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Plague in the Mirror
In a sensual paranormal romance, a teen girl’s doppelgänger from 1348 Florence lures her into the past in hopes of exacting a deadly trade.
It was meant to be a diversion—a summer in Florence with her best friend, Liam, and his travel-writer mom, doing historical research between breaks for gelato. A chance to forget that back in Vermont, May’s parents, and all semblance of safety, were breaking up. But when May wakes one night sensing someone in her room, only to find her ghostly twin staring back at her, normalcy becomes a distant memory. And when later she follows the menacing Cristofana through a portale to fourteenth-century Florence, May never expects to find safety in the eyes of Marco, a soulful painter who awakens in her a burning desire and makes her feel truly seen. The wily Cristofana wants nothing less of May than to inhabit each other’s lives, but with the Black Death ravaging Old Florence, can May’s longing for Marco’s touch be anything but madness?
Lush with atmosphere both passionate and eerie, this evocative tale follows a girl on the brink of womanhood as she dares to transcend the familiar—and discovers her sensual power.
It was meant to be a diversion—a summer in Florence with her best friend, Liam, and his travel-writer mom, doing historical research between breaks for gelato. A chance to forget that back in Vermont, May’s parents, and all semblance of safety, were breaking up. But when May wakes one night sensing someone in her room, only to find her ghostly twin staring back at her, normalcy becomes a distant memory. And when later she follows the menacing Cristofana through a portale to fourteenth-century Florence, May never expects to find safety in the eyes of Marco, a soulful painter who awakens in her a burning desire and makes her feel truly seen. The wily Cristofana wants nothing less of May than to inhabit each other’s lives, but with the Black Death ravaging Old Florence, can May’s longing for Marco’s touch be anything but madness?
Lush with atmosphere both passionate and eerie, this evocative tale follows a girl on the brink of womanhood as she dares to transcend the familiar—and discovers her sensual power.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2013
4 people are currently reading
880 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Noyes
31 books76 followersDeb writes for adults and children and is also an editor and photographer. She lives in Massachusetts with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
dnf
October 30, 2013Pages read: 7
Wow, I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I really hate this writing. I quit on this sentence:
"He looks like a deposed prince in jeans and Converse lying with crossed ankles under the antique canopy, at home as can be on a sea of silk covers."
It's very telling and simple and a weird perspective, and also wtf does a deposed prince look like?
Wow, I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I really hate this writing. I quit on this sentence:
"He looks like a deposed prince in jeans and Converse lying with crossed ankles under the antique canopy, at home as can be on a sea of silk covers."
It's very telling and simple and a weird perspective, and also wtf does a deposed prince look like?
July 8, 2013
May is spending the summer in Florence to avoid the shakeup of her parents’ divorce under the guise of helping a family friend research a travel guide. What seems like an interminably scholarly trip turns life-threatening when a doppelgänger from 1348 starts to haunt May and offer her a portal to Florence of the Middle Ages. As much as May tries to get involved with her present life, she is preoccupied by the harm her historical twin may be doing in 1348, and wonders if being trapped in the midst of the Black Plague would be as bad as it seems.
Time travel has been done so often that characters crossing into a world that ended before they were born doesn’t seem unusual. What is peculiar in Plague in the Mirror is that there is almost no logical impetus to engage in the time travel. 1348 is approximately the worst time in the second millennium to travel to Florence. Almost thirty years after the death of Dante and thirty years before the birth of Brunelleschi (whose famous dome is the modern image of the city), the only thing 1348 Florence has of interest it is its newly created republican government ….and the Bubonic Plague.
Middle Ages scholars may disagree with me, but I cannot figure out what appeal there would be in visiting a medieval city during a health crisis. As a writing convenience, setting up 1348 Florence as a hell if May were trapped is a good idea because it ratchets up the stakes for her to avoid being there. During May’s first visit we see “a young man in formfitting—that is, bulging—tights and a short, stained tunic…leering into her face. He has winey breath, and his bad teeth are bared, his head tilted like a curious dog’s.” There are “sinister towers” and “diseased-looking sausage links and sides of ham, swathed in flies,” “beds of filthy straw.” Everything about these descriptions convinces me of the undesirability of being there.
I would say “job well done” for setting up the stakes, except that the main character, May, seems to ignore all of the bad stuff that she is observing in those scenes! May has the choice to visit 1348 or stay in the present, and after her first visit she continues to return. For May, 1348 Florence is a previously living hell that contains one artist apprentice, Marco, who is every sort of Italian artist sexy May can imagine. Her one encounter with Marco (which involves about three sentences of broken dialogue because THEY DON’T SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE) convinces her that she has found her true love on the other side of time, and that he feels the same way. Because May’s look-alike, Cristofana, knows May likes Marco, Cristofana uses him as bait and then as a hostage, and instead of May doing the logical thing of telling herself that none of this matters because they already died hundreds of years earlier, May lets this go to her head.
“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment,” says Mr. Darcy early in Pride and Prejudice. I am convinced that even the self-satisfied Darcy of that point of the novel would underestimate May’s ability to jump from admiration to married life seven centuries before her birth. It’s astounding that May has no friends or interests that convincingly ground her in the twenty-first century. It is equally baffling that May doesn’t consider the language and culture differences that would separate her from Marco if she stayed.
(On the subject of languages, I am mystified at Cristofana’s ability to converse with May. Cristofana, living in 1348, says her mother was English and taught her the language. A word of linguistic context here: in the fourteenth century, people in England spoke Middle English, which is very different from what speak today. As an example, the dialect that Chaucer uses in the Canterbury Tales is the most accessible form of Middle English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ybnL...) and I would be exhausted trying to figure out a conversation carried out in that. And chances are that Cristofana’s English could not have been so Chaucerian since he was only born in 1343.
I understand arguments for not using Middle English for Cristofana’s dialogue, including that the unfamiliar language would have made May’s time travel choices even weirder. But it would have given clarity to May’s potential mental problems if her twin could not have conversed with everyone in modern Florence while they switched places.)
May’s imagination is certainly vivid when it comes to relationships, but it’s not clear if that creativity carries over to other parts of her life. According to her childhood friend (with the potential for benefits), “[May] always had to invent these worlds and assign everyone names and make costumes. It was freaking exhausting.” This same friend suggests that May’s time travel could be psychological, and that May could use some help. The potential for Plauge to turn into a psychological thriller makes the middle section of the novel considerably more interesting than the beginning.
Unfortunately the thrills don’t come. May never seems to fully connect with the reader (or even with her own life), and when she finally is in a potentially exciting position, all she can muster is passive acceptance. If you need one reason to read this book, page 255 is it. On a page that should be the culmination of many of May’s dreams, May could be replaced by a board, and you might not be able to notice it.
The only thing that is always noticeable is the third person present point of view. I took years to get used to first person present, but the buck stops there. NO THIRD PERSON PRESENT. PLEASE.
To its credit, the ending tries to restore logic and sanity, but it feels a little too rapid after the leisurely sight-seeing of the rest of the novel. In all, a nice premise of a ghostly figure trying to trap a girl (who may be imagining it all) in a hellish past, but an incomplete execution.
(Originally posted at Read This / Eat That)
Time travel has been done so often that characters crossing into a world that ended before they were born doesn’t seem unusual. What is peculiar in Plague in the Mirror is that there is almost no logical impetus to engage in the time travel. 1348 is approximately the worst time in the second millennium to travel to Florence. Almost thirty years after the death of Dante and thirty years before the birth of Brunelleschi (whose famous dome is the modern image of the city), the only thing 1348 Florence has of interest it is its newly created republican government ….and the Bubonic Plague.
Middle Ages scholars may disagree with me, but I cannot figure out what appeal there would be in visiting a medieval city during a health crisis. As a writing convenience, setting up 1348 Florence as a hell if May were trapped is a good idea because it ratchets up the stakes for her to avoid being there. During May’s first visit we see “a young man in formfitting—that is, bulging—tights and a short, stained tunic…leering into her face. He has winey breath, and his bad teeth are bared, his head tilted like a curious dog’s.” There are “sinister towers” and “diseased-looking sausage links and sides of ham, swathed in flies,” “beds of filthy straw.” Everything about these descriptions convinces me of the undesirability of being there.
I would say “job well done” for setting up the stakes, except that the main character, May, seems to ignore all of the bad stuff that she is observing in those scenes! May has the choice to visit 1348 or stay in the present, and after her first visit she continues to return. For May, 1348 Florence is a previously living hell that contains one artist apprentice, Marco, who is every sort of Italian artist sexy May can imagine. Her one encounter with Marco (which involves about three sentences of broken dialogue because THEY DON’T SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE) convinces her that she has found her true love on the other side of time, and that he feels the same way. Because May’s look-alike, Cristofana, knows May likes Marco, Cristofana uses him as bait and then as a hostage, and instead of May doing the logical thing of telling herself that none of this matters because they already died hundreds of years earlier, May lets this go to her head.
“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment,” says Mr. Darcy early in Pride and Prejudice. I am convinced that even the self-satisfied Darcy of that point of the novel would underestimate May’s ability to jump from admiration to married life seven centuries before her birth. It’s astounding that May has no friends or interests that convincingly ground her in the twenty-first century. It is equally baffling that May doesn’t consider the language and culture differences that would separate her from Marco if she stayed.
