All posts tagged Jodie Lynn Zdrock

Sensational

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
Sensational cover

I recently finished reading Sensational by Jodie Lynn Zdrock. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy! This is the sequel to Spectacle, which came out last year (you can read my review here). This review assumes you’ve already read the first book, so if you don’t want spoilers or me to throw out confusing terms, then read the first book first.

It’s now 1889, and the World’s Fair has come to Paris. Nathalie is working at Le Petit Journal as well as the public morgue, where the police get her input as an Insightful. She has a boyfriend, Jules, who is also an insightful. As the World’s Fair gets into full swing, another round of murders begins. Nathalie wants to help put a stop to it.

What I Liked

Sensational brings you into the World’s Faire, which is pretty cool. It’s fun to be transported into a time when people weren’t necessarily familiar with many of the countries of the world, like we are today. In Nathalie’s world, the Eiffel Tower is new, and of course, there are also no phones or electrical technology.

Nathalie has great relationships with her friends and family. She lost her best friend towards the end of Spectacle, although we are two years into the future with this book, and the pain has ebbed a bit. She is faced with new pain regarding her family and friends, but Sensational isn’t a rehash of Spectacle.

The story itself has a satisfying ending.

What I Liked Less

Sensational didn’t seem to have quite the same magic that Spectacle did. There weren’t any thrilling chases through the catacombs, Nathalie’s Insightful powers were old hat, and the public morgue wasn’t a shock to me as a reader. I still liked the story, but not to the same degree that I did the first book in the duology.

Conclusion

If you’ve read Spectacle and really enjoyed it, then I do recommend you go ahead and read Sensational, especially if you’re curious about what happens to Nathalie. I liked it, even though I wasn’t as enamored with it as I was the first book. If you thought Spectacle was only so-so, then I wouldn’t move it to the top of your TBR list.

Spectacle was Spectacular!

By Brookelorren on 6 Comments
Spectacle cover

2019 is already turning out to be an amazing year for books. I recently read Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrock. It was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. I was fortunate enough to be provided with an Advanced Review Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Nathalie is a normal girl living in 19th century France. Or so she thinks. She recently got a summer job at Le Petit Journal writing the daily morgue report. In Paris back in these days evidently, unidentified bodies would be put on display at the public morgue for people to identify (and gawk at). Nathalie’s job is to visit the morgue every day and report on what she finds there.

Recently, there has been a murder. When Nathalie goes to the morgue to report on it, she touches the glass separating the body from the viewing public, and has a vision of what happened. She’s freaked out by this, of course. Evidently, she says something while she’s having the vision, but she doesn’t know what she says. She also ends up with memory loss after she has the vision. The book is written from third person limited perspective, so as a reader, we know what her lost memories are, even though she doesn’t.

As the summer progresses, there are more murders. Her ability to view the murders was not just a one time thing. She is torn by wanting to help, and accepting the accompanying memory loss, and wanting to avoid these visions. She’s also afraid that she might inadvertently attract the killer’s attention herself.

Nathalie eventually discovers where this ability came from, but I’ll leave that as something for you to discover when you read this book. Her ability is connected to the murders, which become more personal as the story progresses.

I didn’t want to put down this book, because I wanted to find out who the killer was and see him come to justice. I wanted Nathalie to find out more about her gift. While reading the book, I tweeted “If only I didn’t have to sleep! Spectacle by @jlzdrok is amazing! I’m 69% of the way through it and darn it… if I could get by on less sleep to finish it I would! You have to read it.” I think that’s a good recommendation for the book.

Spectacle won’t be released until February 12th, but you can pre-order it today.