LOVES FORTUNE: A NOVEL PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Laura Frantz | 400 pages | 16 Sep 2014 | Baker Publishing Group | 9780800720438 | English | Ada, MI, United States Quiz: What’s Your Love Fortune?

Frontiersman's Daughter. The Mistress of Tall Acre. A Moonbow Night. Love's Reckoning. This seems not the obvious course of action to take if one were at the nadir of both grief and low self-esteem, but apparently Paston is being driven by karma from a past-life: as a fifteenth century monk who was walled up in the cellar of a monastery for his own pagan beliefs. In fact, the karma of previous incarnations plays quite a big role in this book, manipulating characters and circumstances like a puppet master pulling the strings of his puppets. For example, the influence of Paston's previous incarnation not only causes him to rediscover Paganism - by what seems to be a remarkable set of coincidences - he by chance finds the very monastery in which his previous self met his end. Moreover, it so happens that Mona, the niece of the bookseller, at whose shop he makes his fortunate discoveries, turns out to be the reincarnation of a lover of one of Paston's more ancient incarnations. In some ways this niece, the heroine, plays a role similar to the female character in The Demon Lover : both knew the central character in a previous life, and both help to save him. For it is only through Mona's loyalty that Paston is able to control the forces that he is invoking, as well as protecting him from the more mundane dangers of his family, who want to have him certified so they can get at his wealth. Paston does heal himself eventually, but only after he has learnt that Pan, who is Nature, is a much bigger concept than he first thought. For originally he only wanted to invoke Pan for his own self-centred amusement, but he eventually understands that Nature includes both the masculine and feminine - i. The archetypal woman in this novel Vivien Le Fay Morgan, who like the female characters in Fortune's earlier novels is a reincarnation: in this case, of the Sea Priestess, a mysterious Initiate who came from Atlantis to ancient Britain to save the land from rising sea- levels, in a ceremony that involved a lot of human sacrifice. But Morgan is unlike Fortune's previous female leads: she is already a powerful adept, in control of her magical abilities, exotically beautiful, and described in such a mysterious manner that one gets the idea that she is not merely a reincarnation, but she actually is the Sea Priestess, who has survived, immortal, throughout the past thousands of years. The narrator of the novel is Wilfred, estate agent and fairly well-off, but struck down by asthma as he undergoes a mid-life crisis. Then he encounters Morgan - and he is quite literally enchanted. Significantly, he first meets her after he has been under the influence of the Moon - remember that Isis is a moon-Goddess, after all. In Morgan's presence Wilfred discovers his own past-life memories: as the last of the Sea Priestess' sacrificial victims. Wilfred has a vision that, while making love to the Sea Priestess, he has a mystical revelation:. Because Morgan's character is the Archetypal woman, Isis' very own avatar in other words, she is used as the standard by which other female characters in the book are judged. Molly, the girl whom Wilfred eventually marries, is nice enough, but she does not have "It" - feminine sex appeal. On the other hand, a girl who works in a sweet shop has no pretensions to breeding or learning, but has "It" certainly. Morgan, however, disappears three-quarters of the way through the novel, leaving Wilfred in a quandary. In stark contrast to the adventure and excitement of his time with Morgan, he wanders into an unexciting marriage, desperately aware that he is in need of healing, but at a loss of how to achieve it: Molly eventually learns to emulate Morgan, invoking the Goddess and healing both herself and Wilfred in the process. This book does indeed show Dion Fortune at the summit of her art as a novelist. She takes as much care with the prose as if it were poetry , often incorporating meter and rhythm into sentence structure. This is most noticeable in passages which Fortune wants to emphasise - those which we feel represent her underlying message. It is the high quality of the prose which breathes fresh life into what are clearly concepts she has treated in earlier books. Like The Winged Bull , we have in Molly a woman herself in need of healing through the power of magic. Like The Demon Lover and Goat Foot God , the man is redeemed by the innate femininity of a woman: and like pretty much all of them we are introduced to powerful karmic forces at work across time. Yet in the former novels, these ideas are used within the structure of what seem to be conventional romances or adventures: with The Sea Priestess the plot is not supported by the occult element, the occult element is the plot. Fortune had not done this in a fictional work since The Secrets of Doctor Taverner , but in that book the reader is often forced to accept a pat explanation from a character who does not reveal the full intricacies of the occult processes in operation. I have only two real criticisms of The Sea Priestess. Firstly, Molly's character is badly underdeveloped - she is only introduced after Morgan has disappeared. This is far too late to flesh out someone who, after all, plays such an important role in the ending. Secondly, Wilfred first becomes aware of the psychic influences which play such a large part in the plot when he is dosed up to his eyeballs on heroin. Remember that the novel is set before the days of the Ventolin inhaler: diamorphine hydrochloride was used to relieve such conditions, as one of its properties is to suppress the cough reflex, and relieve the muscle spasm which forms the basis of an asthma attack. Obviously this is a plot device, to make sure Wilfred gets into the action quickly, but I really feel it is sending out the wrong kind of message to those who are new to magic. Fortune's last novel, published posthumously, was found amongst her papers at her death. It is a sequel to The Sea Priestess , and in it we find out where Morgan disappeared to - to London, to set up a temple in which she could practice the "Greater Mysteries". Morgan, now calling herself Lillith, takes the lease of a deconsecrated church off the Albert Embankment, which she sets about converting. As to where her money comes from, she invokes for it - exactly how is left unsaid, as this is one magical operation that is not described in the story. The plot features yet another emotionally stunted man, in need of magical salvation - this time in the form of Dr. Rupert A. Malcolm, a brilliant neurologist and endocrinologist. Trapped in a sterile marriage for 20 years to an invalid, and having no particular social life, he is a complete workaholic, with no emotional side to his character of which to speak. His reputation for efficiency is matched by his unlikeability - a medical student sums him up:. It is upon this most unpromising of prima materia that Lillith, over the course of time, works a veritable Alchemy. After first discovering his existence by unconscious telepathy on his part, she involves him in a series of magical workings which break down his old personality, causing him to rediscover his emotional nature, and ultimately the "Stone of the Wise", when he learns to become "god" to her "goddess". But this transformation is not just for Malcolm's benefit: for it is also the vehicle by which Lillith intends to perform a greater task - it is here that we can read some of Fortune's own philosophy. By Lillith assuming the role of goddess, and Malcolm that of god, they are in fact acting on behalf of all those that their respective roles represent. Hence Lillith is "all-women", and Malcolm is "all-men" and as such, each of them is magically at one with them. Therefore, the "Alchemy", a kind of spiritual sex-magick strictly right-hand path, as it happens , which they practice in fact benefits the whole human race. Although it is called a sequel, Moon Magic is a book in its own right. Fortune deliberately adopts a different style of writing: the beginning and ending is written from Malcolm's point of view, but the middle and main section is a first-person narrative by Lillith. A curious fact can be observed here: in later life, it was apparently Dion's habit to stroll about London wearing a cloak and a wide-brimmed hat, so that she almost looked like the character from the advert for "Sandeman's Port" [3]. It so happens that when Malcolm first sees Lillith, she is wearing just such a cloak and hat. Despite the attractive theme, there are some indications within the novel that only a first draft was found in Dion Fortune's papers. Because of the change of narrative viewpoint during the novel, the prose only rises to the lyrical quality of its predecessor during the passages describing the actual magical operations. However, if we assume that this is deliberate, light is shed on the character of Wilfred in the Sea Priestess. For a start, in Moon Magic , Lillith is not so mysterious as she was in the former novel. In opening up about herself though, she reveals that the her history is equally fantastic: a cosmic adept who has discovered the elixir of life she is apparently years old - over 80 years older than how she looks. She is at once assured of her magical expertise, and a witty, modern metropolitan woman. Yet she makes no