(On the subject of languages, I am mystified at Cristofana’s ability to converse with May. Cristofana, living in 1348, says her mother was English and taught her the language. A word of linguistic context here: in the fourteenth century, people in England spoke Middle English, which is very different from what speak today. As an example, the dialect that Chaucer uses in the Canterbury Tales is the most accessible form of Middle English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ybnL...) and I would be exhausted trying to figure out a conversation carried out in that. And chances are that Cristofana’s English could not have been so Chaucerian since he was only born in 1343.
I understand arguments for not using Middle English for Cristofana’s dialogue, including that the unfamiliar language would have made May’s time travel choices even weirder. But it would have given clarity to May’s potential mental problems if her twin could not have conversed with everyone in modern Florence while they switched places.)
May’s imagination is certainly vivid when it comes to relationships, but it’s not clear if that creativity carries over to other parts of her life. According to her childhood friend (with the potential for benefits), “[May] always had to invent these worlds and assign everyone names and make costumes. It was freaking exhausting.” This same friend suggests that May’s time travel could be psychological, and that May could use some help. The potential for Plauge to turn into a psychological thriller makes the middle section of the novel considerably more interesting than the beginning.
Unfortunately the thrills don’t come. May never seems to fully connect with the reader (or even with her own life), and when she finally is in a potentially exciting position, all she can muster is passive acceptance. If you need one reason to read this book, page 255 is it. On a page that should be the culmination of many of May’s dreams, May could be replaced by a board, and you might not be able to notice it.
The only thing that is always noticeable is the third person present point of view. I took years to get used to first person present, but the buck stops there. NO THIRD PERSON PRESENT. PLEASE.
To its credit, the ending tries to restore logic and sanity, but it feels a little too rapid after the leisurely sight-seeing of the rest of the novel. In all, a nice premise of a ghostly figure trying to trap a girl (who may be imagining it all) in a hellish past, but an incomplete execution.
(Originally posted at Read This / Eat That)
June 12, 2024
I found it hard to stay interested in this story. While the characters and storyline were well written, it just couldn't hold my attention. At times I felt for the characters and at other times the exasperated me. I wasn't a huge fan but no doubt others will be
June 26, 2013
*Also posted at Oops! I Read A Book Again*
Thank you so much to Erika of Candlewick for the review copy of this time-traveling goodness! And thank you to Deborah Noyes! Again, receiving this book for free in no way influenced my opinions of it. Let's not dilly-dally so off to my review!
I approached Plague in the Mirror with trepidation. Honestly, it's not even on my to-read list for June because I thought the publication date was still on July. However, apparently, the release day was moved earlier so I had to squeeze this in my reading schedule and review it near release date. Right before starting this book, I checked its Goodreads page and saw that its rating was below 3 and closer to 2 even. Sure, there were only 3 reviews I think back then and two of those were 1-star ratings. I was honestly scared because I haven't read a time travel novel I didn't like. Plus, I'm hosting a time travel challenge so what would it say about the novel if a reader as addicted to time travel as me didn't like it. But I am more than glad to have taken the leap of faith to start reading Plague in the Mirror. Because boy, I did not stop. This is a wonderful novel and I'm gonna tell you exactly why.
You can read the first few chapters of the novel in the excerpt I included in this post. Do yourself a favor and read even the first chapter. It's honestly one of the creepiest first scene or chapter I have read. I remember reading this late at night and then after debating with myself if I should continue this because I might scare myself more, I continued reading it and I never looked back.
May's parents are getting a divorce and they're asking her to choose who she's going to live with. Not wanting to deal with that back home at Vermont, she joins her bestfriend Liam and his mother Gwen to Florence, Italy, doing research for Gwen's travel books. One night, she sees an apparition in her room, her somewhat ghostly twin, who even threatens her life. Her life from then on will never be the same as Cristofana brings her back in time to 1348, where the plague has been slowly infesting Florence, through a portal. There she meets a passionate painter, Marco, and is drawn to him. Cristofana offers a proposition that they switch lives. Cristofana doesn't want to die from the plague and May obviously wants to be with Marco. May continues on sneaking back to Old Florence, watching Marco from afar while Cristofana pretends to be May. May cannot do anything but watch as Cristofana snatches away the only guy she wants.
This novel is not as plot-oriented as most books and some people had issue with that. I normally have issues with these kind of books but in here, I didn't mind. Plague in the Mirror is an immersion to present and past Florence. Deborah Noyes made Florence alive right in front of my hands through words, through a book. I could see and feel all the tourists on current Florence and I could smell, see and feel how dirty and menacing and hard Florence was in Cristofana's time. Deborah also included some Italian phrases and words to make it all the more realistic. Cristofana, being not a native speaker of English, speaks in broken sentences and I truly appreciated that. One of my favorite novels ever is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and in there, the author even spelled everything wrong because that's how the character should be writing in his diary. So everything was such a thrill to me as I fully got into this story world.
Granted, May and Liam aren't exactly the most gripping characters written. The star of this novel is Cristofana, that manipulative, kitten-killing bitch. I remember raging on Twitter about Cristofana, about how she pretended to be May and seduced him and in effect, stole him from May. Not that he was May's in the first place but hey, isn't there a bro code for ghostly twins? She even played with Liam's feelings and I just hate her. But even though I hated her to the core, she was still my favorite. She's such a conflicted character and you can't help but see behind her flaws, why she's acting like that. Cristofana just wants to live and her only hope is to switch places with May in modern Florence, with no plague. She thinks May takes her life for granted and that she deserves more than to die because of something she can't control. Cristofana is very resourceful and if there's a question who would live in the worst of times, she will surely be the one.
Most of the novel was spent on Cristofana blackmailing May to go switch places and May thinking about it. Sneaking glances at Marco in her ghostly old Florence form, trying to forget him but failing to do so nonetheless. Nevertheless, it was completely engaging and I read this book in one sitting. I also like how this is not a romance novel and even the ending was open for interpretations. Even though this novel is not high on the romance element, it still got me hook, line and sinker, which speaks highly of this book.
Janni Lee Simner best said it in her blurb: "Dreamy and gorgeous and dark. I couldn't pull away from this tale of seduction--not by a lover, but by a dark past and a darker reflection of the storyteller's own self."
Even with the dislike for this novel, I am unapologetically liking this one. I can't help it! I love time travel, I love Italy and this book has made me feel so much hate for a character. Plague in the Mirror will take you back in time with its atmospheric storytelling and enraging-yet-engaging villain to old plague-infested Florence.
Thank you so much to Erika of Candlewick for the review copy of this time-traveling goodness! And thank you to Deborah Noyes! Again, receiving this book for free in no way influenced my opinions of it. Let's not dilly-dally so off to my review!
I approached Plague in the Mirror with trepidation. Honestly, it's not even on my to-read list for June because I thought the publication date was still on July. However, apparently, the release day was moved earlier so I had to squeeze this in my reading schedule and review it near release date. Right before starting this book, I checked its Goodreads page and saw that its rating was below 3 and closer to 2 even. Sure, there were only 3 reviews I think back then and two of those were 1-star ratings. I was honestly scared because I haven't read a time travel novel I didn't like. Plus, I'm hosting a time travel challenge so what would it say about the novel if a reader as addicted to time travel as me didn't like it. But I am more than glad to have taken the leap of faith to start reading Plague in the Mirror. Because boy, I did not stop. This is a wonderful novel and I'm gonna tell you exactly why.
You can read the first few chapters of the novel in the excerpt I included in this post. Do yourself a favor and read even the first chapter. It's honestly one of the creepiest first scene or chapter I have read. I remember reading this late at night and then after debating with myself if I should continue this because I might scare myself more, I continued reading it and I never looked back.
May's parents are getting a divorce and they're asking her to choose who she's going to live with. Not wanting to deal with that back home at Vermont, she joins her bestfriend Liam and his mother Gwen to Florence, Italy, doing research for Gwen's travel books. One night, she sees an apparition in her room, her somewhat ghostly twin, who even threatens her life. Her life from then on will never be the same as Cristofana brings her back in time to 1348, where the plague has been slowly infesting Florence, through a portal. There she meets a passionate painter, Marco, and is drawn to him. Cristofana offers a proposition that they switch lives. Cristofana doesn't want to die from the plague and May obviously wants to be with Marco. May continues on sneaking back to Old Florence, watching Marco from afar while Cristofana pretends to be May. May cannot do anything but watch as Cristofana snatches away the only guy she wants.
This novel is not as plot-oriented as most books and some people had issue with that. I normally have issues with these kind of books but in here, I didn't mind. Plague in the Mirror is an immersion to present and past Florence. Deborah Noyes made Florence alive right in front of my hands through words, through a book. I could see and feel all the tourists on current Florence and I could smell, see and feel how dirty and menacing and hard Florence was in Cristofana's time. Deborah also included some Italian phrases and words to make it all the more realistic. Cristofana, being not a native speaker of English, speaks in broken sentences and I truly appreciated that. One of my favorite novels ever is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and in there, the author even spelled everything wrong because that's how the character should be writing in his diary. So everything was such a thrill to me as I fully got into this story world.
Granted, May and Liam aren't exactly the most gripping characters written. The star of this novel is Cristofana, that manipulative, kitten-killing bitch. I remember raging on Twitter about Cristofana, about how she pretended to be May and seduced him and in effect, stole him from May. Not that he was May's in the first place but hey, isn't there a bro code for ghostly twins? She even played with Liam's feelings and I just hate her. But even though I hated her to the core, she was still my favorite. She's such a conflicted character and you can't help but see behind her flaws, why she's acting like that. Cristofana just wants to live and her only hope is to switch places with May in modern Florence, with no plague. She thinks May takes her life for granted and that she deserves more than to die because of something she can't control. Cristofana is very resourceful and if there's a question who would live in the worst of times, she will surely be the one.
Most of the novel was spent on Cristofana blackmailing May to go switch places and May thinking about it. Sneaking glances at Marco in her ghostly old Florence form, trying to forget him but failing to do so nonetheless. Nevertheless, it was completely engaging and I read this book in one sitting. I also like how this is not a romance novel and even the ending was open for interpretations. Even though this novel is not high on the romance element, it still got me hook, line and sinker, which speaks highly of this book.
Janni Lee Simner best said it in her blurb: "Dreamy and gorgeous and dark. I couldn't pull away from this tale of seduction--not by a lover, but by a dark past and a darker reflection of the storyteller's own self."
Even with the dislike for this novel, I am unapologetically liking this one. I can't help it! I love time travel, I love Italy and this book has made me feel so much hate for a character. Plague in the Mirror will take you back in time with its atmospheric storytelling and enraging-yet-engaging villain to old plague-infested Florence.
June 6, 2013
May is going to Italy this summer with her best friend Liam and his travel guide writing Mom, to be her research assistant. It should be the adventure of a lifetime, but all May can focus on is the fact that back at home her parents are on the verge of a messy divorce. So when a girl named Cristofana, who is identical to her, shows up in her room one night and starts a confusing game of cat and mouse, May finds herself being drawn in against her better judgment. Drawn into fourteenth century, plague ridden Italy May becomes infatuated with soulful artist Marco and gets invested in living Cristofana's life instead of her own. But in a time when deadly disease is raging through the city, can they even possibly have a happy ending? And will May ever return to her own time and life?
I don't know how much I've mentioned this on this blog, but I am going to tell you a secret about myself: I am a complete and total SUCKER for anything involving time-travel, portal jumping, alternate dimensions and wibbly-wobbly, timey wimey stuff of any kind. So I wanted so badly to like this book, which chose an interesting time period and was supposed to have a great romance in it as well. I should have known better than to go in headfirst like I did. The writing style of this book was atrocious. It reminded me of an elementary/middle school aged kid's writing assignment. It was full of prose and descriptive language, along with whiny emo inner-monologues from May who got on my nerves almost immediately. I only made it about 100 pages into this one before I had to quit and save myself, which I try to do very rarely when reading review books out of courtesy to the publisher and author for being generous to me. But the lack of dialogue or true character interaction really tanked what little interest I ended up having in this book.
The characters are cardboard cut-outs and the Mary-Sue tendencies of May had me wanting to chuck her off the Empire State Building or something. She goes along with Cristofana, who is obviously very crazy and up to no good, with little or no thought/fighting to do the right thing. She instead decides that she's rather follow her nutcase doppelganger into a portal of which she has no clue as to the end point. All because Mommy and Daddy won't be together anymore when she goes home again! Oh yeah, and also because of that 'dreamy' guy she saw when Cristofana portal-napped her the first time!!! WTF!!! I'm sorry, but you want to take over someone else's life in a PLAGUE-INFESTED 14TH CENTURY ITALY FOR A BOY???!!! Screw you, I don't truck with insane and brainless hos! And on that note I will say to read at your own risk and against advisement. But I guarantee that many people will love it, so it could just be that I'M crazy. I guess find out at your own peril.
VERDICT: 0/5 Stars
*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is June 11th, 2013.*
I don't know how much I've mentioned this on this blog, but I am going to tell you a secret about myself: I am a complete and total SUCKER for anything involving time-travel, portal jumping, alternate dimensions and wibbly-wobbly, timey wimey stuff of any kind. So I wanted so badly to like this book, which chose an interesting time period and was supposed to have a great romance in it as well. I should have known better than to go in headfirst like I did. The writing style of this book was atrocious. It reminded me of an elementary/middle school aged kid's writing assignment. It was full of prose and descriptive language, along with whiny emo inner-monologues from May who got on my nerves almost immediately. I only made it about 100 pages into this one before I had to quit and save myself, which I try to do very rarely when reading review books out of courtesy to the publisher and author for being generous to me. But the lack of dialogue or true character interaction really tanked what little interest I ended up having in this book.
The characters are cardboard cut-outs and the Mary-Sue tendencies of May had me wanting to chuck her off the Empire State Building or something. She goes along with Cristofana, who is obviously very crazy and up to no good, with little or no thought/fighting to do the right thing. She instead decides that she's rather follow her nutcase doppelganger into a portal of which she has no clue as to the end point. All because Mommy and Daddy won't be together anymore when she goes home again! Oh yeah, and also because of that 'dreamy' guy she saw when Cristofana portal-napped her the first time!!! WTF!!! I'm sorry, but you want to take over someone else's life in a PLAGUE-INFESTED 14TH CENTURY ITALY FOR A BOY???!!! Screw you, I don't truck with insane and brainless hos! And on that note I will say to read at your own risk and against advisement. But I guarantee that many people will love it, so it could just be that I'M crazy. I guess find out at your own peril.
VERDICT: 0/5 Stars
*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is June 11th, 2013.*
March 8, 2013
In books, the improbable is allowed to occur. The reader can suspend disbelief for the story, he or she can believe that time travelling ghosts can pop up out of nowhere, or that best friends can become boyfriends. Perhaps the reader can even believe that teenage girls can follow their ghost-twins back in time to escape the stress of their parent’s crumbling marriage. Or that those same teenage girls can meet steamy painters, and fall into a deep, meaningful relationship all during the time of the Black Plague. But really, are we meant to believe all of this at once? Even the most imaginative and creative books need some sort of grounding, or at least good writing to carry it though. Some of the most far-fetched books attain that status by being so realistic, with only one slightly different aspect. The author can then take this subtle change and run with it. Simplicity is best. This book is an overload of ideas, that all collide to create a massive pile up. I would not recommend it, unless you enjoy being bombarded with a jumble of partially formed concepts.
May and her friend Liam are eager to spend a summer in Italy, enjoying the time away from Vermont and the thrill
of historical research. May is surprised when her ghost-twin from the past appears one night and takes her back in time to a very different Florence, one where the Black Plague runs rampant. Suddenly, May's fears of her parent's dissolving relationship and impending divorce come second to her fear of losing her life (or that of a friend or hot Italian painter boy) to the Plague. The romantic element of this book should not be ignored. Marco, May's Italian painter boyfriend, makes May feel beautiful and whole. All of these elements sort of come together at the dramatic denouement. Read it if you dare.
May and her friend Liam are eager to spend a summer in Italy, enjoying the time away from Vermont and the thrill
of historical research. May is surprised when her ghost-twin from the past appears one night and takes her back in time to a very different Florence, one where the Black Plague runs rampant. Suddenly, May's fears of her parent's dissolving relationship and impending divorce come second to her fear of losing her life (or that of a friend or hot Italian painter boy) to the Plague. The romantic element of this book should not be ignored. Marco, May's Italian painter boyfriend, makes May feel beautiful and whole. All of these elements sort of come together at the dramatic denouement. Read it if you dare.
August 14, 2013
Lately I have a problem with books that are trying to put contemporary teens in the throes of some historical time period. I don't know whether it's for exposure, because of the author's interest in the history, or something else, but why then not right a historical novel? Obviously this also ties in with many newer YA novels based on time travel.
In this case, May is the contemporary teen and Cristofina is the historical figure, suffering through the plague in Italy, which surprisingly is where May happens to be UNREALISTICALLY vacationing with her friend and his mother who's researching a book. Cristofina appears to May and they switch places, because they're otherworldly twins, and May falls for Marco in the past while Cristofina is pursuing her her friend in the present.
I wanted desperately to begin liking the book based on the cover and the creep factor (like a very description novel in the vein of the graphic novel, Anya's Ghost, about a ghost following Anya who wants to ruin her life) but the plausibility of the contemporary mixed with a disinterest in this "other world" let me to put it down.
In this case, May is the contemporary teen and Cristofina is the historical figure, suffering through the plague in Italy, which surprisingly is where May happens to be UNREALISTICALLY vacationing with her friend and his mother who's researching a book. Cristofina appears to May and they switch places, because they're otherworldly twins, and May falls for Marco in the past while Cristofina is pursuing her her friend in the present.
I wanted desperately to begin liking the book based on the cover and the creep factor (like a very description novel in the vein of the graphic novel, Anya's Ghost, about a ghost following Anya who wants to ruin her life) but the plausibility of the contemporary mixed with a disinterest in this "other world" let me to put it down.
Read
November 26, 2012"Dreamy and gorgeous and dark. I couldn't pull away from this tale of seduction--not by a lover, but by a dark past and a darker reflection of the storyteller's own self."
Just all around a compelling and eerie and lovely book.
Just all around a compelling and eerie and lovely book.
March 4, 2019
I have no idea why I finished this book. The premise sounded a bit like the Waterfall series--time travel in Italy--and that one was decent, so that's why I gave this one a try.
About the only believable part of this book is the fact that May is feeling a bit lost after her parents announce they're going to get a divorce right before her senior year of high school. It was all downhill from there.
May meets her doppelganger, a creepy girl named Cristofana who lives during the Black Plague and is desperate to switch places with May. On the very first meeting, the girl holds a knife (albeit ghostly) to May. She drowns a kitten. She's terrifying and insane. But despite this,
Then there's the fact that no one seems to notice the difference between the two girls. Sure, they look exactly alike, but one is a modern girl who speaks only American English, while the other is an Italian native from several hundred years ago who learned English from her English mother. How is it that no one notices the difference in accent (or sudden inability to speak the language) if not the difference in crazy-level? Both Marco and Liam must be utter imbeciles.
