Review + Giveaway: The Collector of Dying Breaths, M.J. Rose

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on on a book tour in return for an honest review*

In 1533, an Italian orphan with an uncanny knack for creating fragrance is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Medici’s perfumer. To repay his debt, over the years René le Florentine is occasionally called upon to put his vast knowledge to a darker purpose: the creation of deadly poisons used to dispatch the Queen’s rivals.
But it’s René’s other passion—a desire to reanimate a human breath, to bring back the lives of the two people whose deaths have devastated him—that incites a dangerous treasure hunt five centuries later. That’s when Jac L’Etoile—suffering from a heartache of her own—becomes obsessed with the possibility of unlocking Rene’s secret to immortality.
Soon Jac’s search reconnects her with Griffin North, a man she’s loved her entire life. Together they confront an eccentric heiress whose art collection rivals many museums and who is determined to keep her treasures close at hand, not just in this life but in her next.

M.J. Rose, is the international bestselling author of 13 novels. Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoy of How to Publish and Promote Online and with Randy Susan Meyers of What to Do Before Your Book Lauch.
She is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs the popular blog; Buzz, Balls & Hype.
Getting published has been an adventure for Rose who self-published Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down. Editors had loved it, but didn’t know how to position it or market it since it didn’t fit into any one genre. Frustrated, but curious and convinced that there was a readership for her work, she set up a web site where readers could download her book for $9.95 and began to seriously
market the novel on the Internet.
After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format) Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.
Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek and New York Magazine.
Rose has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USAToday, Stern, L’Official, Poets and Writers and Publishers Weekly.
Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the ’80s in advertising. She was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka. [from her website]

The title of this book gave me the chills. Why would one want to collect the last breath of a dying person? All books in this series have brilliant looking covers and The Collector of Dying Breaths is not different. Combined it is easy to get me to read a book.
The atmosphere is set from page one. The two stories have their own sound and feeling. As a reader I am easily distracted when stories mix and fail to connect to the story and the characters. Not in this book though.
I like both Jac and René a lot. Jac is having a hard time after the death of her brother and her vulnerability is clear in the pages and the way she is reacting. I did have some trouble with a few of the decisions she makes though in a way they make sense combined with her state of mind. I did not read earlier books in this series and though there are some remarks to Jac her qualities and things form her past this did not disturb me. I really enjoyed René his story. I could have read a whole book on his life only. I liked his way of thinking and there are some very interesting parts on his work and customers.

France Book Tours, The Collector of Dying Breaths

The Collector of Dying Breaths
Author: M.J. Rose
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 384
Format: eGalley
ISBN-10: 1451621531
ISBN-13: 9781451621532
Series: Reincarnationist #6
Publisher: eBook | Hardcover

Giveaway

Please read the following rules carefully. This giveaway is courtesy of the tour organizer and author and runs on various of the other blogs in this tour. Visit the tour page here to hop the other blogs and get more chances to win.

You can win ONE ENTRY in a giveaway of an Amazon gift card with the value of $25.

You can enter by sharing this review on Twitter and/or Facebook.
The winner of the giveaway on this site will win ONE entry in the main giveaway for the giftcard.
The winner will have to send his/her email address which will be send to the tour organizer and M.J. Rose who will choose 2 winners.
The giveaway is running from March 30th 12 AM EST till April 6th 12 AM EST

Questions? Leave them in the comments and I will get back at you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway