Category: Fantasy Publisher: Foster Embry
ISBN-10: 173370731X
Type: Fiction
Pages: 337
Copyright: May 21, 2019
ISBN-13: 9781733707312
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
A displaced witch discovers her life isn't what it appears in this Romeo and Juliet style love story meets Sleeping with the Enemy.
How long would you wait for true love?
Kate Martins appears to have it all; a good career, a beautiful home, and an amazing husband. What more could anyone ask for? But when Kate’s recurring nightmares begin to cross over into her waking hours, she discovers her perfect life is not at all what it seems. It isn’t until she meets a mysterious stranger that Kate begins to question who truly she is and where she comes from.
For the past four centuries, Giovanni Rossi has faced the dark powers of the Strega Negri in search of the one woman who can lift his curse of immortality. The problem? His enemy always seems to be one step ahead. Desperate to be free, Gio races against the clock to find his true love. Will he find what he is looking for in Kate, or fail once more and be doomed to another lifetime of loss?
Professional Reviews
Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite
A Life Without Living by S.C. Alban is a breathtaking story of a love that defies time, a love tested by unusual circumstances. Kate’s life could have been peaceful and serene when she was married to Alessandro, four hundred years ago, but she meets and falls for Gio with whom she develops a powerful bond. Alessandro finds out and that is the tragic part. Alessandro belongs to a powerful magical clan and, betrayed, he takes his revenge using his supernatural gifts. He curses Kate to be killed in every reincarnation and always whenever she is on the point of reuniting with her lover. Gio will live forever, pining for the love of his life, unable to save her. In this intriguing story, Gio spends his life looking for his love, Kate, and every time he finds her, she gets killed because Alessandro is always a step ahead of him, a powerful game maker. But this time Gio is determined to outwit him and he can only do so by using a power that can stand up against Alessandro’s magical skills. Will he be able, with the help of his friends, Willem and Claire, to save his lover before Alessandro gets to her?
S.C. Alban’s A Life Without Living is the only book that has had the effect I experienced when reading Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. Alban creates the kind of suspense that will make you turn the pages nonstop and, when you think you are done with the story, you’ll find your nerves rattled for many an hour after you turn the last page. It takes great skill to write a story fraught with impossible events and to make readers feel like it was part of everyday life. Alban seems to have just that skill. I loved the way the POV moves with the first person narrative, which makes the psychological conflict even more powerful and poignant. The writing is excellent, the plot is solid and fast-paced, and the characters are gorgeous, and wonderfully chiseled out with great originality. This is a well-conceived story with a unique and powerful theme, a page turner, and highly entertaining. You won’t put this one down!
5 Stars
Might As Well Face It, I'm Addicted to this Gypsy Love Affair
I must admit based on the cover and description, I thought this book was going to be chick lit, even after reading the first chapter--but everything is not as it seems in A LIFE WITHOUT LIVING. Readers with a love for the fantastical much like my own books will be pleasantly surprised. This paranormal mystery includes just the right amount of romance--perfect for Valentine's Day--enough to make the reader root for the cursed lovers, but not too much as to distract from the overall plot.
Reincarnation, gypsies, a love affair that dates back over 400 years and a twisted obsessed husband a midst it all, hunting his object of prey without her knowledge--this brilliant novel has it all. Not to mention, it offers up a whole new twist on reincarnation--cursing one love to eternal life while the other reincarnates endlessly. The characters, the magic, the past life back-story, everything clicked perfectly. The pages flew by as I read, utterly entranced by the easy tone of the novel.
Katarina and Gio as the main characters were wonderful, although I found myself mostly drawn to Gio's chapters, an oddity because I normally dislike being in a man's POV. And then there is Willem, one of the Strega Onesto, charged with assisting Gio on his mission to reunite with his lost love--he had a fun little side story happening with Claire and I really grew to care about the subplot as well as the plot--a rare occurrence indeed.
The only thing that hurt was the ending but thankfully there is a second book in the series. Aside from that, S.C Alban has done a beautiful job here and I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see what's happens to this twisted trio.
5 Stars
Rae Stapleton
Author of The Cruel Fortunes Series
Cool Story Premise
This book is one of those that sneaks up on you--you know the type, 'I'll just read a few more pages' type. This story has an easy style and a languid pace the plot unfolding gently and realistically as the prose sucks you in. It is meticulously written with attention to detail.
Told from alternating points of views, you follow Gio as he searches for Katarina and soon learn that he has been doing this for 400 plus years. Gradually S.C. Alban unravels Gio's story and the magic woven through it. We meet Kate first in her dream and then see her happily married to Alex about to celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary and living in the present day. As both sets of character's stories unravel, the tension builds and so does the magic and mystery.
In 2000, Todd Cheney set out to write a complete fantasy series. Now, almost five years later, his goal is accomplished. The Soulstone will bring to conclusion the story began in The Seventh Circle.
Buried for a thousand years under the sea,
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