The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose - excerpt

Hello, everyone! I'm super excited to be offering up an excerpt from M.J. Rose's latest release, The Collector of Dying Breaths, which just hit shelves this week.

But first a bit about the book:

The Book of Lost Fragrances had Cleopatra. Seduction had iconic novelist Victor Hugo. Now, with The Collector of Dying Breaths, Rose showcases her most fascinating character yet: Catherine de Medici, who infamously spearheaded the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre during her son Henry III’s reign, slaughtering thousands of French rebel Protestants in one fell swoop.

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 for 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 in modern day France from a heartache of her own—becomes obsessed with the possibility of unlocking René’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, in both this life and the next.

If you've not yet read Rose, you really are missing out. Each new release is rich in historic detail, suspense, and romance. The books are linked via common characters, but each one can easily be read on its own.

And now for your reading pleasure, a piece from The Collector of Dying Breaths:

That night, Jac fell asleep easily, cosseted by the down pillows and comforter. Her dreams were full of the perfumer who had lived here so many centuries ago. In his secret laboratory, she saw him mixing up potions and recipes, stirring, shaking and sniffing. At one point he picked up his head and looked right at her, as if she were in the room with him, as if he could actually see her. And then he spoke to her. All this I do for you. To see you again. To be with you again. Please God, it will work. Because without you I am lost to the world. 

In her sleep Jac felt the power of his words like a perfumed wind, blowing around her, embracing her. The most profound sense of longing overwhelmed her. Jac tried to go to him. Tried to move toward him. Wanted him to take her in his arms. Want to bury her face in his chest and have him stroke her hair. Wanted to feel his rough lips bruising hers. Oh, how she wanted him. But she was a half a millennium away. And they were forever separated by time. 

She woke up suddenly. Soaked with sweat. The perfumer had seemed so familiar to her. Her feelings for him were the same as her feelings for Griffin. Was it possible that-No. She would not entertain the thought. But she couldn't escape it, could she? Jac could almost hear Malachai asking her how she could even question what the dream revealed: that in a previous incarnation Griffin had most likely lived a life as the perfumer. Time was coming full circle again.

M.J. Rose will be live at BookTrib on April 21 at 3pm ET and there are a ton more offerings this month all around the blogosphere so be sure to check them out.

The Book of Lost Fragrances by MJ Rose

Reading a great book can transport you to a different place. This weekend alone, I traveled from WWI era Russia to ancient Egypt and France -- all from the comfort of my favorite reading spots.

To round out my MJ Rose posts (Pre pub and blog tour stop), I wanted to give you my own thoughts on her latest, The Book of Lost Fragrances.

In the book, Jac L'Etoile goes on a frantic search for her missing brother after a dead body is discovered in their family's perfume shop. Robbie and Jac had been arguing over how to mend the many business debts incurred by their father who is no longer in a state to run the company. Jac's solution is to sell two of the famous L'Etoile scents, but Robbie believes that he's on the verge of a breakthrough that could be their salvation.

The amount of research that Rose puts into her books comes through so well in her writing. Cleopatra, the Tibetan belief system, the catacombs in France, perfumes in general... all of these elements were so intriguing and added layer after layer to the story. By the time I finished the book, I wanted to know more about all of these things. To be honest, Rose could have padded out the book with minutia and tidbits and I would have been perfectly happy -- though she doesn't. There's definitely no filler or unnecessary elements in Rose's prose.

And though The Book of Lost Fragrances can be read as a complete stand alone, it does tie directly into Rose's Reincarnationist books with the Phoenix Foundation playing a significant role in Jac's tale. The Book of Lost Fragrances leaves room for Rose to continue with the Foundation and the idea of memory tools in future books as well. I'm confident that newbies and long standing fans will all be pleased with Rose's latest!

The Book of Lost Fragrances is out on shelves now. Other titles tied in are:

The Reincarnationist

The Memorist

The Hypnotist

The Book of Lost Fragrances Excerpt Scavenger Hunt and Guest Post

Good morning, all! Today is MJ Rose day!

I'm so excited to be participating in MJ Rose's blog tour promoting her latest, The Book of Lost Frangrances! Below, you'll find the next piece of the excerpt scavenger hunt and a link that will take you to the following stop. But first, a guest post from the author herself!

Researching The Book of Lost Fragrances was a labor of love. One of the most wonderful parts was working with a famous blogger, Dimi of The Sorcery of Scent. He helped me find out about fragrances that have been lost to us and what they smelled like.

I thought it would interesting for us to tell you about one of them.

Guerlain first focused on verveine (verbena) varieties to use in perfumes in the mid-late 1800's.Eau de Verveine was released first in the 1870's and made brief reappearances in the 1950s and the 1980s before being retired from Guerlain's perfume portfolio. Eau de Verveine is the scent of high summer… sharp, uplifting notes of citrus-green lemon verbena flood the mouth with saliva with their crisp, energising aroma. Below is a prickle of something darker - perhaps carnation or clove - which adds incredible depth. There is a dry, tea-like quality that emerges as the scent dries on the skin. This impossibly rare scent evokes feelings of long days at the summer's end with the chirrup of cicadas ringing in the ears.

The most coveted and rare perfume from the Guerlain portfolio, Djedi was launched in 1926, right on the heels of Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Presented in a flacon resembling a golden sarcophagus with its lid being raised, Djedi is an exploration into decomposition and decay. Gloomy and desolate, Djedi has a dry, arid quality like the shifting desert sands… a "closed over the ages" feel furnished by dry vetiver, oakmoss, musk, and leather. This olfactory requiem pays hommage to fallen ancient Egyptian dynasties that have been lost to the sands of time.

COQUE D'OR is an exceptionally beautiful leather chypre created in 1937 by Jacques Guerlain.Soft florals tumble over a buttery leather accord which evoke thoughts of paper-thin hand-made gloves of extraordinary quality. Built over a classic Guerlain chypre base of sandalwood, amber and oakmoss… this perfume is pre-WWII finery at its best. A scent to be worn with cashmere, pearls and soft furs, but sadly one that has been out of production for the last 60 years.

And now, a piece of The Book of Lost Fragrances... (Note: if you've not hit the previous stops on the tour, you'll need to head back to this post from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time to start at the beginning of the excerpt)

“What does it mean?” Napoléon asked.

“I don’t know, Général. It’s most unusual,” Abu stammered.

“Unwrap him, Saurent,” Napoléon ordered.

Despite Abu’s protestations, Saurent insisted the young men cut through the linen and expose the actual mummy. The Frenchman was paying them, so they agreed. As L’Etoile knew, ancient embalming techniques using fragrant oils and unguents along with the dry air should have prevented the deceased’s soft muscles and tissue from decaying. Even the hair might have been preserved. He’d seen mummies before and had been fascinated by their sweet-smelling corpses.

It took only a few minutes to cut and peel back the blackened cloth.

“No. Like nothing I have ever seen,” Abu whispered.

The corpse on the right didn’t have his arms crossed on his chest, as was the custom.

To continue reading, head on over to the next stop: http://www.myspringfieldmommy.com/

About the Author:

M.J. Rose is the international bestselling author of eleven novels: Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying In Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix, The Reincarnationist, The Memorist, and The Hypnotist. The Book of Lost Fragrances will be published in March 2012. Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoy of How To Publish And Promote Online, and with Doug Clegg on Buzz Your Book.

Rose is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. As well as the co-founder of Peroozal.com and the popular website BookTrib.com.

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 News Hour" and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USA Today, Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers and Publishers Weekly.

M.J. Rose lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka. To learn more about M.J. Rose and her work, visit her website at: www.mjrose.com.

Pre-Pub Book Buzz: The Book of Lost Fragrances by MJ Rose

I'm giving you a double dose of pre-pub posts today since I missed last week. This Tuesday marks the release of MJ Rose's latest, The Book of Lost Fragrances. I'm lucky enough to be participating in the blog tour for the book and am dying to dive in!

Here's what the publicity info says:

Jac L'Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances--and of her mother's suicide--she moved to America.

Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with its financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing--leaving a dead body in his wake--Jac is plunged into a world she thought she'd left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother's disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L'Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation - or is it just another dream-infused perfume?

THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra's Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet's battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac's quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

M.J. Rose is a skilled writer and a remarkable storyteller. Using Cleopatra’s lost book of fragrance formulas as a stepping stone, Rose spins a tale replete with stunning twists and compelling characters that will keep readers turning the pages late into the night.

The Book of Lost Fragrances is due out in bookstores on Tuesday, March 13.

Be sure to stop by here on March 18 for a guest post by Rose and a piece of the excerpt scavenger hunt.

Live Chat With MJ Rose

Morning, all. In a couple of weeks I'll be participating in the blog tour to promote MR Rose's latest, The Book of Lost Fragrances. There will be a review, a guest post, and an excerpt as part of a scavenger hunt.

Today, Rose fans have a chance to participate in a Live Chat taking place over at BookTrib at 3pm EST.

You'll need to hit the BookTrib link for more info and to get to the RSVP (sorry, the image link doesn't work here).

Be sure to check back here on March 18 for lots of MJ Rose fun!

A Free Book and An Upcoming Title to Watch For

Last year, as part of Mira's Summer of the Deadly Seven, I received a copy of M.J. Rose's Reincarnationist. Rose has been around for quite some time and is heavily involved in helping authors learn to self-promote their titles (Buzz Your Book and e-book coauthored with the fabulous Doug Clegg being one example of that), but I had never read her. Yeah, yeah, everyone has a point when they discover an author, a first book that they try that hooks them : ) 

Rose's previous work dealt heavily, as I understand, with erotic themes but was not necessarily erotica. She began as a self-published author with Lip Service, a book about a phone-therapist with a sex clinic, which was eventually picked up by Pocket after Rose's own on-line promotion garnered her much attention . Lip Service also introduced the Butterfield Institute which was later featured in a trilogy of books published my Mira (The Halo Effect, The Deliliah Complex, and The Venus Fix). 

The Reincarnationist marked the beginning of Rose's latest series. Where Rose has frequently delved into the mysteries of the mind, this new series takes this in a different direction. Many people throughout history have supported the idea of reincarnation and past-life regression. Rose combines these ideas with a fast-paced suspense plot that travels from ancient Rome to the present day. Tuesday, Rose's second book in the series, The Memorist, will be released. I'm not quite finished with it, but I can say that so far, although the two books are linked by ideas and by the Phoenix Institute, Memorist features a whole new cast of characters and a new literary mystery - meaning you can read it without having read Reincarnationist. But why would you want to? 

Rose is offering The Reincarnationist as a free downloadable e-book (you can even download it especially for your Kindle if you have one) now through October 31. Here's the link. And, to whet your appetite, here's my review for The Reincarnationist from the bookbitch archives:

Josh Ryder has been experiencing memories that are not his own. It began after a bombing in Rome where Josh, a photojournalist, was working a story. He was left comatose and awoke weeks later with vivid recollections of life in ancient Rome. In an attempt to learn more, Josh becomes involved with an organization known as the Phoenix Foundation - a group that investigates past life regression in children. When a discovery at a dig in Rome interests the group, Josh is sent as one of the foundation’s representatives to the site. The find could finally provide solid proof of reincarnation and also allow others to experience exactly what Josh does – memories of past lives. The foundation is not the only group interested in this item, though. While Josh is on the site, the lead archaeologist is attacked and the artifact is stolen. Josh vows to recover the item and, in doing so hopes, to unlock the truth behind his strange visions. In The Reincarnationist, Rose combines historical elements with the theory of reincarnation to create a truly amazing thriller. The characters are believable, the settings are magnificent, and in most cases real. Rose masterfully transitions readers from one century to the next making this a smooth read that is easy to get lost in for hours. M.J. Rose is no newcomer to the literary field, but this is her first mainstream suspense novel, one that should finally earn her the recognition she deserves and introduce new readers to her fantastic talent. 

Rose will also be touring virtually and my review of The Memorist will be up at bookbitch.com next week, so remember to check it out!