pretension to be the reincarnation of "the Sea Priestess": in this respect it would appear that the character in that novel was a projection from Wilfred's mind, a theory which fits in with the mysterious way she disappears three-quarters of the way through. On another point, the ending appears to be rather abrupt. Malcolm finds what he has been looking for, which is tantamount to a mystical understanding of the meaning of initiation - and there it stops. The fact that the story ends at the high-point of the final ritual at least means that there is no danger of anti-climax: but neither is there any real discussion about how this success affects his life, or Lillith's for that matter, thereafter. Dion Fortune's novels therefore display her own peculiar view of magic, which is a synthesis of the Golden Dawn, Thelema, Theosophy, Jungian and Freudian psychoanalysis, and personal philosophy which is based in part on channelled wisdom. And yet her own view never wholly endorses any one of her professed influences. For example, although she is indebted to Crowley as a scholar, she deliberately rejects the anti-nomian tone in his writing, preferring to adopt a form of Christianity which both accepts Jesus as the author of the modern evolutionary current, yet accommodates her own views on mysticism and reincarnation. Dion is an early believer in feminism, not only in the sense of the mere fact of female equality, but also in the idea of females working together to advance their own interests. However, unlike a number of modern feminist writers, Fortune's brand of Feminism is quite definitely a spiritual movement: whereas a modern feminist sees women working together as a sisterhood , Fortune sees it as a samadhi-like realisation of unity at the mystical level. It is as if the collective-idea of "Woman" is an archetype - "the Goddess", so that Goddess-worship and feminism are in effect one and the same thing. He didn ' t even want to marry me at first. She seemed to have shrunk in size , withered. Alicia said unsteadily , with an effort , ' He loves A regular weekly trip on a Sunday afternoon was his way of satisfyingtheurge forChinese food. He was a lonely man when most at the age of 42 already had a sweetheart or a wife. For the six months he had been going there She had been so loving and obedient , so kind and cheerful in her manner , that to part with her the Squire felt was to deprive himself of all that afforded him temporal pleasure. Love is real in the town of Grimbaud and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. Thou wretch , whose sentiments of honour are Atill more despicable than your sentiments of love! Hush , hush! Will a Lady be loved by whom Free Tarot Reading - Love

However, because he cannot completely renounce his evil ways, he eventually pays a terrible price for what he has done. There is a similarity in subject matter - for example, Fortune re-works the vampire idea of Taverner , but does so in a manner which is more reminiscent of a conventional horror story. Indeed, throughout the work she seems now to be displaying the sensibilities of a novelist, as opposed to an initiate- playing-at-being one. We also have some indication of Dion beginning to display her independence of thought. Lucas, the "Demon Lover" of the title, is unquestionably evil, but the Lodge against which he intrigues does not provoke our sympathy, as it is painted as full of old men, stuck in the mud, convinced of their own self-righteousness. The resolution of the novel proposes that it is only through the intervention of the pure young heroine, who can use her femininity to restore the balance of the moribund lodge, which can save all parties concerned. This heroine turns out to be the reincarnation of Lucas' lover in a previous life. And note, that the heroine defies the strict regime of the Lodge, but is backed up by a higher power - a high Adept who seems to be a member of the Third Order. In the light of Dion's later work, it might not be stretching the imagination to say that she identified herself with the heroine, with the Lodge as a metaphor for the AO: Fortune's justification for her actions being that she claimed she was in contact with the Masters, quite independently of her connection with the AO. The "Winged Bull" of the title is a large Babylonian sphinx: it has the body of a bull, wings covering its back, and the head of a Babylonian nobleman, with the characteristic beard and head-dress. It may still be seen to this day in the British Museum in London, where the plaque in front of it describes it as a "Guardian Spirit" i. I must admit that when I myself saw it just last year, I found it interesting to think that I was probably standing on the same spot as Dion herself had done some 70 years previously. But to Dion's fervent imagination, this Winged Bull is not so much a guardian spirit but a metaphor for sexuality the Bull which is sublimated by Spirituality its Wings. Dion extends this metaphor, by talking of a fictional "Mass of the Bull" i. The central theme is the magical healing of a man and woman. She "Ursula" has been reduced to a neurotic and uncharismatic wreck by involvement with a black magician. The man "Murchison" , who is persuaded into helping to save her, finds he has to battle shortcomings in his own personality. A proud but lonely man, for a long time he finds it hard to feel compassion towards the damsel he is supposed to rescuing. The agent for this magical change is a wise old magician, who, significantly, is not connected to any magical organisation. This same magician not only owns his own pad in London but also has a private income - so that he doesn't have to work but can devote all his time to the occult. Although Fortune seemed to be a feminist in The Secrets of Doctor Taverner, in this novel, Ursula is not at first treated sympathetically. As readers we are made to feel that she herself is partly at fault for the lack of an early solution to her predicament. Why is this? To Fortune, the magical healing at the centre of the story is a metaphor for something that, in life generally, both sexes must undergo. Murchison, representing men, is healed when he learns the true meaning of self-sacrifice, and recognises his proper feelings of compassion and sensitivity towards Ursula. Ursula, representing women, eventually realises that she must embrace sexuality instead of repressing it: moreover she also realises that she has not been putting enough value on Murchison's efforts. Ultimately, she saves him from a nasty end at the hands of the black magicians by herself being brave. Hence, he is healed by becoming sensitive and compassionate: she is healed by becoming proactive, brave, and responsible for her own sexuality. It is as if what is happening is that both of them are in fact healed by taking on what Fortune sees as the best characteristics of the opposite sex - a balancing of male and female energies. This book is Fortune's strongest assertion that Magical orders are irrelevant: as, in the course of the story, she reveals a possible method of how to create a viable magical system from books which are published and not subject to anyone's vows of secrecy. We can probably guess the identity [2] of this last work, and speculate that if Paston had gone straight to this he needn't have bothered with the others! Paston is a troubled man - he discovers that his wife and best friend were having an affair, after they are killed together in a car crash. We find out that it was his own fault that his wife was cheating on him, as, for all his wealth, he lacks basic charisma or sex appeal. Clearly a man in need of magical healing - so what does he do to relieve his torment? He gets the idea to invoke Pan, the Goat-Foot God of the title. This seems not the obvious course of action to take if one were at the nadir of both grief and low self-esteem, but apparently Paston is being driven by karma from a past-life: as a fifteenth century monk who was walled up in the cellar of a monastery for his own pagan beliefs. In fact, the karma of previous incarnations plays quite a big role in this book, manipulating characters and circumstances like a puppet master pulling the strings of his puppets. For example, the influence of Paston's previous incarnation not only causes him to rediscover Paganism - by what seems to be a remarkable set of coincidences - he by chance finds the very monastery in which his previous self met his end. Moreover, it so happens that Mona, the niece of the bookseller, at whose shop he makes his fortunate discoveries, turns out to be the reincarnation of a lover of one of Paston's more ancient incarnations. In some ways this niece, the heroine, plays a role similar to the female character in The Demon Lover : both knew the central character in a previous life, and both help to save him. For it is only through Mona's loyalty that Paston is able to control the forces that he is invoking, as well as protecting him from the more mundane dangers of his family, who want to have him certified so they can get at his wealth. Paston does heal himself eventually, but only after he has learnt that Pan, who is Nature, is a much bigger concept than he first thought. For originally he only wanted to invoke Pan for his own self-centred amusement, but he eventually understands that Nature includes both the masculine and feminine - i. The archetypal woman in this novel Vivien Le Fay Morgan, who like the female characters in Fortune's earlier novels is a reincarnation: in this case, of the Sea Priestess, a mysterious Initiate who came from Atlantis to ancient Britain to save the land from rising sea-levels, in a ceremony that involved a lot of human sacrifice. But Morgan is unlike Fortune's previous female leads: she is already a powerful adept, in control of her magical abilities, exotically beautiful, and described in such a mysterious manner that one gets the idea that she is not merely a reincarnation, but she actually is the Sea Priestess, who has survived, immortal, throughout the past thousands of years. The narrator of the novel is Wilfred, estate agent and fairly well-off, but struck down by asthma as he undergoes a mid-life crisis. Then he encounters Morgan - and he is quite literally enchanted. Significantly, he first meets her after he has been under the influence of the Moon - remember that Isis is a moon-Goddess, after all. In Morgan's presence Wilfred discovers his own past-life memories: as the last of the Sea Priestess' sacrificial victims. Wilfred has a vision that, while making love to the Sea Priestess, he has a mystical revelation:. Because Morgan's character is the Archetypal woman, Isis' very own avatar in other words, she is used as the standard by which other female characters in the book are judged. Molly, the girl whom Wilfred eventually marries, is nice enough, but she does not have "It" - feminine sex appeal. On the other hand, a girl who works in a sweet shop has no pretensions to breeding or learning, but has "It" certainly. Morgan, however, disappears three-quarters of the way through the novel, leaving Wilfred in a quandary. In stark contrast to the adventure and excitement of his time with Morgan, he wanders into an unexciting marriage, desperately aware that he is in need of healing, but at a loss of how to achieve it: Molly eventually learns to emulate Morgan, invoking the Goddess and healing both herself and Wilfred in the process. This book does indeed show Dion Fortune at the summit of her art as a novelist. She takes as much care with the prose as if it were poetry , often incorporating meter and rhythm into sentence structure. This is most noticeable in passages which Fortune wants to emphasise - those which we feel represent her underlying message. It is the high quality of the prose which breathes fresh life into what are clearly concepts she has treated in earlier books. Like The Winged Bull , we have in Molly a woman herself in need of healing through the power of magic. Like The Demon Lover and Goat Foot God , the man is redeemed by the innate femininity of a woman: and like pretty much all of them we are introduced to powerful karmic forces at work across time. Yet in the former novels, these ideas are used within the structure of what seem to be conventional romances or adventures: with The Sea Priestess the plot is not supported by the occult element, the occult element is the plot. Fortune had not done this in a fictional work since The Secrets of Doctor Taverner , but in that book the reader is often forced to accept a pat explanation from a character who does not reveal the full intricacies of the occult processes in operation. I have only two real criticisms of The Sea Priestess. Firstly, Molly's character is badly underdeveloped - she is only introduced after Morgan has disappeared. This is far too late to flesh out someone who, after all, plays such an important role in the ending. Secondly, Wilfred first becomes aware of the psychic influences which play such a large part in the plot when he is dosed up to his eyeballs on heroin. Remember that the novel is set before the days of the Ventolin inhaler: diamorphine hydrochloride was used to relieve such conditions, as one of its properties is to suppress the cough reflex, and relieve the muscle spasm which forms the basis of an asthma attack. Obviously this is a plot device, to make sure Wilfred gets into the action quickly, but I really feel it is sending out the wrong kind of message to those who are new to magic. Fo: upon thy fortune and thy love fortune , fortune! Marie Fortune knows that well , for as a pioneering leader in the struggle against sexual violence , she hears such stories daily. Thus , she has an unblinking But he isn ' t a fortune - hunter. He didn ' t even want to marry me at first. She seemed to have shrunk in size , withered. Alicia said unsteadily , with an effort , ' He loves A regular weekly trip on a Sunday afternoon was his way of satisfyingtheurge forChinese food. He was a lonely man when most at the age of 42 already had a sweetheart or a wife. For the six months he had been going there She had been so loving and obedient , so kind and cheerful in her manner , that to part with her the Squire felt was to deprive himself of all that afforded him temporal pleasure. With danger following him closely, he's asked to winter in Pittsburgh. James and Wren soon strike up a friendship, and when he's asked to be her escort for the upcoming social season, he agrees. Wren's duty is to make a match. A wealthy match. Yet her heart is pulled to James. Will James be a gentleman and let her do her duty, or will he follow his heart and claim this songbird as his own? I have loved both of the other two books in this series, so I had extremely high expectations for this one. I am thrilled to say that it met and exceeded my high expectations. I think that this book is my favorite in the series. Once again, Laura has crafted a novel rich in historical detail. The story itself is beautiful as well. I adored James. I thought that his struggle was so well written. He loved Wren, yet he knew that they couldn't be together and that it was his job to see her engaged to someone suitable. Yet still he struggled. He struggled with his feelings. He struggled with what would be best for Wren. He struggled with knowing that by loving her, he would could very well be tying her to a marked man. I also enjoyed Wren. I loved how she was so honest. Even when her family tried to change her, she still was so true. But she was also the good girl and wanted to please. In some ways, I'd say that was her biggest flaw. Of the secondary characters, Izannah was my favorite. I thought that she was one character who could easily have stolen the show. I would love to have read more about her and her family of brothers. But I loved how she was so supportive of Wren. I kept turning page after page just engrossed in this book. I really didn't want the book to end. I think it took me just a little over a week to read this as I was reading at work. I've yet to discover a Laura Frantz book I haven't enjoyed, though I've not yet read all of hers. I do own some on my Kindle that are waiting for that someday to come when I can read them. While this is book 3 in the series, it stands alone and could be read out of order. I personally recommend reading them in order as the experience is very rich. I received a copy of this book for free from the author and another copy from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing. My thoughts and opinions are my own. I've already shared one copy with a friend. Aug 07, Dana Kamstra rated it it was amazing Shelves: reviews , christian- historical-fiction. This is a book that kept me up all night. In this case, it is a story about an honest and simple heroine thrust in an artificial and complicated city. In some senses, a love square even develops. The setting is against a time of change. Tension is rising due to abolitionists and t This is a book that kept me up all night. Tension is rising due to abolitionists and the Fugitive Slave act while talk of war is beginning. Steam boat travel is becoming eclipsed by the locomotive. For Wren, her simple life alongside her father in Kentucky has changed to the wealth and stature claimed by the successful Ballantyne family. The main characters in this novel are fabulous! The term fits her perfectly. She is honest and forthright, and wears her emotions on her sleeve. Izannah is also quite interesting. She is also a granddaughter of Silas Ballantyne. She is a bit more composed although a bit of scandal follows her due to her father and her own uncompleted society. Malachi Carmen feels like a failure. Finally, James Sackett. The Ballantynes have a lot of trust in him, and he enjoys feeling a part of their family. He is quite respected as a captain of steamboats, but many would threaten him because of his abolitionist leanings. I adored this novel. It was filled with unexpected turns in the story. Tensions kept running quite high in the background pushing me through the story. The characters were authentic, with a realness to their faith and lives. View all 4 comments. Nov 18, Rachelle Cobb rated it it was amazing. Shame on me for never having reviewed any of Laura Frantz's books before. I've read and enjoyed each and every one and couldn't believe, when it came time to write this review, that I've never devoted a blog review to her before! Time to fix that--and what better time to do it than with the book that quickly became my favorite of Laura's. With a heroine I could well relate to and a sweeping love story that beckoned me to read it slowly when usually I devour books in a few days , Love's Fortune ha Shame on me for never having reviewed any of Laura Frantz's books before. With a heroine I could well relate to and a sweeping love story that beckoned me to read it slowly when usually I devour books in a few days , Love's Fortune has become one of my favorite books of the year. I love Wren. Rowena Ballantyne is her birth name, but that is almost too royal- sounding for the girl raised in Cane Run, Kentucky, where she wore simple dresses and made violins. But Wren must become Rowena Ballantyne when her father forsakes Cane Run for Pittsburgh, the home of all the other Ballantynes, who are as good as royalty in Pennsylvania. There Wren is pulled between society and who she really is, what is expected of her and what she really wants. And what she really wants? Well, that is really James Sackett, who is an honorable man from less-than-honorable circumstances, who is hated by some for his abolitionist work. Wren and James both see through the trappings others place on them--and see they are the same. But near-tragedy and danger and duty threaten to pull them apart. Complete with the attention to historical detail that I love about Laura's work did you know Pittsburgh was so dark with soot during the Industrial Revolution that they wrapped white-clad brides in sheets to protect them from the blackening? Wren is the type of heroine you want to remain loyal to, even with her flaws. And James is not so bad himself. Couple that with the danger and intrigue subtly swinging its way behind the scenes. I loved how I wasn't sure until the last page how it would all turn out. Treat yourself with this book. If you're at all a fan of history, grand love stories, or family sagas, this one will put you squarely in Laura Frantz's corner. Jan 30, Hallie Szott rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-for-review , owned-books. This review is also posted on Book by Book. The journey into society for this admirable social misfit is not an easy one, as she must come to grips with her desire for home and the bombardment of new family obligations. But in navigating the prim and proper society of Pittsburgh, Wren begins to find a bit of solace and reassurance with James Sackett, a man deeply respectful and loyal to the Ballantyne family. From beginning to end, I loved every bit of their captivating and enticing story, and I believe fans of the series will love it, too. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own. Sep 17, Tamara Tilley rated it liked it. Though she is an heir to the Ballantyne fortune, she has lived in relative obscurity in Kentucky. All that changes when her father is summoned to Pennsylvania and Wren must accompany him. Thrown into a world of formality, ball gowns, etiquette, and suitors; she must maneuver the upper crust with the propriety expected of a Ballantyne. Completely taken by the former steamboat pilot, Wren is excited to spend time with James. She only wishes he saw more in her than just the duty of being her escort. James Sackett, is like an adoptive son to Silas Ballantyne. When he is asked to escort his granddaughter through a season, he does so willingly. Though he feels a growing infatuation for Wren, he must not show it. There are those seeking to harm James for his abolitionist leanings, and he refuses to subject Wren or any of the Ballantynes to such dangers. I have had a love-hate relationship with this series. I love the characters of Wren and James, and many of the secondary characters as well. I just feel as if the story was a bit drawn out and slow. There were so many sub-plots going on, at times, it got a bit confusing. For someone who loves this period, I am sure the book would hold your attention better than mine. Book provided for review purposes. Available September at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Oct 11, Cassie rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-for-review , signed- copies. Raised in Kentucky, Wren has a different way of life than her Ballantyne family. A simpler, quieter way of life. One filled with more freedom to express emotions rather than the constraints of rules and the obligations of society. When Wren is thrust into the world of Pennsylvania, her life is turned upside-down. Her old life is gone, replaced by a foreign one. I love the Ballantyne family, and I loved meeting Wren in this book. She has a different perspective on life in Pittsburg than her family because of her humble upbringing. Her opinions were fresh and exciting, revealing much about how she was raised. This series has been quite the journey. What started with the hard work and dedication of one man turned into three generations of family, wealth beyond imagination, and the promise of continued prosperity. These generations of Ballantynes are growing, expanding, and moving forward. And I obviously loved Jamie. And when he tells Wren to call him Jamie, and then every time she does call him that afterwards, swoon. Basically, I recommend this book. But first, I recommend you read the series in order. It makes this final novel so much more fulfilling and complete. This is my honest opinion. Mar 19, Rebecca rated it it was amazing. The crowning glory of Laura Frantz's Ballantyne series, "Love's Fortune" is a literary legacy in its own right. Flawless characterizations, compelling romantic tension, tender conversations, gripping family expectations and an inspirational thread that leaves no doubt that a loving God can mastermind His intentions in spite of thoroughly tangled human complications. Rowena "Wren" Ballantyne has never met her Pennsylvania family until her father Ansel receives a letter urging him to return home i The crowning glory of Laura Frantz's Ballantyne series, "Love's Fortune" is a literary legacy in its own right. Rowena "Wren" Ballantyne has never met her Pennsylvania family until her father Ansel receives a letter urging him to return home in order to assist his now aged father with their vast Ballantyne business holdings. Upon boarding the steam vessel bearing her name, she meets the famed steamboat pilot, James Sackett, whose stoic personality both intrigues and annoys her. Having been raised in the back woods of Kentucky since early childhood, Wren is totally unprepared to be the granddaughter of a vast fortune, and when her father leaves town to manage business affairs farther north, Wren's socially elite aunt and uncle persuade Wren into making a Pittsburgh debut, accompanied by none other than the enigmatic, handsome James Sackett. There is much more to James Sackett than meets the eye and as Wren navigates polite, and not-so-polite society, he becomes a treasured confident. Sensing that her beautiful cousin Ellie is in love with James, Wren navigates the treacherous waters of expectations, arrangements and disappointments. In climatic final chapters, James and Wren discover that it will take desperate measures and a miracle from God above to knit their broken hearts back together. In retrospect, five stars seem a bit dim for this outstanding addition to Laura Frantz's titles. Readers also enjoyed. Christian Fiction. About Laura Frantz. Laura Frantz. Laura Frantz is passionate about all things historical, particularly the 18th-century, and writes her manuscripts in longhand first. Her stories often incorporate Scottish themes that reflect her family heritage. She is a direct descendant of George Hume, Wedderburn Castle, Berwickshire, Scotland, who was exiled to the American colonies for his role in the Jacobite Rebellion of , settled in Vi Laura Frantz is passionate about all things historical, particularly the 18th-century, and writes her manuscripts in longhand first. She is a direct descendant of George Hume, Wedderburn Castle, Berwickshire, Scotland, who was exiled to the American colonies for his role in the Jacobite Rebellion of , settled in Virginia, and is credited with teaching George Washington surveying in the years Frantz lives and writes in a log cabin in the heart of Kentucky. According to Publishers Weekly, "Frantz has done her historical homework. Readers can find Laura Frantz at www. Other books in the series. The Ballantyne Legacy 3 books. Books by Laura Frantz. Escape the Present with These 24 Historical Romances. You know the saying: There's no time like the present In that case, we can't Read more Trivia About Love's Fortune T No trivia or quizzes yet. Quotes from Love's Fortune. I have loved none but you. Welcome back. eBook Loves Fortune PDF Download Full – Get Book Search

Fortune takes this to the extent that people who were lovers in former lives are again drawn together by their karma. There is at least one incident inspired by her connection to Theosophy. In "Recalled" Fortune writes about a messianic child, The Reconciler between East and West, described as a "mahatma-soul". The imagery is pure Besant, with "the Reconciler" being modelled on the concept of "the World Teacher" which Besant was grooming. Yet in this story we have a quote which reveals another of Fortune's ideas. When a woman discerns, through occult means, that her husband has had an affair with a native girl in India - and that the girl, pregnant, committed suicide - she says of the girl:. However there are a number of problems with "The Secrets of Doctor Taverner" which mark it out as Fortune's least successful venture into Occult fiction. Firstly, it is written from the viewpoint of a non-psychic Rhodes. All the interesting phenomena happen to Taverner. Thus whilst Taverner is off in the various regions of the Astral plane, we are often left with Rhodes' description of these incidents, i. This is quite a serious flaw, as the plots of several of the stories rely on the fact that Taverner gets a number of psychic messages via his astral contacts, and often works his cures on the astral. Hence most of the action is happening in invisible realms which, because the narrator is a non-psychic, we are unable to observe. Secondly, Fortune unwisely decided to tone-down some of the more interesting incidents. For example, in "Blood Lust", the Vampire is dispatched in the following manner:. This is the extent of the detail concerning the method which Taverner used to destroy this fearsome entity, and note that neither the Sign nor Sound was defined. Taverner makes a lot of undetailed Signs throughout the book. Yet in Psychic Self-Defence , Fortune goes into much more detail about what Moriarty did: apparently he surrounded it with Love, and absorbing it into his own aura, he neutralised the creature by meditating on Peace. As a result of this venture, Moriarty lay unconscious for three days - but the Vampire was successfully consigned to oblivion. Clearly, the version in Psychic Self-Defence is both more dramatic and gives a better idea about the magical principles involved. It would appear that Dion was still trying to observe her vows of secrecy and loyalty at this point: hence, she was unwilling to give away anything that might be construed as a secret of the order. Fortune's first attempt at a novel per se is a much more interesting affair from a literary point of view. She avoids the mistake of the previous book of having the stories told from the position of a non-psychic, by making sure that the view-point character gets to participate in and observe in the phenomena which underlie the plot. Moreover, it has a plot to engage the interest: a classic horror story, which could easily be adapted into a film comparable with, e. The Exorcist. A sinister black magician plans to cynically use an innocent young girl as part of a magical war against his occult Lodge. However despite the fact that he could easily have sacrificed her when his plan is discovered, he has an attack of conscience he is falling in love with her , and incurs the supernatural wrath of the Lodge on himself. However, because he cannot completely renounce his evil ways, he eventually pays a terrible price for what he has done. There is a similarity in subject matter - for example, Fortune re-works the vampire idea of Taverner , but does so in a manner which is more reminiscent of a conventional horror story. Indeed, throughout the work she seems now to be displaying the sensibilities of a novelist, as opposed to an initiate-playing-at-being one. We also have some indication of Dion beginning to display her independence of thought. Lucas, the "Demon Lover" of the title, is unquestionably evil, but the Lodge against which he intrigues does not provoke our sympathy, as it is painted as full of old men, stuck in the mud, convinced of their own self-righteousness. The resolution of the novel proposes that it is only through the intervention of the pure young heroine, who can use her femininity to restore the balance of the moribund lodge, which can save all parties concerned. This heroine turns out to be the reincarnation of Lucas' lover in a previous life. And note, that the heroine defies the strict regime of the Lodge, but is backed up by a higher power - a high Adept who seems to be a member of the Third Order. In the light of Dion's later work, it might not be stretching the imagination to say that she identified herself with the heroine, with the Lodge as a metaphor for the AO: Fortune's justification for her actions being that she claimed she was in contact with the Masters, quite independently of her connection with the AO. The "Winged Bull" of the title is a large Babylonian sphinx: it has the body of a bull, wings covering its back, and the head of a Babylonian nobleman, with the characteristic beard and head-dress. It may still be seen to this day in the British Museum in London, where the plaque in front of it describes it as a "Guardian Spirit" i. I must admit that when I myself saw it just last year, I found it interesting to think that I was probably standing on the same spot as Dion herself had done some 70 years previously. But to Dion's fervent imagination, this Winged Bull is not so much a guardian spirit but a metaphor for sexuality the Bull which is sublimated by Spirituality its Wings. Dion extends this metaphor, by talking of a fictional "Mass of the Bull" i. The central theme is the magical healing of a man and woman. She "Ursula" has been reduced to a neurotic and uncharismatic wreck by involvement with a black magician. The man "Murchison" , who is persuaded into helping to save her, finds he has to battle shortcomings in his own personality. A proud but lonely man, for a long time he finds it hard to feel compassion towards the damsel he is supposed to rescuing. The agent for this magical change is a wise old magician, who, significantly, is not connected to any magical organisation. This same magician not only owns his own pad in London but also has a private income - so that he doesn't have to work but can devote all his time to the occult. Although Fortune seemed to be a feminist in The Secrets of Doctor Taverner, in this novel, Ursula is not at first treated sympathetically. As readers we are made to feel that she herself is partly at fault for the lack of an early solution to her predicament. Why is this? To Fortune, the magical healing at the centre of the story is a metaphor for something that, in life generally, both sexes must undergo. Murchison, representing men, is healed when he learns the true meaning of self-sacrifice, and recognises his proper feelings of compassion and sensitivity towards Ursula. Ursula, representing women, eventually realises that she must embrace sexuality instead of repressing it: moreover she also realises that she has not been putting enough value on Murchison's efforts. Ultimately, she saves him from a nasty end at the hands of the black magicians by herself being brave. Hence, he is healed by becoming sensitive and compassionate: she is healed by becoming proactive, brave, and responsible for her own sexuality. It is as if what is happening is that both of them are in fact healed by taking on what Fortune sees as the best characteristics of the opposite sex - a balancing of male and female energies. This book is Fortune's strongest assertion that Magical orders are irrelevant: as, in the course of the story, she reveals a possible method of how to create a viable magical system from books which are published and not subject to anyone's vows of secrecy. We can probably guess the identity [2] of this last work, and speculate that if Paston had gone straight to this he needn't have bothered with the others! Paston is a troubled man - he discovers that his wife and best friend were having an affair, after they are killed together in a car crash. We find out that it was his own fault that his wife was cheating on him, as, for all his wealth, he lacks basic charisma or sex appeal. Clearly a man in need of magical healing - so what does he do to relieve his torment? He gets the idea to invoke Pan, the Goat-Foot God of the title. This seems not the obvious course of action to take if one were at the nadir of both grief and low self-esteem, but apparently Paston is being driven by karma from a past-life: as a fifteenth century monk who was walled up in the cellar of a monastery for his own pagan beliefs. In fact, the karma of previous incarnations plays quite a big role in this book, manipulating characters and circumstances like a puppet master pulling the strings of his puppets. For example, the influence of Paston's previous incarnation not only causes him to rediscover Paganism - by what seems to be a remarkable set of coincidences - he by chance finds the very monastery in which his previous self met his end. Moreover, it so happens that Mona, the niece of the bookseller, at whose shop he makes his fortunate discoveries, turns out to be the reincarnation of a lover of one of Paston's more ancient incarnations. In some ways this niece, the heroine, plays a role similar to the female character in The Demon Lover : both knew the central character in a previous life, and both help to save him. For it is only through Mona's loyalty that Paston is able to control the forces that he is invoking, as well as protecting him from the more mundane dangers of his family, who want to have him certified so they can get at his wealth. Paston does heal himself eventually, but only after he has learnt that Pan, who is Nature, is a much bigger concept than he first thought. For originally he only wanted to invoke Pan for his own self-centred amusement, but he eventually understands that Nature includes both the masculine and feminine - i. The archetypal woman in this novel Vivien Le Fay Morgan, who like the female characters in Fortune's earlier novels is a reincarnation: in this case, of the Sea Priestess, a mysterious Initiate who came from Atlantis to ancient Britain to save the land from rising sea- levels, in a ceremony that involved a lot of human sacrifice. But Morgan is unlike Fortune's previous female leads: she is already a powerful adept, in control of her magical abilities, exotically beautiful, and described in such a mysterious manner that one gets the idea that she is not merely a reincarnation, but she actually is the Sea Priestess, who has survived, immortal, throughout the past thousands of years. The narrator of the novel is Wilfred, estate agent and fairly well-off, but struck down by asthma as he undergoes a mid-life crisis. Then he encounters Morgan - and he is quite literally enchanted. Significantly, he first meets her after he has been under the influence of the Moon - remember that Isis is a moon-Goddess, after all. In Morgan's presence Wilfred discovers his own past-life memories: as the last of the Sea Priestess' sacrificial victims. Wilfred has a vision that, while making love to the Sea Priestess, he has a mystical revelation:. Because Morgan's character is the Archetypal woman, Isis' very own avatar in other words, she is used as the standard by which other female characters in the book are judged. Molly, the girl whom Wilfred eventually marries, is nice enough, but she does not have "It" - feminine sex appeal. On the other hand, a girl who works in a sweet shop has no pretensions to breeding or learning, but has "It" certainly. Morgan, however, disappears three-quarters of the way through the novel, leaving Wilfred in a quandary. In stark contrast to the adventure and excitement of his time with Morgan, he wanders into an unexciting marriage, desperately aware that he is in need of healing, but at a loss of how to achieve it: Molly eventually learns to emulate Morgan, invoking the Goddess and healing both herself and Wilfred in the process. This book does indeed show Dion Fortune at the summit of her art as a novelist. She takes as much care with the prose as if it were poetry , often incorporating meter and rhythm into sentence structure. This is most noticeable in passages which Fortune wants to emphasise - those which we feel represent her underlying message. It is the high quality of the prose which breathes fresh life into what are clearly concepts she has treated in earlier books. Like The Winged Bull , we have in Molly a woman herself in need of healing through the power of magic. Like The Demon Lover and Goat Foot God , the man is redeemed by the innate femininity of a woman: and like pretty much all of them we are introduced to powerful karmic forces at work across time. Yet in the former novels, these ideas are used within the structure of what seem to be conventional romances or adventures: with The Sea Priestess the plot is not supported by the occult element, the occult element is the plot. Fortune had not done this in a fictional work since The Secrets of Doctor Taverner , but in that book the reader is often forced to accept a pat explanation from a character who does not reveal the full intricacies of the occult processes in operation. I have only two real criticisms of The Sea Priestess. Firstly, Molly's character is badly underdeveloped - she is only introduced after Morgan has disappeared. This is far too late to flesh out someone who, after all, plays such an important role in the ending. Secondly, Wilfred first becomes aware of the psychic influences which play such a large part in the plot when he is dosed up to his eyeballs on heroin. Remember that the novel is set before the days of the Ventolin inhaler: diamorphine hydrochloride was used to relieve such conditions, as one of its properties is to suppress the cough reflex, and relieve the muscle spasm which forms the basis of an asthma attack. Obviously this is a plot device, to make sure Wilfred gets into the action quickly, but I really feel it is sending out the wrong kind of message to those who are new to magic. Fortune's last novel, published posthumously, was found amongst her papers at her death. It is a sequel to The Sea Priestess , and in it we find out where Morgan disappeared to - to London, to set up a temple in which she could practice the "Greater Mysteries". Morgan, now calling herself Lillith, takes the lease of a deconsecrated church off the Albert Embankment, which she sets about converting. As to where her money comes from, she invokes for it - exactly how is left unsaid, as this is one magical operation that is not described in the story. The plot features yet another emotionally stunted man, in need of magical salvation - this time in the form of Dr. Rupert A. Malcolm, a brilliant neurologist and endocrinologist. Trapped in a sterile marriage for 20 years to an invalid, and having no particular social life, he is a complete workaholic, with no emotional side to his character of which to speak. Still, I might check out another book by this author down the road if it's well-reviewed. With more experience and a great editor, there might be something there. An advance copy was provided by the publisher. View 2 comments. Feb 10, Sophia Sardothien rated it liked it. However it's so super cheesy, and the plot was a bit plain. I would have also appreciated this book even more if the friendship and family love was presented and shown. But overall a decent read. Oct 09, Debby rated it it was ok Shelves: covergasm , for-review , stand-alone , le-sigh , reviewed , reads , sold-or-gave-away. For all intents and purposes, this should have been the perfect book for me. But somehow, it ended up being something completely different. Love Fortunes and Other Disasters tells the tale of the town called Grimbaud, where love fortunes, charms, and hints of magic are real. These love fort 2 stars When I head about Love Fortunes and Other Disasters , three main things convinced me to pick it up: that adorable illustrated cover, the fun and quirky premise, and the promise of a hate-to-love romance. These love fortunes are seen as binding, so when a group of high schoolers gets less than optimal fortunes, they decide to fight back and try to end Zita's reign over the town. Now, there were a couple of things that I definitely had to get used to in this premise. All of the people in this town take these love fortunes completely seriously. I thought the love fortunes would be more like, "HAHA look it says I'll be alone forever," taken about as seriously as a fortune cookie would. No matter the gender, age, or sexual orientation, the townspeople's lives revolve around these love fortunes and they have no doubts that they will always pan out. Fallon, the main character, gets badgered by her mother about her love fortune - despite the fact that she's a high school freshman, her mother is actually already planning out her wedding. Because, well, she has a love fortune, and that means she's close to finding her true love, and obviously all things will be set. The lives of the townspeople completely revolve around love. And I think it's trying to be comical in a way - in the same kind of style as the movie The Invention of Lying , making fun of our society by greatly exaggerating everyone's actions. But it felt more awkward to me than anything. For me, the believability was shot because no characters before this had ever had any doubts about these love fortunes. Emma Ward, the current high school librarian, was handed a fortune to become a spinster - lonely forever. She actually left the town and went traveling for a year to get away from it but then came BACK for reasons that never became clear. There are residences set up for Spinsters and Bachelors, doomed to never find love, but I was sitting there thinking, "Can't they just If they're all sad about not being in love? Something else I had to get used to is that there is definitely an element of fantasy to this story. In this town, there are love charms, weather charms, silence charms, focus charms - there are little bits of magic all around. Some people make it their business to make these charms. I couldn't figure out where to place this world - is it still Earth? Is it a fantasy world? Is it the US or not? It read like a contemporary romance in the US, so whenever something magical happened, I got a bit confused. Now, the location also confused me, because although this felt like it was set in the US, there were a shit ton of Dutch names. I'd almost say the book is set in Holland, but then there were non-Dutch random names like Fallon, Anais, Hijiri, etc. Now this might be a strange thing to hone in on and definitely only something that stood out to me because I'm Dutch, but it illustrates the messy world building and premise. This book requires you to just laugh a whole lot of things off. Sense-making is not its priority. I tried to brush off these things and just focus on the romance, and that at least went a tiny bit better. It is hate-to-love romance though not the best I've ever seen. I didn't connect much to Fallon because her narrative voice was pretty boring, but I liked the idea of the straight-laced, serious, uptight girl being stuck with the heartbreaker boy who flirts with her mercilessly but is probably far from serious. There were some fluttery moments, with banter and nicknames and teasing And then the plot got in the way when Sebastian's fortune came to light. Like, that should have made the ship and plot stronger, but I just rolled my eyes at it. When I should have laughed, I sighed instead. I think this is a unique brand of over-the-top fluffy sillies that just didn't work for me. It was never really bad enough for me to consider not finishing the book, because certainly there was still a hint of amusement and curiosity as to how the story would pan out. I wanted so badly for it all to make sense. But it just didn't have that spark for me to really like it. GIF it to me straight! Recommended To: People who like unique, over-the-top stories. I honestly can't compare this to anything. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. My biggest problem with this story was that there were far too many moments when I had no idea what was happening. I did love the zany and whimsical tone of this setting. It was just so atmospheric! It just seems a little overly dramatic to conduct a full of a rebellion against that. Are the objects bewitched with spells? Infused with a potion? Does this means magic exists or is it a form of science? Can anyone make charms or it some sort of hereditary power? Are there other types of magic then? How do you know the effect a charm will have? Not knowing these things drove me insane and did really retract from the story. I did like that she was introverted and her friends embraced that about her. I also thought the romance advanced a little too quickly. Hmmm, seems a bit too much! I did really like them together but I would have liked a slower development. Luckily, I fell in love with the secondary characters. I absolutely adored Nico! He was such a cute little cinnamon roll - my favourite type of protagonist - and his little crush on Martin melted my heart, even if it was a little annoying. Anais and Bear were also absolutely adorable, I just wish we had gotten to see more of them. I loved the whimsical world this book is set in but I needed more answers and world-building before I could get invested in a full-on rebellion. I thought the characters were decent, particularly the secondary characters - Nico! For a debut, though, this author definitely has promise. View all 4 comments. Jul 11, Catherine Tinker rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites , most-anticipated , swoon-reads. I'll post a more thorough review closer to the release date, but I can confirm that this book is indeed even cuter on the inside. Set in the sort of whimsical world I tried often to write in 11th grade but most often had more success just reblogging pictures of on tumblr, all types of love are covered: romantic love, friend love, family love, and self love. Definitely one of my favorites of I got to read this in manuscript form on SwoonReads last summer, and this week Swoon graced me with an ARC. Definitely one of my favorites of the year. I am now a walking, talking heart-eye emoji after reading this book. Lit Mix: collected silence collected silence from cattink on 8tracks Radio. Love and Loss -- The Honey Trees 2. Marsh King's Daughter -- Eisley 3. School Friends -- Now, Now 4. Start A War -- Brooke Fraser 5. Every Silence -- Copeland 6. The Joker -- Ives the Band 7. Steal Your Heart -- Augustana 9. Painless -- Mae Love Affair -- Copeland Stolen -- Civil Twilight Tremendous Love -- Merriment Line of Fire -- Sucre Brutal Romance -- Brooke Fraser Shelter -- Eisley Oct 06, Karole Cozzo rated it it was amazing. Nothing predictable about this one, I promise you that! I loved the development of the relationship between our two main characters, initially their banter, and ultimately, their devotion and teamwork in overcoming their fates in the name of love. God love the whimsy!!! This book itself is its own ray of sunshine, and I believe it would appeal to a very wide range of readers. I highly recommend it. I hope my words above convey how sincere I am with my praise of this magical little tale. I promise it will make you smile. And convince you that love, which comes in many forms, is out there for everyone to find. Jun 22, Norah Una Sumner rated it liked it Shelves: adventure , fantasy , great-female-characters , humor , magic , shipshipship , chick-lit , great- male-characters , love , young-adult. The main characters are great,Fallon is a fantastic lady and Sebastian is such a cool character. I also liked Hijiri,Nico and Martin a lot. However,it wasn't very believable yeah,I know,it's supposed to be a fantasy magic realism? Also,even though I really love chick-lit books,this was too cheesy,even for me. The romance,on the other hand,was amazing. Really amazing. Favourite quotes: "Life is about making mistakes. It seems pointless to think about real life again. You probably study. Theme: Standalones Jun 16, Michelle rated it it was amazing Shelves: review-on-blog , own , favorites , awesome-romance. This book made my heart smile. It got a little hairy and crazy at the end and I almost took. That is a case of one of those times when I am thinking through my reviewer hat and letting it over weigh my emotions about a book, and I didn't want to do that here. I just loved this book too much to give it anything less than 5 full stars. Does that make sense? The town also reminded me of the Kissing Town from the tv series The Tenth Kingdom which is an amazing mini series if you have not watched it yet, you need to! So the entire time I was reading, I was imagining the kissing town with love in the air, everywhere. In Grimbaud when you get to high school, you can go to Zita's love shop and get your love fortune. And these fortunes are always right. And with a town whose main focus is on love and finding your soul mate as early as possible, it should come as no surprise that everyone rushes to get their love fortune. So when a small group of teens get fortunes that in some way, shape or form say they will not find love, they band together to try and change their fates. I can't adequately explain how utterly, cute and fun this book is. I even have a perma-smile on my face just sitting here typing this review. I loved Fallon, I loved loved loved Sebastien. I was dying to find out what his fortune was because I knew he was a big softy underneath his flirty exterior. And I loved the two of them together. I want to see more books set in the town of Grimbaud. Please, please please Kimberly Karalius. Tell us what Hiriju does next! Swoon Reads is a hit as far as I am concerned. I have read about 3 books from them now, and I have loved them all. Their idea of crowd sourcing the YA book before publishing them is genius. Love Fortunes and Other Disasters is a book that I want to share with everyone. I love the idea of these love fortunes, and charms and really just a town that is in love with the idea of love. I loved the characters and the writing was downright enchanting. Kimberly Karalius needs to write her next book ASAP because there is a real possibility that I will just mope and re-read Love Fortunes and Other Disasters over and over again until she gives me something new to read. This review was originally posted on Book Briefs Jan 08, ReadWriteLove28 rated it really liked it Shelves: rev-on-amazon , fluffy-and-light. I was honestly surprised by just how cute Love Fortunes and Other Disasters was. To answer your question, I will go backwards in time to when Danielle Love at First Page had a Twitter giveaway and I was one of the winners! I saw that this was one of the ARCs to pick and I decided to give it a try. I am very glad that I decided to read it, and am thankful to Danielle for the amazing giveaway. First of all, I loved all of the characters. Also, their names were gorgeous and extremely unique. Fallon, Anais, Nico, Camille, I loved them all! It was nice to see a YA book where this type of triangle was included. I highly recommend this one. Jun 07, Christine Alibutud rated it liked it. Okay, before anything else, I'd like to enumerate the top two things that I absolutely liked about this book. The cover. Isn't it just the cutest? I am a huge sucker for cutesy covers and this one just takes the cake. The storyline. It's whimsical. It's magical. It's fanciful. It's all about love. The people in the book really do take love seriously Okay, moving on from those two things, this book just didn't put it up for me. I didn't enj Okay, before anything else, I'd like to enumerate the top two things that I absolutely liked about this book. I didn't enjoy it as much as I've liked to, especially because I have certain issues with it. First things first, the book was written in the third person, and sadly, I always have troubles connecting with the characters whenever it is written in that kind of perspective. Second, the pacing was kind of too slow for my liking, which made me resort to skimming at certain points. Third, some characters came off as immature and unappealing for me. Lastly, I did like the whole plot, but the way it was executed was a little bit off for me. But to be fairly honest, I was kind of in a foul mood when I started this book, so maybe this is a "It's not the book, it's me" situation. Hmm, I don't know. I'm just feeling so-so with this book. Mar 23, Cassie rated it it was amazing Shelves: own , signed , giveaway , arc , first- reads , macmillan-teen , swoon-reads. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Magic realism. A quirky heroine. A town infatuated with the fortunes of love. And a love to die for. This book left me giddy and wanting more shenanigans in the town of Grimbaud. For a while, my thoughts of Kimberly Karalius's novel could only be described in short phrases and words, and I still do not think I can do the book justice in sentence form, but I am going to try. With this novel, Karalius somehow discovered an elaborate formula to perfectly combine elements of Pushing Daisies, The Night Circus, and Francesca Lia Block's modern spin on mythical entities into one--and alas Love Fortunes and Other Disasters was constructed. As a novel in the Swoon Reads publishing company, Love Fortunes and Other Disasters entwines different snapshots of swoon-worthy moments and memorable characters. The heroine, Fallon, is willing to fight against a love fortune that fate has given her, and change her destiny in the realm of love. As she commits to changing her own destiny, she also begins to help her friends and other people in town who are fated hopelessness and ill fortunes in the "love" category, including the swoony, "I'm-too-good-to-fall-in-love" classmate, Sebastian. If you are in the mood for a fun, fast-paced story about a quirky and determined female, Love Fortunes and Other Disasters is the book you are destined to read. Feb 04, Jasmine Jasmine Pearl Reads rated it really liked it Shelves: i-recommend-these , reviewed-books , 4-stars , read-in If I can find love somehow, some way, I want to take it. Heartache makes you stronger. The plot was unique. Do you believe in fortune? If yes, you should read this. If no, you should still read this one too. What if your fortune told you that you won't have a good future. Are you just going to give up? Fallon and Sebastian. I loved the character development of these two. I loved the way it ended. If you want to escape the world of reality, then you should read this book. You'll fall in love with this city. One of my best reads this May. Jan 18, Marianne Boricuan Bookworms rated it really liked it Shelves: cover-love , funny , cute , diverse. We could fall in love. I really enjoyed this book! The protagonist, Fallon, was a bit difficult to relate to at first because she was so juvenile and immature. However I realize that she was 15 years old, so seeing her grow and learn throughout the story was really enjoyable. In fact, I really liked all of the characters in this book. A s they get to know each other, and see what lies beneath the surface, their romance keeps developing and getting as adorable as ever. By the end I was swooning with their romance because it was absolutely adorable! I thought it was a great way to keep me passing the pages and to guess what was happening next! I read this in a couple of hours! The story demanded to be read! Overall, this is definitely a book that puts the Swoon in Swoon Reads. It was romantic, quirky, and funny. The writing was on point, the characters were relatable and lovable, the storyline was enthralling, and it all wrapped up nicely with a bit of magical realism that really brought the story together. My Amazon Review. Nov 04, MeBeforeBooks rated it it was ok. DNF review. Not to mention the fact that this was written in 3rd person POV, which i always seem to have a problem with, i just find it hard to connect with the characters with this kind of POV but it also depends on the writing style i. I really want to finish this book but decided not to or i'll just skim through the DNF review. I really want to finish this book but decided not to or i'll just skim through the rest of it! The story is too slow for my liking. If i ever did finish this book it will still fall to my "so-so" reads. The story, the characters, the romance everything is not just coming to me. What i like about this book is Its cute cover. How can you resist such cute cover? You can't! And the premise, this book has a lot to offer! Romance, fortune and a pinch of rebellion if brought together properly will make a really good story, with proper balance and all. Zita is like their god, she decides what will happen to the people, be it good or bad, everything depends on her fortune like really?? That's wrong! Being alive is not just about romance, get over it people i know its fictional and all but still! This book is like defying all odds, the protagonists in this book are determined to change whatever fortune Zita gave them and that's good right? You don't need a piece of paper to determine what was meant for you, you don't need someone to tell you what your future will be, its all up to you. Maybe one day i'll pick this book up again and might change my thoughts about it but not today, not even soon. I'm sorry if you ever did like this book, it just maybe wasn't for me. I guess i expected too much from this book, and maybe its a "its-not-the-book-its-me" situation. I have no way to know. May 05, fatima rated it really liked it. This was SUCH a cute book! I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did because I honestly didn't know what to expect going into it - the premise of it was kind of strange and confusing but in a "I need to read this to find out what it's really about" way. This story unfolds and becomes this wonderfully endearing and magical story about love and all of its weird little quirks. It was really easy to catch on to as to what this story is about, and everything about it, from the town to its history w This was SUCH a cute book! It was really easy to catch on to as to what this story is about, and everything about it, from the town to its history with Zita, to the characters, are so charming and it felt like I was reading something like one of those really magical and wondrous bed time stories. This story is so quirky and fun and the characters are so cute, and I loved all of them and all of their relationships. They're such a diverse and sweet group of friends and it was so much fun to read about them going on all of these crazy adventures together to stop their love fortunes from taking over who they are and what they want out of their futures. Karalius has an amazing writing style and as a reader you're immediately captured by this gorgeous world she's created, and everything in this book just reminds me of pretty pastels and rainbows and cuteness. The plot twist and the action that picked up in this novel was surprising and I was not expecting it, but it was a welcome surprise - I think it made the last half of the novel so much more enjoyable, whereas the first half I was just kinda floating by and getting to know all of the characters a bit better. The pacing of this novel was amazing and I really, really like how the plot unfolded. There wasn't any confusion and everything made sense in the end and although it was a bit predictable, the characters were so much fun to read about that I honestly didn't mind. This is such a cute start to what I'm sure is going to be an adorable series, and I think Kimberly Karalius is a fantastic author. This one was quite adorable and cute, even if I was confused at first and not that keen on the book or its world. Since it was a buddy read I decided to push through the "head shaking" moments, even if I wasn't entirely sure if this was a contemporary, paranormal or magical realism I guess that's part of the charm of it, but it kept bugging me throughout the book. I didn't instantly like Fallon because for how sensible she seemed, she was completely and overwhelmingly turned upside down by a love fortune, and now matter how accurate they are supposed to be, it just didn't feel as dire to me It was an easy read and once it progressed it got a hold on me and I wanted to know what was being Zita's fortunes and why all the other love charm makers were gone and I was somehow invested in the developing relationship between Fallon and Sebastian, which thank goodness was done through the common ground then friendly then like then love, even if was a bit accelerated at times, but after all Grimbaud is a magical place where love lives. Some of the secondary characters felt a bit more underdeveloped and carntoon-y so to speak, but I felt that the main ones had quite enough charm and life in them, and I loved that Fallon decided to fight fate and help her friends do the same too. We not only see Fallon's fortune be fought but also her best friends' and I'm glad that there was a gay relationship included and treated no necessarily as a come out story, but just as another relationship threatened by a bad love fortune. All in all, a very cute read, well deserving of 3 stars because it kept me turning pages to find out what happened next once I got over my innitial confusion. Dec 24, Bipasha marked it as to-read. That's my birthday right there, that is, and Sebastian is offcially my favourite name in the universe and the cover is cuter than all the kitteh in heaven and this is like the sweetest fairy tale ever and so this better be good. Be a fortune and not a disaster. Please be good. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Feb 16, Katie Ark rated it it was amazing. I fell in love with Grimbaud and my heart broke with Fallon's when she received her love fortune. I enjoyed the magical realism of this story. The spinsters and bachelors provided a well-developed cast and the slightly historical setting cassette tapes!!! Dec 27, Abbie rated it liked it Shelves: young-adult , ebooks. The cover is awesome! However, I became quite bored halfway through. Forgive me. May 20, Heidi rated it really liked it. Four stars: A cute, magical romance set in a charming town. Fallon is eager to start her first year of high school in the magical town of Grimbaud. Fallon is the latest in a long line of Duprees to attend Grimbaud High School. Each member of her family has also received a completely accurate love fortune courtesy of Zita's Love Charms Shop. Fallon and her friends anxiously wait in line to receive their love fortune. Fallon's hopes are dashed when her love fortune predicts that she will never find Four stars: A cute, magical romance set in a charming town. Fallon's hopes are dashed when her love fortune predicts that she will never find love. How can Fallon go forward knowing she is doomed when it comes to love? I enjoyed this cute little read, and I especially liked the romance, the magic and the determination of Fallon and Sebastian to avoid their dismal love fates. If you like a books set in a cute and cozy town, with romance and magic, pick this one up. It is a romance without all the ridiculousness we find so often in YA. There are, in fact, three romances. Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius

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