In the end, I'm not really sure what the plot was or what character development was supposed to be happening, though I had a feeling that the author intended to make some sort of statement. Maybe "the grass is always greener"? I have no idea. The characters were both unbelievable and unlikable, and whatever plot there was made no sense. Bah. Good riddance.
About the only believable part of this book is the fact that May is feeling a bit lost after her parents announce they're going to get a divorce right before her senior year of high school. It was all downhill from there.
May meets her doppelganger, a creepy girl named Cristofana who lives during the Black Plague and is desperate to switch places with May. On the very first meeting, the girl holds a knife (albeit ghostly) to May. She drowns a kitten. She's terrifying and insane. But despite this,
Then there's the fact that no one seems to notice the difference between the two girls. Sure, they look exactly alike, but one is a modern girl who speaks only American English, while the other is an Italian native from several hundred years ago who learned English from her English mother. How is it that no one notices the difference in accent (or sudden inability to speak the language) if not the difference in crazy-level? Both Marco and Liam must be utter imbeciles.
In the end, I'm not really sure what the plot was or what character development was supposed to be happening, though I had a feeling that the author intended to make some sort of statement. Maybe "the grass is always greener"? I have no idea. The characters were both unbelievable and unlikable, and whatever plot there was made no sense. Bah. Good riddance.
February 18, 2020
I thought I was going to give this book three stars the entire time I was reading it, but then I read the end...
I noticed that other reviews said the writing style was bad, but I didn't mind it. The whole book was mediocre. There were three things that really bothered me.
(In short, this book really isn't worth your time. Don't read it)
1) The Romance: It was so weird. It felt like she was playing Liam, and that made me feel gross. Also, the Marco situation was just so strange!!!! Like what was this girl thinking????????????
2) There were some parts of the book (particularly when she was talking with Cristofana) that were so confusing. I had to read them three or four times to understand what was going on.
3) The ending was just...bad. So bad.
Despite this, I can tell that the author is talented and has a lot of promise. I saw another review that mentioned it would have been so much better if the book switched between May and Cristofana's point of view, and I totally agree with this.
I noticed that other reviews said the writing style was bad, but I didn't mind it. The whole book was mediocre. There were three things that really bothered me.
(In short, this book really isn't worth your time. Don't read it)
1) The Romance: It was so weird. It felt like she was playing Liam, and that made me feel gross. Also, the Marco situation was just so strange!!!! Like what was this girl thinking????????????
2) There were some parts of the book (particularly when she was talking with Cristofana) that were so confusing. I had to read them three or four times to understand what was going on.
3) The ending was just...bad. So bad.
Despite this, I can tell that the author is talented and has a lot of promise. I saw another review that mentioned it would have been so much better if the book switched between May and Cristofana's point of view, and I totally agree with this.
October 13, 2024
Just felt incomplete and not fully fleshed out
August 11, 2013
Review posted at Amaterasu Reads
May's going through a confusing time of her life. Decisions need to be made and she must deal with the fact that her parents are getting a divorce. Instead, May chose to escape to a trip to Florence with her best friend, Liam and his mother Gwen, to take her mind off things and put off the inevitable. But in Florence, where every corner, every stone has a history, May met Cristofana, a ghost from 14th century Florence, at the time where the Black Plague was expected to hit and kill almost everyone. Cristofana wants to explore May's world, and May wants to know more about the mysterious painter she met, but is that enough reason for them to exist in a world and time that aren't their own?
I was very much curious of May's character. She was in the midst of a family falling apart, needing to choose whether to stay with her mom or dad after they divorce and she needed time to come into terms that her family is going to be broken up. A lost girl who got lost, literally, in another time. May had a chance to escape in another place, another time, but will she take it? It's what got me more curious of her. Despite sharing a face with Cristofana, May is her exact opposite: kind and level headed, and maybe a little bit dense. Her intense attraction to the painter, Marco, was something I wanted to see, though I was a bit disappointed on that part.
One of the reasons why I had a hard time reading this book was my constant dislike of Cristofana. Her spiteful attitude was a big turn off for me. Granted, she had seen and experience a lot of horrible things and terrible hardships in life being a daughter of a pirate and a whore, but I couldn't understand her motivations most of the time. Something in her strange personality further makes my understanding of her character a lot more blurry. She's the unusual kind that comes off sinister. I wasn't even surprised that she's capable of threatening May. She knows how to use her beauty to survive but it wasn't always necessarily used for good.
Another reason was I had a hard time digesting all of the facts relating to the time travel aspect of the story. The way it was written made the story heavy with explanations and there were fewer conversations, this format presents the readers with a lot that takes time to make sense. The explanations make you want to believe that a mirror image of May exists in another time, maybe another alternate reality, but somewhere along the way one might get confused with how it was stated to convince a reader like it did to me.
The sensual aspect, as mentioned in the blurb, was handled very subtly. How May eventually went through losing her virginity was written in a very good way, there was passion and intense emotions accompanying the experience and on the other hand, the way Cristofana faced the very same issue in a more modern time and setting felt a lot more realistic to me. There was talk about sex briefly in some parts, but that wasn't really enough for this book to be very sensual. The contrast between Cristofana's sexual experience as compared to May was presented in a nice way as well. I was somewhat expecting it to be a little more explicit but I liked that it was written the way it was.
There's something in Florence that makes it such a great backdrop for May's unusual tale. There's something magnetic in the somber, mellow face Florence seems to present, something appealing in the tragedy ravaging the town and the way of life of the people facing such a devastating crisis, at least in this story. It's one aspect that I liked. You can feel every gruesome, tiring emotion the people of Fourteenth century Florence had through Cristofana's eyes. Though a bit confusing, and a little bit under developed, the romance in Cristofana's and May's life was also an interesting piece to read. The slow pace of the story matches the overall feel the book gives but depending on the reader, it might add or decrease the appeal of the book. There are bits and pieces of friendship and family also woven in the story that gave it more life.
May's going through a confusing time of her life. Decisions need to be made and she must deal with the fact that her parents are getting a divorce. Instead, May chose to escape to a trip to Florence with her best friend, Liam and his mother Gwen, to take her mind off things and put off the inevitable. But in Florence, where every corner, every stone has a history, May met Cristofana, a ghost from 14th century Florence, at the time where the Black Plague was expected to hit and kill almost everyone. Cristofana wants to explore May's world, and May wants to know more about the mysterious painter she met, but is that enough reason for them to exist in a world and time that aren't their own?
I was very much curious of May's character. She was in the midst of a family falling apart, needing to choose whether to stay with her mom or dad after they divorce and she needed time to come into terms that her family is going to be broken up. A lost girl who got lost, literally, in another time. May had a chance to escape in another place, another time, but will she take it? It's what got me more curious of her. Despite sharing a face with Cristofana, May is her exact opposite: kind and level headed, and maybe a little bit dense. Her intense attraction to the painter, Marco, was something I wanted to see, though I was a bit disappointed on that part.
One of the reasons why I had a hard time reading this book was my constant dislike of Cristofana. Her spiteful attitude was a big turn off for me. Granted, she had seen and experience a lot of horrible things and terrible hardships in life being a daughter of a pirate and a whore, but I couldn't understand her motivations most of the time. Something in her strange personality further makes my understanding of her character a lot more blurry. She's the unusual kind that comes off sinister. I wasn't even surprised that she's capable of threatening May. She knows how to use her beauty to survive but it wasn't always necessarily used for good.
Another reason was I had a hard time digesting all of the facts relating to the time travel aspect of the story. The way it was written made the story heavy with explanations and there were fewer conversations, this format presents the readers with a lot that takes time to make sense. The explanations make you want to believe that a mirror image of May exists in another time, maybe another alternate reality, but somewhere along the way one might get confused with how it was stated to convince a reader like it did to me.
The sensual aspect, as mentioned in the blurb, was handled very subtly. How May eventually went through losing her virginity was written in a very good way, there was passion and intense emotions accompanying the experience and on the other hand, the way Cristofana faced the very same issue in a more modern time and setting felt a lot more realistic to me. There was talk about sex briefly in some parts, but that wasn't really enough for this book to be very sensual. The contrast between Cristofana's sexual experience as compared to May was presented in a nice way as well. I was somewhat expecting it to be a little more explicit but I liked that it was written the way it was.
There's something in Florence that makes it such a great backdrop for May's unusual tale. There's something magnetic in the somber, mellow face Florence seems to present, something appealing in the tragedy ravaging the town and the way of life of the people facing such a devastating crisis, at least in this story. It's one aspect that I liked. You can feel every gruesome, tiring emotion the people of Fourteenth century Florence had through Cristofana's eyes. Though a bit confusing, and a little bit under developed, the romance in Cristofana's and May's life was also an interesting piece to read. The slow pace of the story matches the overall feel the book gives but depending on the reader, it might add or decrease the appeal of the book. There are bits and pieces of friendship and family also woven in the story that gave it more life.
April 11, 2018
May is a typical teenager who has to decide which parent she must live with, as they are in the midst of a divorce. Fortunately she has the summer to work it out, while she stays with her best friend Liam and his mother in Florence. She is troubled by her home life but this is quickly forgotten when her ghostly twin Cristofana drifts into her room.
