Back Cover Blurbs

Okay,

A couple weeks ago I picked up this book at Chapters for two reasons 1. I thought the cover was gorgeous 2. The back cover blurb made it sound fantastic.

This is the blurb

In 19th century Britain, Lavina Huntington's husband seems to appreciate her lively intellect and is eager to expand his wife's education from nature studies to the bedroom arts. Lavinia absorbs all he has to teach and glories in the birth of their son.

In 21st century Los Angeles, geneticist Julia Huntington studies the human genome, seeking the origins of human emotion. As passionate about her marriage as she is about her life's work, Julia is delighted to discover that she is pregnant.

Separated by nearly 150 years, Lavinia and Julia suffer the same shock when their men abandon them. Their powerful love becomes painful hate; their intense passsion transforms into icy logic. The genes of the Huntington women have formed their emotions - now their life experiences drive them to make decisions which they, and those they love, may not survive.

Now in edition to the blurb these are the little review snippets that were also included on the cover

"A must read for fans of smart, sexy books" - RT Book Reviews

"Steamy sex scenes make this a page-turner" - Booklist

"Part murder mystery, part psychological thriller, part commentary on genetics and human behavior, sexual jealousy, and betrayal, Soul is both provocative and unputdownable" Good Reading

SPOILER ALERT - FYI there are going to be a number of spoilers below so if you don't want to know stop reading.

I know blurbs are usually somewhat incorrect and I know not to believe all the glowing quotes on the books - HOWEVER, I do still use them to get a general idea of what is in a book.

Let me break these down

In 19th century Britain, Lavina Huntington's husband seems to appreciate her lively intellect and is eager to expand his wife's education from nature studies to the bedroom arts. Lavinia absorbs all he has to teach and glories in the birth of their son.

Okay, so far so good. This isn't too far off. I wouldn't say he is eager to expand his wife's education to bedroom arts since you know he's actually gay a Lavinia's youthful body is close enough to a boys that he can manage to perform on enough occasions to knock her up.

In 21st century Los Angeles, geneticist Julia Huntington studies the human genome, seeking the origins of human emotion. As passionate about her marriage as she is about her life's work, Julia is delighted to discover that she is pregnant.

This one they actually got right but really it's pretty vague I imagine it would have been more work to try and make it wrong.

Separated by nearly 150 years, Lavinia and Julia suffer the same shock when their men abandon them.

Well first off this gives me the impression that Lavinia's husband abandons her in 19th century Britain - I found this intriguing what did a woman do back them when their husband leaves them? Well just to be clear Lavinia's husband doesn't leave her he just stops having sex with her once her body becomes to womanly for him but still remains a pretty decent husband. He admires his wife's intelligence and allows her to assist him in his studies and still treats her very much as a treasured companion. Understandably, this isn't enough for Lavinia but I mean really when most marriages among the aristocracy were marriages of convenience I imagine she was better off than most other wives.

Julia's husband does leave her - for her best friend - while she is pregnant. Class act he was. I was actually looking forward to his death through the whole book.

Their powerful love becomes painful hate; their intense passion transforms into icy logic.

Ummmm, not really. There wasn't a whole lot of hate through the book lots of time with Lavinia and Julia feeling sorry for themselves and still being in love with their undeserving husbands but not a whole lot of hate. Icy logic - okay they can have that one but since it was absent for more than 3/4 of the book I don't think it counts.

The genes of the Huntington women have formed their emotions - now their life experiences drive them to make decisions which they, and those they love, may not survive.

What??? Where was this in the last 25 pages of the book? Whoop de do. Something that barely makes up a fraction of the book should not be a selling point on the back cover.

"A must read for fans of smart, sexy books" - RT Book Reviews

I like to think I'm a fan of smart, sexy books. It may have been smart but it was pretty low on the sexy scale.

"Steamy sex scenes make this a page-turner" - Booklist

I don't know what book I was reading because there were a couple of sex scenes which came across as emotionless and detached but I'd hardly say they kept me turning the pages of this book.

"Part murder mystery, part psychological thriller, part commentary on genetics and human behavior, sexual jealousy, and betrayal, Soul is both provocative and unputdownable" Good Reading

This is the big one for me. This is what sold me on this book and caused me to put back Meredith Duran's Bound by Your Touch and pick this one instead.

Murder Mystery - NO. There was nothing murder mystery about this at all. NOTHING. No one even died until the very end and their was no doubting who did it.

Psychological Thriller - Sure if your biggest fear is being bored to tears this may be terrifying.

Commentary on Genetics and Human Behavior - I guess I can give them this one. Sort of.

Sexual Jealousy and Betrayal - Okay they can have this one too but even that's not enough to sustain an entire book.

Provocative and Unputdownable - umm I guess that's subjective so I can't really argue but I wasn't feeling it. I'm also pretty sure unputdownable isn't a word.

Now overall this wasn't really I bad book. I finished it so it couldn't have been horrible but I was so annoyed by the time I finished it that it really knocked my enjoyment of the book down a few pegs.

The fact is this is a book about how two women in different times deal with their husbands abandonment on a day to day basis. They didn't do this by plotting elaborate murders then trying to get away with it. They did it by moping and feeling sorry for themselves for 400 for the 430 pages.

I'm really really annoyed at the Publisher right now. Although two of my most favourite fantasy series ever were published by Tor and out of 17 total books read I have only 3 with grades below 8/10. I can't see myself picking up another book by them unless I've done considerable research on it first.