Interview with M. J. Rose

Now for a short Q&A with M. J. Rose, the author of THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES! Don't forget to read the excerpt and enter the contest posted earlier.

1. What are you currently reading?

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

2. Are any of the characters in the book inspired by people you know in real life?

The perfumer in the book, Robbie L’Etoile was inspired by a perfumer I met in Paris, Olivier Durbano.

3. As a pioneer of the e-book industry, what do you think about the explosion in popularity of Kindles, Nooks, etc.?

It's exciting that readers have so many choices of ways to read - it doesn't matter to many writers how readers read us, as long as they read us.

4. Where do you normally write?

Wherever my laptop is.

5. What would be your favorite meal?

Lobster and champagne.

The Book of Lost Fragrances: Excerpt and Contest

THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES is the newest release from bestselling author M. J. Rose. Paranormal suspense isn't the most common genre, so I can see why her fans are excited by each new release. Later today I will post a short Q&A as well as a review.

Now, this is just a short excerpt. You can find more tomorrow at Kelly's Lucky You.

Now, here, he was afraid for himself and for his commander and for the men in this room. Had they all been poisoned by some ancient noxious scent?

He had to help. Grabbing a small gold box from a pile of treasures against the far wall, he opened it, dumped its contents—gold and colored glass—onto the floor, and then hastily thrust the still-intact clay pot inside. Scooping up the shards of the pot that the general had dropped, L’Etoile added them and slammed the lid shut.

The scent was still conspicuous, but now that the perfume containers were enclosed, the air slowly began to clear. L’Etoile watched as first one man and then another stood and looked around, each trying to get his bearings.

THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES revolves around (no surprise) a lost book of fragrances. In this case, it is a text catalouging perfumes from Cleopatra's time, supposedly found by an L'Etoile ancestor. Jac, the co-heir to the House of L’Etoile, becomes obsessed with her family's legend while trying to find her missing brother. To promote the novel samples of the perfume Âmes Soeurs were created. You could win one by filling out the form below. Contest ends 4/4.

Review: The Hypnotist

By M. J. Rose
Available now from Mira (Harlequin)
Review copy



M. J. Rose's Reincarnationist series is popular, but I've remained skeptical. I find reincarnation kind of goofy. Objectively, reincarnation is far less goofy than vampires or fairies, which I like. I prefer to treat it like magic instead of something serious, however, because if I take it seriously I find it kind of horrifying. But I did enjoy Kirsten Miller's THE ETERNAL ONES, so I decided to give Rose's THE HYPNOTIST a chance.

I have not read the first two books in the series, but I caught up pretty quickly. Lucian Glass is an FBI agent specializing in Art Crime, who is obsessed with proving that Malachai Samuels is a criminal. Samuels is a member of the Phoenix Foundation and dedicated to proving that reincarnation exists. In order to do so, he is trying to find Memory Tools, mystical objects created long ago to help people remember past lives. I found most of Rose's approach to reincarnation palatable, but I'm still giggling over the Memory Tools (which include a "fragrant pot of wax").

At the same time, there are a variety of odd things happening at the Met. There's a legal battle over the ownership of a dilapidated statue of Hypnos. Paintings that had been bequeathed to the museum, then stolen, are now being returned - in pieces. The construction crew on the new Islam wing keeps losing workers. And all of these things are possibly related.

The subtitle proclaims THE HYPNOTIST to be a novel of suspense. Rose takes an approach I'm not overly fond of - you know whodunit from the beginning, but you don't know why. (Well, there are a ton of crimes in THE HYPNOTIST. You know who done most.) At the same time, discovering why is most of the fun. Rose keeps the pages turning, which is the most important thing for me in the suspense genre. As I said, there are a lot of crimes to explore. Rose thankfully doesn't linger over the terrible things that happen to her characters. The violence is never described in loving detail. At the same time, much of THE HYPNOTIST is in villain point-of-views. It sometimes feels icky.

Most of the crimes in THE HYPNOTIST revolve around art and antiquities theft, which I find very interesting. Cultural heritage is an ephemeral but powerful thing. I might've enjoyed the book more without the reincarnation aspect, but I still found THE HYPNOTIST to be a good read. The plot is tight and driving and the good guy characters are likeable enough.