As she learns of Florence and "the old, dark heart" that is its history, her ghost twin deliberately reaches out to her and brings her through a portal into fourteenth century Italy. There May is a ghost and Cristofana is real. However, Cristofana has a personal agenda and strands May in her time while she crosses to modern Florence. As they are seperated both become substantial real bodies in each other's time zones and May struggles with this older Florence. She encounters Marco, a painter and is instantly entranced but Cristofana arrives back and they switch places before anything happens.
As May's situation in modern times become more emotionally complex, she withdraws from her friends and finds herself almost obsessively daydreaming of Marco and medieval Florence. She begins to travel back and forth between the times. However, she is loathe to trust Cristofana and though she is curious, she has every right to be fearful. Cristofana explains about the encroaching Pest or plague and her desire to survive, seemingly at any cost. She seems aware of May's desires and slowly preys on them to manipulate her into an advantageous position for herself. Cristofana is playing a game of survival and her ultimate goal seems to be to swap places with May permanently but will she succeed?
This book begins with the use of putting a modern teenager in a historical setting. The use of the twin motif seperated by time is a different twist but it is not enough to help the book. As a thriller the author has created a tense story but in my opinion this is let down by the characterisation. I found May to be insipid and bland, her normal life only recently shattered by personal upheavals has left little mark on her personality. I did not really care whether she got left in medieval Florence or not - at least she would have to grow and make a decision. I could not understand either her inability to use technology comfortably (what teenager doesn't?), nor her quick response to Marco.
In contrast Cristofana is exuberant and vicious - almost the exact opposite. There is a dark streak of selfishness, which is understanable given her circumstances but does not make her likable. However, she is more believable because her circumstances are so desperate. As the girls cross back and forth the desperation of Cristofana becomes ever clearer, like feeling a sickening sense of dread. May's romantic notions around Marco are quickly eclipsed by the fear of the Plague and yet she still obsessively haunts medieval Florence because of him. Throughout the story Cristofana tries to get May to make a decision but eventually, the medieval twin takes it away from her. By running away from her choices, May has lost the ability to make any and so pays for her indecision.
The other characters in the book, such as Liam or Marco, only become more fully realised in the final chapters and seem to be more plot devices earlier. On the other hand Florence itself is wonderfully realised in both times, you get the sense it is as much a character as the two girls. The author creates a wonderful setting, with minute detail of what life was like in plague times. However, this book is mainly about growing up and making adult decisions. May's inability to do either till the very end are the driving force and it is why I didn't like her. At times I found myself almost shouting at her in my head to get on with it! Cristofana is the better character, yet we do not get any reading on her, except through May's eyes. We only learn what she gets up to by others, so her motivations remain suspect and yet she is more understandable. I would have liked to know what she thought more.
In the end this book just does not live up to the potential.
As she learns of Florence and "the old, dark heart" that is its history, her ghost twin deliberately reaches out to her and brings her through a portal into fourteenth century Italy. There May is a ghost and Cristofana is real. However, Cristofana has a personal agenda and strands May in her time while she crosses to modern Florence. As they are seperated both become substantial real bodies in each other's time zones and May struggles with this older Florence. She encounters Marco, a painter and is instantly entranced but Cristofana arrives back and they switch places before anything happens.
As May's situation in modern times become more emotionally complex, she withdraws from her friends and finds herself almost obsessively daydreaming of Marco and medieval Florence. She begins to travel back and forth between the times. However, she is loathe to trust Cristofana and though she is curious, she has every right to be fearful. Cristofana explains about the encroaching Pest or plague and her desire to survive, seemingly at any cost. She seems aware of May's desires and slowly preys on them to manipulate her into an advantageous position for herself. Cristofana is playing a game of survival and her ultimate goal seems to be to swap places with May permanently but will she succeed?
This book begins with the use of putting a modern teenager in a historical setting. The use of the twin motif seperated by time is a different twist but it is not enough to help the book. As a thriller the author has created a tense story but in my opinion this is let down by the characterisation. I found May to be insipid and bland, her normal life only recently shattered by personal upheavals has left little mark on her personality. I did not really care whether she got left in medieval Florence or not - at least she would have to grow and make a decision. I could not understand either her inability to use technology comfortably (what teenager doesn't?), nor her quick response to Marco.
In contrast Cristofana is exuberant and vicious - almost the exact opposite. There is a dark streak of selfishness, which is understanable given her circumstances but does not make her likable. However, she is more believable because her circumstances are so desperate. As the girls cross back and forth the desperation of Cristofana becomes ever clearer, like feeling a sickening sense of dread. May's romantic notions around Marco are quickly eclipsed by the fear of the Plague and yet she still obsessively haunts medieval Florence because of him. Throughout the story Cristofana tries to get May to make a decision but eventually, the medieval twin takes it away from her. By running away from her choices, May has lost the ability to make any and so pays for her indecision.
The other characters in the book, such as Liam or Marco, only become more fully realised in the final chapters and seem to be more plot devices earlier. On the other hand Florence itself is wonderfully realised in both times, you get the sense it is as much a character as the two girls. The author creates a wonderful setting, with minute detail of what life was like in plague times. However, this book is mainly about growing up and making adult decisions. May's inability to do either till the very end are the driving force and it is why I didn't like her. At times I found myself almost shouting at her in my head to get on with it! Cristofana is the better character, yet we do not get any reading on her, except through May's eyes. We only learn what she gets up to by others, so her motivations remain suspect and yet she is more understandable. I would have liked to know what she thought more.
In the end this book just does not live up to the potential.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2015
Let me start off by saying that I just finished an art history course on 14-17th century Italy, and I am also study the Italian language. So I have NEVER been in a better position to appreciate this book. That being said, it was boring, implausible, and fairly pointless.
May exhibits several signs of depression, and as a result has no real drive. I cannot understand her motivations for doing ANYTHING in this novel apart from not wanting to deal with her parents' divorce. But that is by no means a plausible reason to want to travel to plague-ridden Florence and spend the rest of your life with a man that you have NEVER HAD AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION WITH. Honestly, May is supposed to be 17-years-old, and yet the book presents her as though the concept of a crush is an entirely new sensation and she has never had a meaningful connection with another human being.
Her interactions with Liam irritated me beyond measure. After May turns down his advances, he does the ego-defensive thing of attempting to ruin her self-esteem by telling her that her body isn't good enough for him anyway and he was never serious about her. As a result, May decides that she will occasionally kiss him, despite the fact that she doesn't want to, just to avoid him isolating her. I find all of this to be extremely toxic and deplorable.
This book would have been SO MUCH BETTER if it had been written from the point of view of May's historic twin, Cristofana. Cristofana's story is so much more compelling and it's glossed over like nothing! The author painted a really intriguing and compelling backstory with her life. I almost feel like Noyes original plan was to write the story from Cristofana's POV, but then decided it was too complex for her to handle. Cristofana has a distinct character, clear and understandable motivations for her actions, and a great plotline. All the things May lacked. I would have loved to read the story of the 14th century Italian girl who finds a portal into the future to escape the plague while also dealing with whatever conflict was going on between her and her nun sister. Why didn't Noyes spend 300 pages telling us about all THAT instead of skimming through it for the sake of May's boring drivel?
And as a result of skimping on Cristofana's tale, the author offered NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER for how the whole mirror thing works. She suggests that it's something the witch taught Cristofana how to create, but that's as detailed as it gets. Throughout the whole novel I was expecting to gain more insight into this portal thing, hoping that May might figure out how to control it for herself. But no. Only Cristofana has that power and God knows why.
The magic/fantasy aspect of this novel was lacking. The historical aspect left much to be desired. At best, this novel is about a girl's emotional turmoil and handling of her undiagnosed depression regarding her parents' divorce. And even that offers no satisfactory resolution.
Hard PASS.
May exhibits several signs of depression, and as a result has no real drive. I cannot understand her motivations for doing ANYTHING in this novel apart from not wanting to deal with her parents' divorce. But that is by no means a plausible reason to want to travel to plague-ridden Florence and spend the rest of your life with a man that you have NEVER HAD AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION WITH. Honestly, May is supposed to be 17-years-old, and yet the book presents her as though the concept of a crush is an entirely new sensation and she has never had a meaningful connection with another human being.
Her interactions with Liam irritated me beyond measure. After May turns down his advances, he does the ego-defensive thing of attempting to ruin her self-esteem by telling her that her body isn't good enough for him anyway and he was never serious about her. As a result, May decides that she will occasionally kiss him, despite the fact that she doesn't want to, just to avoid him isolating her. I find all of this to be extremely toxic and deplorable.
This book would have been SO MUCH BETTER if it had been written from the point of view of May's historic twin, Cristofana. Cristofana's story is so much more compelling and it's glossed over like nothing! The author painted a really intriguing and compelling backstory with her life. I almost feel like Noyes original plan was to write the story from Cristofana's POV, but then decided it was too complex for her to handle. Cristofana has a distinct character, clear and understandable motivations for her actions, and a great plotline. All the things May lacked. I would have loved to read the story of the 14th century Italian girl who finds a portal into the future to escape the plague while also dealing with whatever conflict was going on between her and her nun sister. Why didn't Noyes spend 300 pages telling us about all THAT instead of skimming through it for the sake of May's boring drivel?
And as a result of skimping on Cristofana's tale, the author offered NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER for how the whole mirror thing works. She suggests that it's something the witch taught Cristofana how to create, but that's as detailed as it gets. Throughout the whole novel I was expecting to gain more insight into this portal thing, hoping that May might figure out how to control it for herself. But no. Only Cristofana has that power and God knows why.
