Seduction by M. J. Rose Review~

About Seduction... "From the author of The Book of Lost Fragrances comes a haunting novel about a grieving woman who discovers the lost journal of novelist Victor Hugo, awakening a mystery that spans centuries.
In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with the likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus—and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.
Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey—where Hugo conducted the séances—hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different—Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.
What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists."

About M.J. Rose... M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of eleven novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio. 

  Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the '80s i 

n advertising, has a commercial in the Mus 

eum 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 Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members 

of Internation 

al Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype.  She is also the co-founder ofPeroozal.com and BookTrib.com.

Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.
For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her WEBSITE. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Let's talk about the obvious first... the absolutely STUNNING cover! That is what initially drew me to this book... yes, I judge books by their cover! It is just so perfect for this book. It encompasses exactly how I felt reading this novel. 

I will just say, to the dismay of English teachers everywhere, that I have not read much Victor Hugo. I did, however, read The Hunchback of Notre Dame in French in high school. But, beyond that... I have never really been a fan. That said, I don't feel that it was a detriment in reading and enjoying Seduction. 

At its essence, it is about the relationship between a parent and a child and that's what "got" me. Yes, I enjoyed learning about Hugo but this novel, in my opinion, eclipses that. 

M.J. Rose is a lyrical author... not only does she write a story that twists around to an amazing conclusion but the prose is beautiful. She is, truly, a storyteller. And, in this age where there is a glut of "authors", a true storyteller makes reading such a joy!

As I read this novel, I was struck by the intricate plotting. There are so many branches to the story and Ms. Rose connects them into a novel that I think is my favorite M.J. Rose creation!

~~Thanks to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and M.J. Rose for providing a copy of Seduction in exchange for my review~~