Review of "A Life Without Living"

I really didn't intend to read A Life Without Living in two days, but I have to admit that I really wanted to see what happened. Let me try and let you know what's going on without giving too much away. Four hundred years before Kattarina betrayed the wrong man. Promised to marry Alessandro, she falls in love with Gio, love at first sight, and they plan to run away. Unfortunately, Alessandro found them out and Kattarina paid with her life. As a member of a powerful magical clan, Alessandro curses both lovers. Kattarina is destined to be reborn after each death while Gio is doomed to roam the world trying to find her and win her away from Alessandro.

In this life, Kattarina is Katie and she's married to Alex--Alessandro in this incarnation. Gio, and his friend Willem, have long been tracking Kate. Unfortunately, every other time they've come this close Alex has discovered them and Kate has once more paid. This time, though, Gio has an ace up his sleeve in the form of Claire, a Watcher. The young Watcher has vowed to use her considerable powers to help keep Kate safe.

Will Gio succeed? Will he find Kate after four hundred years of heartbreak? Will Claire help them outwit Alex?

You know when you're watching a movie and you just know something bad is going to happen and you clutch the pillow and watch with one eye open? That's kind of how the second half of this book reads. You just know this whole house of cards is going to tumble down around Gio and Kate. I really liked Gio's character. He was so earnest and at times frantic. At one point, so close to Kate, Willem has to knock him out so he doesn't blow the whole thing. Kate's character took a little time for me to warm up to. I couldn't believe, for a little while, that Gio was so in love with this insecure twit. However, as the story progressed, I saw that she really wasn't a twit. It was the combination of a twisted little spell that ate away at her self-confidence and was fed by her own self-doubts and a classically controlling husband.

I know the author is working diligently on book two. I'm hoping that book two delves a little deeper in Alex's character. I really want to know what he's so evil. What is it about Kate that drives him to such lengths to keep her?

If you're looking for a good suspenseful read, pick up SC Alban's book and give it a try. You won't regret it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Girls with Spunk

Katniss. Hermione. Lessa. Polgara. Lady Macbeth. Alright, I'll even give you Jane Eyre, but I refuse to add Bella into the mix of heroines who I believe are really kick ass. Now, admittedly, most of them are grown women, so I don't think it's fair to really pull them into the mix. I'll stick to the girls in the group--Hermione and Katniss, and because she's their exact opposite in all ways, Bella. Think about it. Back when all we had were fairy tales told to scare children, the spunkiest of the fairy tale heroines was Gretal who had the wherewithal to shove the witch in the oven and free her brother. I suppose she was one of the first heroines who really took the story in her own hands and proved to the world that we were more than damsels in distress waiting languidly in some tower for Prince Charming to rescue us. Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White--all waiting around for a prince to come and save them. Or in Cinderella's case weeping for a Fairy Godmot...
Read more

Things that Go Bump in the Night Contest!

I love Halloween. It's my favorite time of the year. The weather's turning cooler, the leaves are changing, and crunch underfoot when you walk. The sharp scents of mums and wood smoke linger in the air. It puts me in mind of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" or anything by Poe. We study Poe every October, my students and I. He confuses the heck out of the 8th graders at first. When they start to get it, I love seeing their eyes widen in joy at understanding, then at horror when they fully comprehend. Eventually, the conversation always turns to ghosties and the things that go bump in the night. Now, I also admit I'm a chicken. I love Halloween, but I love cutesy Halloween more than "the veil is thinnest" Halloween. I love ghost stories. One of my students once gave me a book called Haunted Heartland a book of "true" ghost stories from Illinois and the surrounding states. I honestly don't know what happened to it. My ...
Read more

Who Wants a Knight in Shining Armor Anyway?

Alright, full disclosure here . . . I gave damsels in distress a bit of a drubbing in my last blog post and I do stand by every word I said. I am so happy to see some strong heroines out there kicking butt, but I am also a sucker, every now and a then, for a well done D.I.D. tale. In fact, I use the line myself in the the blurb on the back of MY book--"She's a damsel in distres . . . " Of course, it's a little tongue in cheek and ten minutes after meeting the hero my heroine maces him. So . . . On to the gentlemen. We'll stick with the principals of the three stories I culled out last time-- Harry Potter ,  The Hunger Games and Twilight. Interesting to note that there are more guys in the stories than girls. Hmmm. Maybe that clues into not only the knight in shining armor fantasies as we speculated last time, but the desire to be persued? Something to think on. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. I know, they aren't both vying for Hermione's hand, and for ...
Read more