The magic/fantasy aspect of this novel was lacking. The historical aspect left much to be desired. At best, this novel is about a girl's emotional turmoil and handling of her undiagnosed depression regarding her parents' divorce. And even that offers no satisfactory resolution.
Hard PASS.
June 14, 2014
{ I received this as an ebook ARC from NetGalley. Review originally posted on my blog, PidginPea's Book Nook. }
Plague in the Mirror was an interesting mix of the paranormal, time travel, and almost a kind of escapism. May travels to present-day Italy with her friend Liam and his mom, and while there she discovers her doppleganger, Cristofana, from 14th century plague-ridden Florence. Cristofana shows her a portal where they can travel between each others' worlds, and she lures May into her time where May sees Marco, an alluring artist that she just can't seem to get out of her mind.
The story is told in a unique way that may not appeal to all readers. I found myself not exactly viewing it as a typical story, where things build towards a climax and resolution, but as more of an exploration of a time and place, a "what if" experiment with a desperate girl from the past trying to save herself from her circumstances. I kept thinking "escapism," and that really appealed to me. May is escaping her troubled family situation in the present to romance in the past with Marco, and Cristofana is escaping her almost certain demise in her city ravaged by the plague. We get to see May and Cristofana struggle with each other as Cristofana tries to trap May in the past and take over her life in the present, thereby saving herself from the plague and dooming May to inherit whatever fate might have befallen her.
I felt almost as if I was in a dream as I read Plague in the Mirror; I don't know if it was the writing or the story itself. And that's not a bad thing, it's just something I haven't really experienced before. Cristofana is madness - literally, she's a disturbed girl, but the image of her in stolen dresses, creeping around homes destroyed by the plague, was just fantastic. She's dark and depraved and she's doing everything she can to save herself at the expense of everyone else. May came across to me as lost and confused and desperate in her own way. The Marco element creates not so much a love triangle, but more of another power play between May and Cristofana.
I enjoyed Plague in the Mirror because of Noyes's dreamy writing style, and because it left my mind reeling with what-ifs about escaping the dangers of one time period for another. I would definitely be interested to read another book by Noyes, to see what she else she can imagine and where she can help me escape to next.
Plague in the Mirror was an interesting mix of the paranormal, time travel, and almost a kind of escapism. May travels to present-day Italy with her friend Liam and his mom, and while there she discovers her doppleganger, Cristofana, from 14th century plague-ridden Florence. Cristofana shows her a portal where they can travel between each others' worlds, and she lures May into her time where May sees Marco, an alluring artist that she just can't seem to get out of her mind.
The story is told in a unique way that may not appeal to all readers. I found myself not exactly viewing it as a typical story, where things build towards a climax and resolution, but as more of an exploration of a time and place, a "what if" experiment with a desperate girl from the past trying to save herself from her circumstances. I kept thinking "escapism," and that really appealed to me. May is escaping her troubled family situation in the present to romance in the past with Marco, and Cristofana is escaping her almost certain demise in her city ravaged by the plague. We get to see May and Cristofana struggle with each other as Cristofana tries to trap May in the past and take over her life in the present, thereby saving herself from the plague and dooming May to inherit whatever fate might have befallen her.
I felt almost as if I was in a dream as I read Plague in the Mirror; I don't know if it was the writing or the story itself. And that's not a bad thing, it's just something I haven't really experienced before. Cristofana is madness - literally, she's a disturbed girl, but the image of her in stolen dresses, creeping around homes destroyed by the plague, was just fantastic. She's dark and depraved and she's doing everything she can to save herself at the expense of everyone else. May came across to me as lost and confused and desperate in her own way. The Marco element creates not so much a love triangle, but more of another power play between May and Cristofana.
I enjoyed Plague in the Mirror because of Noyes's dreamy writing style, and because it left my mind reeling with what-ifs about escaping the dangers of one time period for another. I would definitely be interested to read another book by Noyes, to see what she else she can imagine and where she can help me escape to next.
June 29, 2013
When I first started reading this dark historical story, I loved it. The beautiful descriptions of both modern-day and 14th century Italy enchanted me and the hint of something creepy and bizarre and ghostly about to happen drew me in. You meet the main character, May, during her first eerie encounter with Cristofana, and she doesn’t know if she’s seen a ghost, had a nightmare, or is just going insane. I liked May from the get-go, she seemed genuine, a bit of a thinker, a girl going through some emotional family problems.
The story, though, was not what I was expecting: a story about a girl who gets pulled into the past by her creepy doppleganger, and the adventure and romance that she finds there. What I got instead was this: a girl is contacted by her ancestor, Cristofana, who lures her to the past where she meets a handsome stranger; Cristofana then implores May to switch permanently. The rest of the story is May trying to find out who Cristofana really is and actually considering switching with her, partly to be with the man she met, partly to escape the stresses of her life at home, and partly because Cristofana’s urgency to switch quickly turns into violent threats.
Those looking for an engaging love story should probably look elsewhere. There is meant to be something brewing with May and her best friend Liam, but it fell short for me as he came off a bit whiny, unsupportive when she tries to reach out to him, and I didn't really get a connection between them beyond anything friendly and slightly superficial. There is also Marcus, the mysterious man she meets for only moments in her first trip into the past. I’ll admit it was a romantic moment, full of long looks and a sweet patching-up of her injured knee, but for May to suddenly be contemplating leaving her life in modern times to face the Black Death just to be with this complete stranger just did not seem believable to me.
Despite a few hiccups, I found Plague in the Mirror to be both lush in historical descriptions and terrifying in a way that fully immerses the reader in the horrors of the black plague. It was a slow-moving plot in many parts, with maybe just a bit too much historical atmosphere and not enough meat to the story, but interesting enough to keep me reading until the end.
The story, though, was not what I was expecting: a story about a girl who gets pulled into the past by her creepy doppleganger, and the adventure and romance that she finds there. What I got instead was this: a girl is contacted by her ancestor, Cristofana, who lures her to the past where she meets a handsome stranger; Cristofana then implores May to switch permanently. The rest of the story is May trying to find out who Cristofana really is and actually considering switching with her, partly to be with the man she met, partly to escape the stresses of her life at home, and partly because Cristofana’s urgency to switch quickly turns into violent threats.
Those looking for an engaging love story should probably look elsewhere. There is meant to be something brewing with May and her best friend Liam, but it fell short for me as he came off a bit whiny, unsupportive when she tries to reach out to him, and I didn't really get a connection between them beyond anything friendly and slightly superficial. There is also Marcus, the mysterious man she meets for only moments in her first trip into the past. I’ll admit it was a romantic moment, full of long looks and a sweet patching-up of her injured knee, but for May to suddenly be contemplating leaving her life in modern times to face the Black Death just to be with this complete stranger just did not seem believable to me.
Despite a few hiccups, I found Plague in the Mirror to be both lush in historical descriptions and terrifying in a way that fully immerses the reader in the horrors of the black plague. It was a slow-moving plot in many parts, with maybe just a bit too much historical atmosphere and not enough meat to the story, but interesting enough to keep me reading until the end.
June 9, 2013
Plague in the Mirror
is a beautifully written paranormal romance that you will absolutely fall in love with. I was so excited to be given the chance to read this one. I always jump at the chance to read anything historical and the paranormal aspect that Noyes blended so seamlessly into the story, was definitely the clincher for me. I knew this was going to be a book that I would absolutely love to pieces. The writing, the story, and the visual atmosphere are definitely some of the wonderful things that drew my attention to this novel and had this amazing way of captivating my attention and holding it until the end.
There were so many things about this book that I loved so much, I almost don't know where to begin. The lush atmosphere that Noyes created in fourteenth-century Florence was gorgeous. Her attention to detail and description, made it seem, at times, as if I were stepping into a breath taking water color. It was so easy to be transported to that time and place, through the eyes of the main character, May. Eerie and evocative, this is such a sensual romance tinged with the slightest twist of paranormal, that is definitely sure to get your blood pumping. It certainly had me from page one.
The characters are probably my second most favorite thing about this novel. While May is a character that I felt as if I were able to connect with on an emotional level, Cristofana and Marco are the two that definitely intrigued me the most. Written in such a dark and mysterious way, they were both complex and complicated at the core of their being. It was hard not to identify with them on some levels and feel sympathetic towards them. The dark sensuous romance that blooms vibrantly between May and Marco, was another aspect of this novel that I absolutely loved. It was intriguing, as it was beguiling. The chemistry between the two was definitely sorching hot and burning with desire.
Noyes definitely knows how to capture the spirit and passion of a dark and enthralling romance. If you're in the mood for an eerie tale of dark seduction that blends seamless with reality, then you're in for a treat when you pick up Plague in the Mirror . I was pleasantly surprised, that it was able to hold my attention through to the end. While, it might not be the year's best, it's still in the running for a really good read.
There were so many things about this book that I loved so much, I almost don't know where to begin. The lush atmosphere that Noyes created in fourteenth-century Florence was gorgeous. Her attention to detail and description, made it seem, at times, as if I were stepping into a breath taking water color. It was so easy to be transported to that time and place, through the eyes of the main character, May. Eerie and evocative, this is such a sensual romance tinged with the slightest twist of paranormal, that is definitely sure to get your blood pumping. It certainly had me from page one.
