esoteric
mysteries, Paris, a romance as passionate and transcending as La Lune, the
ancient spirit of a witch who possess Sandrine and teachers her about darkness
and light. Naturally, I was trembling with excitement over reading about
Sandrine's daughter, Opaline, and her own venture into the mystic unknown of
her own powers.
There are so
many wondrous things I love about this story. Paris is both atmospheric and
forlorn, steeped in the throes of the Great War and its many ugly creatures. Art
and beauty abound in the description of places, streets, jewels, rooms and
churches. All that envelopes a plot of historical gravitas where Russian
expatriates mourn the fall of the Tsar, German spies are feared in the city of
Paris, women take up jobs vacant by their men at war or buried.
The author
has a melancholic, rich voice that breathes life into this tale of haunted
romance, loneliness, guilt a legacy of magic and a period of time in turmoil
that feels ever present.
I've learned
about many enlightening subjects like how soldiers coped with disfigurement
when they came back from battle, or the intricacies of Opaline's work with gems
and metals at the jewelry shop. I confess I quickly became fascinated by the
inner workings of her magic, and I wanted as much ghostly interaction with Jean
Luc as possible.
My heart
actually fluttered at the incredible adventure Opaline lives at the end.
Suspense, Russian politics, betrayal and magic, and a sorrowful yet deeply
romantic and hopeful conclusion that left me a little breathless.
What a
beauty!
Favourite
Quote:
Every soul requires secret places for contemplation as well as open
spaces for celebration.
M.J. Rose’sTHE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STONES – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:
July 11th
What the Cat Read – Excerpt
Deluged with Books Cafe – Review & Excerpt
Fiction Adventures – Excerpt
July 12th
Mes Livres – Review
Adventures in Writing – Excerpt
The Book Hammock – Review & Excerpt
July 13th
Hart's Romance Pulse – Excerpt
Penny For My Thoughts – Review
Socially Awkward Book Nerd – Excerpt
Novel Addiction – Excerpt
July 14th
Brooke Blogs – Excerpt
Vagabonda Reads – Review & Excerpt
I Read Indie – Excerpt
July 15th
Zach's YA Reviews – Review
A Brit and a Yank – Excerpt
The Book Sirens – Excerpt
Sassy Moms Say Read Romance – Review
July 16th
Roxy's Reviews – Excerpt
Gaga Over Books – Review & Excerpt
Kick Back & Review – Excerpt
July 17th
Only One More Page – Excerpt
Fly Away on the Wings of a Book – Review & Excerpt
July 18th
Okie Dreams Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
KT Book Reviews – Excerpt
Vampire Book Club – Excerpt
July 19th
Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews – Review
Romance Book Nerd – Excerpt
Rachel's Rambles – Review & Excerpt
July 20th
My Fictional Escape – Excerpt
Literaria – Review
Mama Reads Hazel Sleeps – Excerpt
July 21st
WTF Are You Reading? – Review & Excerpt
Julalicious Book Paradise – Excerpt
Love Affair With Fiction – Review & Excerpt
July 22nd
G & T's Indie Café – Excerpt
Rebel Heart Bookshelf – Review & Excerpt
With Love for Books – Review
BCS reviews – Review & Excerpt
Read an excerpt :o)
Regret
isn’t like grief; it never lessens, just stays the same. A little hard ball in
the pit of your stomach.”
What do you have to regret?
“A boy went off to war, and all he wanted was
my promise to wait for him.”
You didn’t give it?
“No.”
Why?
“I
should have, even if I didn’t love him. Realized he needed me and it wouldn’t
hurt me to just tell him. But I didn’t love him. Not the way you wrote about
love in your column. A grand love, you wrote. Did you have a love that grand?”
I asked him.
No. I never did. Did you?
“No,
and I wouldn’t want to. It would be too painful if it failed.”
But to experience it once—even if it is
painful—don’t you think it would be worth it? Wouldn’t you want to know what
that kind of intensity is like? Wouldn’t you want to feel that deeply?
“I
don’t think most people can. Not the way I imagine it.”
Tell me what you imagine.
Leaning
over, I shut off the light. If we were going to have a complete conversation,
it wouldn’t be as peculiar in the darkness. I’d be less conscious of the empty
room.
“I
wouldn’t think it happens easily or often. Never for some people. I imagine a
love like that is like a fire . . . starting with a spark and
growing into a blaze . . . becoming an engulfing passion too hot
for most people to withstand.”
But don’t you think a passion that
strong would last? Even as glowing embers. Always illuminating the blackness.
Always giving some warmth in the cold.
“It
seems so tragic to me, but you make it sound wonderful.”
And it would be . . . to
always possess the memory of what was possible. Of what could be. Tell me, what
do you think it takes to make that first spark?
“What
does it take to make a grain of sand become a pearl? They say the sand is an
irritant. Maybe love starts that way too. You’re alone in yourself and then
meet someone who upsets your balance, who you can’t quite explain away or put
in a comfortable place. Someone who shakes your very soul. Who has ideas that
jar you and make you think. Who does more than understand you, who understands
what you need.”
Who shakes your soul. That’s lovely.
The
warmth around my shoulders slipped down my back. Encircled my waist. I’d been
kissed before, often enough by Timur, by Grigori, but Jean Luc’s kiss wasn’t
like theirs. It began dancing on my lips, pressing on my mouth, and at the same
time on my breasts and then at the same time between my legs. Creating
sensations all over my body in the same instant. I became the spark about to
combust. I smelled his scent of pungent limes, verbena, and myrrh. So intoxicating,
at once forbidden and teasing. Like the ghost who now lay on top of me,
beckoning me to slide into his dark embrace and get lost within sensation.
Don’t Miss the First Book in The Daughters of La Lune Series, THE WITCH OF PAINTED SORROWS!
ABOUT THE MASTERMIND
New York Times Bestseller, M.J. Rose grew up in New York City mostly in the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her mother’s favorite books before she was allowed. She believes mystery and magic are all around us but we are too often too busy to notice… books that exaggerate mystery and magic draw attention to it and remind us to look for it and revel in it.
Rose’s work has appeared in many magazines including Oprah Magazine and she has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, WSJ, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio. Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the ’80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors – Authorbuzz.com
The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose’s novels in the Reincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and currently serves, with Lee Child, as the organization’s co-president.
Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.
Daughter of La Lune Pendant Giveaway!
We're celebrating the release of THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STONES by giving away a beautiful Daughter of La Lune pendant. Designed by Cadsawan Jewelry, the silver pendant contains a labradorite, a magical stone excellent for awakening one's own awareness of inner spirit, intuition, and psychic abilities.
Good luck, book buddies :o)