The characters are probably my second most favorite thing about this novel. While May is a character that I felt as if I were able to connect with on an emotional level, Cristofana and Marco are the two that definitely intrigued me the most. Written in such a dark and mysterious way, they were both complex and complicated at the core of their being. It was hard not to identify with them on some levels and feel sympathetic towards them. The dark sensuous romance that blooms vibrantly between May and Marco, was another aspect of this novel that I absolutely loved. It was intriguing, as it was beguiling. The chemistry between the two was definitely sorching hot and burning with desire.
Noyes definitely knows how to capture the spirit and passion of a dark and enthralling romance. If you're in the mood for an eerie tale of dark seduction that blends seamless with reality, then you're in for a treat when you pick up Plague in the Mirror . I was pleasantly surprised, that it was able to hold my attention through to the end. While, it might not be the year's best, it's still in the running for a really good read.
February 4, 2014
Modern teen experiences the Black Death through her medieval doppelgänger in Florence and gets a fresh perspective on living. 17-year-old May is spending the summer before her senior year in Florence, Italy as a research assistant to Gwen, a professor and longtime family friend. She is haunted by her parents recently announced divorce, especially because they ask her to choose her residence between them. Although Gwen and her son, Liam, May’s childhood pal, gently offer to talk about it, May holds them at a distance, even when Liam suggests they become more than friends. Feeling like a ghost herself, May is terrified to encounter her insubstantial mirror image, dressed in medieval garb, with a steel glint in eye, asking her to come and see. But her curiosity wins out and May crosses an invisible threshold into 1348, where she follows the girl, Cristofana, as a shadow through medieval Florence. Cristofana has studied magic for a long time to create this portal and find May, with whom she suggests she shares a single body. Despite their physical similarity, Cristofana’s soul has been hardened by a terrible life during terrible times. On the next visit, Cristofana has the girls exchange places in time, allowing each other to become wholly flesh in the other’s time period. During this excursion, May briefly meets a handsome artist and experiences an intense connection. Realizing this, Cristofana craftily plays on May’s fears of the coming plague, encouraging May to shadow her through the decaying city multiple times and finally offering to trade lives, so that May can be with the artist she desires and Cristofana can escape her hardscrabble existence. May recognizes the cost as too high, but is torn by her desire to protect the artist and help others. This novel has an intriguing premise and fascinating descriptions of Florence both ancient and modern, but the characters take too long to meaningfully develop. There are moments of intense sensuality, though sex is off screen, and of course the conditions of the plague are gruesome. Readers who are interested in the Black Death or in Italy will likely enjoy this, even if they don’t care about the characters. Recommended for ages 14 and up.
November 19, 2013
Synopsis: Desperate to escape her parent's recent divorce, 17 year old May goes to Florence, Italy with her best friend Liam and his mother. There, she is haunted by the ghost of a girl identical to herself- except Cristofana comes from fourteenth-century Florence. Lured by the promise of adventure and love in the arms of a handsome painter named Marco, May travels back in time to experience the horrors of Italy past, where the Black Death made the city a very dark place. Meanwhile, May's ghost twin has the power to destroy everything she holds dear- and the very chance she has at finding love. Caught between two different time periods, May must decide between a new life in the past or finding the silver linings in her present life. For fans of historical fiction, comes a sensual and romantic story about a girl who must cheat time when it can only really be tricked.
Review: I admit that I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but I do make an exception in some cases, but unfortunately, this book was not one of them. It started off slow, so I had high expectations for a strong ending, but that did not really happen. The characters well quite one dimensional and vapid. Not only did May seem like a very impractical and ditzy girl, but Cristofana seemed to be bipolar. She was clearly not right in the head, which is seen when she mercilessly drowns a kitten, but then she took care of the orphan baby like it was her own. This type of behavior did not make for a great character, in my opinion. The romance in this novel was also lacking. Liam came off as an emotionless jerk, and I honestly do not think this romance was at all intriguing. The only saving grace for this book was the historical content, which is set during the Black Death in Italy. The descriptions of the city, both present and past, were actually enticing and appealed to me.
Conclusion: This is not a book I would recommend buying. Borrow it from a library, but Plague in the Mirror was kind of flat. Overall, an okay book, but it does not really make me want to read other books by the author, but who knows. Maybe this was just written on a bad day.
Review: I admit that I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but I do make an exception in some cases, but unfortunately, this book was not one of them. It started off slow, so I had high expectations for a strong ending, but that did not really happen. The characters well quite one dimensional and vapid. Not only did May seem like a very impractical and ditzy girl, but Cristofana seemed to be bipolar. She was clearly not right in the head, which is seen when she mercilessly drowns a kitten, but then she took care of the orphan baby like it was her own. This type of behavior did not make for a great character, in my opinion. The romance in this novel was also lacking. Liam came off as an emotionless jerk, and I honestly do not think this romance was at all intriguing. The only saving grace for this book was the historical content, which is set during the Black Death in Italy. The descriptions of the city, both present and past, were actually enticing and appealed to me.
Conclusion: This is not a book I would recommend buying. Borrow it from a library, but Plague in the Mirror was kind of flat. Overall, an okay book, but it does not really make me want to read other books by the author, but who knows. Maybe this was just written on a bad day.
November 7, 2013
As her parents are separating, May spends the summer before her senior year in Florence with a close family friend, Gwen and her son, Liam. To say May is unsettled is an understatement - not only are her parents divorcing, but she has to choose which one to live with for the year before college and her childhood relationship with Liam is changing as they head toward adulthood. And May is receiving visits from a ghostly twin from Florence of 1348, which causes even more problems.
The ghostly twin, Cristofana, has discovered a portal that allows a life to be exchanged for another in a different time and tells May that as they share the same soul, they are each able to exist in either time period, but only one at a time - the other would exist as a ghost in the other time period. Confused yet? I spent a lot of the time trying to wrap my head around this, and so did the character of May. Cristofana has a hidden agenda behind connecting with May and manipulates May into visiting Old Florence, where she meets a painter that she becomes obsessed with.
The traveling between the two time periods and the two girls is confusing at best and the motives for each doing so are quite a stretch, especially for May. Cristofana wanted to escape the plague, I get, but May? I never did get it.
Florence, past and present, got a bit of a short shaft in the novel, but the opportunity was there to offer more of the city and the history of the plague. May's relationship with Liam was brought up more than her situation with her parents, but both plotlines made infrequent appearances, which further confused the intent of the novel. The ending was satisfying, but seemed disconnected from the rest of the novel.
I've read a number of time travel novels and when well done, these can make a lasting, but haunting impression (no pun intented). This particular novel didn't strike a cord.
The ghostly twin, Cristofana, has discovered a portal that allows a life to be exchanged for another in a different time and tells May that as they share the same soul, they are each able to exist in either time period, but only one at a time - the other would exist as a ghost in the other time period. Confused yet? I spent a lot of the time trying to wrap my head around this, and so did the character of May. Cristofana has a hidden agenda behind connecting with May and manipulates May into visiting Old Florence, where she meets a painter that she becomes obsessed with.
The traveling between the two time periods and the two girls is confusing at best and the motives for each doing so are quite a stretch, especially for May. Cristofana wanted to escape the plague, I get, but May? I never did get it.
Florence, past and present, got a bit of a short shaft in the novel, but the opportunity was there to offer more of the city and the history of the plague. May's relationship with Liam was brought up more than her situation with her parents, but both plotlines made infrequent appearances, which further confused the intent of the novel. The ending was satisfying, but seemed disconnected from the rest of the novel.
I've read a number of time travel novels and when well done, these can make a lasting, but haunting impression (no pun intented). This particular novel didn't strike a cord.
October 12, 2015
I started this book on audio, but ended up finishing it in the printed version so I could just finish it up.
Overall, I didn't like it very much. Ghost stories aren't really my thing, nor are evil twins, and I had trouble believing in May's motivations for most of her actions, even given the fact that people are often irrational. The first scene of the book sets up that Cristofana, May's time-traveling doppelganger from plague-era Florence is not friendly and has a cruel sense of humor--so why does May do anything she suggests from that point on? I also found her first encounter with the painter Marco to be underwhelming, so I didn't understand her continuing to be drawn to him. Then, my biggest disappointment was with May's reasoning for going back into old Florence again willingly--that she could possibly help someone back then understand the plague and figure out how to stop it. May obviously barely understood the science, and had not read nearly enough sci-fi herself (or paid attention to her current time-traveling limits) to get that her half-baked plan just didn't have a prayer of succeeding.
Still, l wanted to know how the book ended, and I'm actually glad I finished it up. Suspending a whole lot of disbelief, the ending of the story is a satisfactory resolution of the encounters May has with Cristofana and the other people caught in Florence during the plague. I also got the sense that (strange as it seems), May's near-suicidal time-traveling seems to clear up her feelings about her parents' divorce and her own life difficulties.
I thought the audio version was fairly well-done, but I do compare every audiobook I hear with the amazing Barbara Rosenblat and Jim Dale, and it certainly wasn't at that level.
Overall, I didn't like it very much. Ghost stories aren't really my thing, nor are evil twins, and I had trouble believing in May's motivations for most of her actions, even given the fact that people are often irrational. The first scene of the book sets up that Cristofana, May's time-traveling doppelganger from plague-era Florence is not friendly and has a cruel sense of humor--so why does May do anything she suggests from that point on? I also found her first encounter with the painter Marco to be underwhelming, so I didn't understand her continuing to be drawn to him. Then, my biggest disappointment was with May's reasoning for going back into old Florence again willingly--that she could possibly help someone back then understand the plague and figure out how to stop it. May obviously barely understood the science, and had not read nearly enough sci-fi herself (or paid attention to her current time-traveling limits) to get that her half-baked plan just didn't have a prayer of succeeding.
Still, l wanted to know how the book ended, and I'm actually glad I finished it up. Suspending a whole lot of disbelief, the ending of the story is a satisfactory resolution of the encounters May has with Cristofana and the other people caught in Florence during the plague. I also got the sense that (strange as it seems), May's near-suicidal time-traveling seems to clear up her feelings about her parents' divorce and her own life difficulties.
I thought the audio version was fairly well-done, but I do compare every audiobook I hear with the amazing Barbara Rosenblat and Jim Dale, and it certainly wasn't at that level.
April 26, 2015
I so wanted to like this book, and really the premise is interesting, and so much could have been done with it. The characters discuss in the book some of the scientific theories of all time existing at once, etc., and so this lent some credibility to the idea of May being in two places at once, so to speak; of having a twin/another version of herself in 14th century Florence.
Unfortunately, though, the plot is very much underdeveloped, and there is just too much that the reader is asked to believe all at once. I didn't find May's actions realistic; she knows that by traveling back into the past her double can trap her there and steal May's life in the present - allegedly the last thing May wants, and understandably so - yet she for some reason feels this inexplicable sense of obligation to Marco, a man she met once in Old Florence and has an instant attraction to (yet another implausibility). There is absolutely no reason for her to care; while the stakes for Cristofana are high - she wants to escape into the present day to avoid the Black Death as it ravages Europe - May has absolutely nothing to gain by switching with her and everything to lose, so much time is spent fumbling to give May some stake in the matter when really she has none.
Also, another pet peeve I had was the dialogue. May and Liam are your average American teenagers, and yet their dialogue was at times oddly formal.
Two stars only because I was just in Florence and so I miss it.
Unfortunately, though, the plot is very much underdeveloped, and there is just too much that the reader is asked to believe all at once. I didn't find May's actions realistic; she knows that by traveling back into the past her double can trap her there and steal May's life in the present - allegedly the last thing May wants, and understandably so - yet she for some reason feels this inexplicable sense of obligation to Marco, a man she met once in Old Florence and has an instant attraction to (yet another implausibility). There is absolutely no reason for her to care; while the stakes for Cristofana are high - she wants to escape into the present day to avoid the Black Death as it ravages Europe - May has absolutely nothing to gain by switching with her and everything to lose, so much time is spent fumbling to give May some stake in the matter when really she has none.
Also, another pet peeve I had was the dialogue. May and Liam are your average American teenagers, and yet their dialogue was at times oddly formal.
Two stars only because I was just in Florence and so I miss it.
August 13, 2015
The use of language was intoxicating. I loved all of the descriptions and displays of emotion. However, the plot and story itself was really lacking... something.
I didn't enjoy that it was told in third person, I think that it would have been a much more powerful punch if it were told from the point of view of the girls. That's another thing: May's narration was pretty boring. Cristofana's story seemed much more provoking and devious, yet Noyes skimmed right over it with May's constant moping. The book would have benefitted from having two POVs, switching back between past and present.
An ENORMOUS pet peeve I had with this book was how ungrateful Liam and May were. They were staying in ITALY for an extended amount of time, and turned their noses up at it like it was an everyday endeavor. May, on several occasions, complained about how she didn't want to be there, and would go sightseeing and to the museums as long as there was a promise of gelato afterwards.
Overall, the story moved painfully slow. The majority of the book was spent describing May's agonizingly immature woes, and her decision whether to stay in the present, in the safety of medicine and family, or switch places to the past, with the constant exhilaration of PLAGUE and isolation. Even though the language was entrancing, the lack of push beyond the plot is what knocks this book down to 2 stars.
I didn't enjoy that it was told in third person, I think that it would have been a much more powerful punch if it were told from the point of view of the girls. That's another thing: May's narration was pretty boring. Cristofana's story seemed much more provoking and devious, yet Noyes skimmed right over it with May's constant moping. The book would have benefitted from having two POVs, switching back between past and present.
An ENORMOUS pet peeve I had with this book was how ungrateful Liam and May were. They were staying in ITALY for an extended amount of time, and turned their noses up at it like it was an everyday endeavor. May, on several occasions, complained about how she didn't want to be there, and would go sightseeing and to the museums as long as there was a promise of gelato afterwards.
Overall, the story moved painfully slow. The majority of the book was spent describing May's agonizingly immature woes, and her decision whether to stay in the present, in the safety of medicine and family, or switch places to the past, with the constant exhilaration of PLAGUE and isolation. Even though the language was entrancing, the lack of push beyond the plot is what knocks this book down to 2 stars.
August 26, 2013
Seventeen-year-old May is in Florence for the summer, visiting the city with an old family friend and her son. She's relieved to leave behind the stress of her own parents' breakup. But May finds it hard to sleep through the night, and her nightmares and concerns about haunted rooms concern Gwen and Liam, her fellow travelers. But nothing could be as alarming as the visits she begins to have from Cristofana, a woman who looks just like her but certainly does not act like her. Cristofana uses a ruby ring to allow her to open a portal from her 1348 Florence when the Plague was killing thousands of citizens into May's modern world. May is curious and follows her back in time where she becomes enamored with an artist, Marco. Somehow, her obsession with him tempts her to change places with Cristofana at least briefly. I liked some parts of this book quite a lot, for instance, the description of modern and historical Florence, but May had quite a few unresolved issues in both periods of time. Knowing what she did about the Plague, I have to wonder why she'd have ever seriously pondering living--and likely, dying--there. Plenty of unanswered questions and questionable decisions abound at the conclusion of the book, and I'm also not sure that I particularly liked either of the females, May or Cristofana.
June 21, 2013
The premise to this book sounded so promising and I was ecstatic to get a chance at reading it. I wanted so desperately to like this book. I tried soooo hard to like it! The premise sounded amazing, and there was so much that could be done with it! The setting is a dream come true, but for some reason it just wasn't quite there for me.
Although I'm a fan of action books, I don't necessarily NEED a lot of action in a book. But I DO need a book to get somewhere and progress. For me that was really slow in this book. I didn't get sucked into the story like I thought I would've been. It was just kind of so so for me.
The story line had a lot of promise, but was very under developed. It lacked..something, although I can't quite put my finger on it. I kept hoping at some point I would get invested in it and I never really did. The parts with Marco, the soulfoul Italian painter, were incredible!!! But all the other parts without him were just really flat and I found myself giving up.
I feel like this book has a lot of potential, it just needs more work and isn't quite there yet. For that reason, it was a Didn't Like/Didn't Finish for me. Love the idea behind it, and the setting! It just wasn't quite for me. Definitely will try this author again though!
Although I'm a fan of action books, I don't necessarily NEED a lot of action in a book. But I DO need a book to get somewhere and progress. For me that was really slow in this book. I didn't get sucked into the story like I thought I would've been. It was just kind of so so for me.
The story line had a lot of promise, but was very under developed. It lacked..something, although I can't quite put my finger on it. I kept hoping at some point I would get invested in it and I never really did. The parts with Marco, the soulfoul Italian painter, were incredible!!! But all the other parts without him were just really flat and I found myself giving up.
I feel like this book has a lot of potential, it just needs more work and isn't quite there yet. For that reason, it was a Didn't Like/Didn't Finish for me. Love the idea behind it, and the setting! It just wasn't quite for me. Definitely will try this author again though!
October 1, 2013
I love historical fiction. It's basically my go to genre no matter what my mood is. However, I'm pretty unforgiving of it. Historical inaccuracies are pretty a big deal for me. I'm also a fan of time travel books, so I was pretty excited going into Plague in the Mirror. It combines fourteenth century Florence with some mysticism and time travel; the description pretty much encapsulated everything I love in a book. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my (admittedly high) expectations and I found myself almost giving up on it a few times.
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April 21, 2014
During the summer before her senior year in high school, May goes to Florence with a friend of her mother's and her son, a childhood friend of May. Looming over her is her parent's divorce and the decision with whom to live. Woken by a ghostly presence, her ghost twin from the fourteenth century plague-ridden Florence, Christofana attempts to trap May in the past with the bait of a hunky artist, Marco. This should have been an absorbing read, what with the horrors of the plague well described, but it also tries to be a romance or horror novel at the same time. None of the plots is fully realized which leads to frustration on the readers' part.
August 27, 2015
This book was really slow going and it never really grabbed me. I didn't believe in May's thought process or her logic or even her infatuation with Marco. Why would she keep voluntarily going through the portal? Why would she feel responsible for people who lived and died centuries ago but not for the people in her present life? I also found the audio version hard to follow at times not knowing what was dialogue and what was just thought. May's pronunciation of Italian was pathetic yet Christofana's accent was grating. The premise was intriguing but the story didn't live up to the expectation.
June 22, 2025
Honestly, this is genuinely one of the worst books I have ever read. the writing is like something I would write in fifth grade, the characters were so unlikeable I had to skim over half of the book. The plot and motivation of the characters were so bizarre and confusing and left me unsatisfied. To be fair, I did buy this for 3 bucks on clearance but didn’t expect it to be so abominable and annoying to read. Save yourself the pain of reading this like I should have.
December 29, 2013
I've read this story before: time-travel, two lives and loves, and a mysterious painting in the present day. Sigh. This wasn't a DNF but it was pretty close. What saved it? The setting (Florence) and some of the background information on artists during the plague era.
Copy provided by publisher.
Copy provided by publisher.
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