The Collector of Dying Breaths

In The Collector of Dying Breaths, we are taken to 16th Century France where a monk believes he has created a formula to collect a person's dying breath and supplant that breath into a living body, reigniting that soul. And so, the author approaches reincarnation from a different angle and it's brilliant.

Jaq, our recurring heroine in the series, has experienced a great loss and so the concept of capturing someone's dying breath intrigues her, while she is wary at first. She encounters an heiress who has her own reasons for wanting to know the secret, but Jaq has an agenda of her own.

Intertwined with the modern day story, we have the apprentice of the now deceased monk working closely with Catherine de Medici herself, not only as a scent show more maker, but as a creator of the deadly poisons with which Catherine is known to have dispatched her enemies. As usual, the author seamlessly moves back and forth from one era to the other and instead of feeling like two separate stories, they play off and compliment each other. As the reader, we never feel like we're in one time or the other, but made a part of both times.

I always look forward to a new book in this series because each book can really be read as a stand alone. The reason for this is that the author always connects the present, continuing characters and their lives to a certain era in the past and it works beautifully. I look forward to where and when the author will take us to next. show less

The Collector of Dying Breaths is the third (and final?) book in this reincarnation series. It continues the story of the House d'Etoile, a family business that makes delightful perfumes and has done so for hundreds of years. In this generation it is Jac and her brother Robbie left. Robbie is actively working at the House when he suddenly falls ill. Jac rushes to his side to have him die but only after getting her promise to finish the project he was working on with some people outside of Paris. She is reluctant but needs a distraction from her grief. When she learns the full scope of what is involved - the reanimation of a soul using a person's dying breaths - she is both repelled and drawn to the project. Could she bring back her show more brother?

She soon learns that all is not as it seems and her brother seems to be guiding her from wherever he has gone after he died. Her former lover Griffin is also there to help her but she fears that she is bound to be the cause of his death. In their past lives - well, let's just say things didn't go well. In the midst of all of her research she is having flashbacks to the time of Catherine de Medici and her perfumer, Rene le Florentine. Will she be able to do what is needed and keep Griffin safe?

I enjoyed the first two books in this series and this third book was a worthy wrap up to the tale. It was written in a way to stand alone but I feel it would be far better enjoyed with the full stories of the previous books known to the reader. They just add so much depth to the whole experience of reading The Collector of Dying Breaths. This tale is at time morbid, disgusting, celebratory, sad, romantic and suspenseful. That is a lot for one story and yet it is all there in this one novel. I found myself very involved in the tale hoping for a happy ending for Jac and Griffin and wondering 'til the very end what would happen. I'm not going to tell you here - you'll have to read the book! I do admit that there were times I wanted to thwack Jac in the back of the head with the way she approached her relationship with Griffin and her stubbornness over her "flashbacks." But with that small quibble put away I truly enjoyed my travels to 16th century Italy and France and the impacts the actions had on the present.

If you're looking for an enjoyable novel to take you away from the boring everyday this one will take you on an adventure like you've not been on before. Just be ready to learn about making perfume - utterly fascinating - and the lengths some people will go to keep what they have. show less

The Book of Lost Fragrances, Seduction and now Collector of Dying Breaths, M.J.Rose has done it again. Combining alchemists and perfumers in the perfect combinations to find the secret of using dying breaths to bring back a loved one. Is it possible?? I have no clue but reading these books sure makes the reader think that anything is possible. Alternating from 1573 in Barbizon France to present day, this is a dual story of Rene le Florentin, perfumer to Catherine de Medici and my favorite character Jac L'Etoile who is drawn into the life of Rene through her dreams and visions.

This is a compelling and intriguing blending of mystery, murder, passion and the unknown of which only M.J. Rose can do. It certainly kept my attention as her show more books always do and I was totally drawn into the story. The author takes the impossible and brings it to life. This is a very well researched continuation in a wonderful series. I highly recommend it and give it 5 stars!! show less

In the 16th century, Rene is a perfumer for Catherine de Medici. But even before that (and he continues on with his experimenting), he collected the dying breaths of people; the idea was that the person’s soul was in that last breath, and he hoped to find a way to reanimate that soul. Rene was continuing on the work of his mentor/father-figure. In addition, Catherine managed to convince Rene to also produce some poisons.

In the current day, Jac’s younger brother has also been continuing on this tradition of dying breaths, and Jac follows a trail to continue on after her brother dies. This bring her into contact with some… interesting people as she tries to find some of the ingredients that Rene might have used hundreds of years show more earlier. Jac also thinks she has been continually reincarnated and has been responsible for her love dying in more than one life, so she has pushed her current love away.

This was ok. It got more interesting at the end as things heated up particularly for Jac, but I found much of it unbelievable and slow-moving. It was interesting to read the author’s note at the end that indicated that Rene was Catherine’s perfumer; the dying breath theory was possible, but it’s not known if people thought that at the time. show less

A Myrt's Review

The Collector of Dying Breaths by M. J. Rose

A Rich Mélange of Genres

Romance, Renaissance era history, mystery, suspense, intrigue, love. grief, past lives, after life are all intertwined around lead character, Jac L’Etoile, the daughter of a dynasty of perfumers. Jac, at the request of her dying brother, takes over in a project that traces back to Rene Le Floretin, the master perfumer to Catherine de Medici. Rene was developing a formula to use a person’s dying breath in a mixture to put their soul back in a new body. Sort of a directed reincarnation. Funded by an eccentric pair of siblings, working with her former lover, Griffin, a linguist, using notes belonging to Rene and working out of a secret chamber of show more Rene’s, Jac tries to recreate and complete his intended process of bringing back life to selected jars of dying breaths including her brother’s. The book moves between Jac’s current efforts and events in the life of Rene Le Floretin. However, Jac is actually channeling the memories of Le Floretin. Apparently, Jac has a history of having past life memories, not just her own but OTHER people’s past lives. Jac makes Shirley MacLaine look like a wannabe. BUT despite the years of encouragement to believe from her brother AND her former shrink, Jac has been resistant to accept these memories throughout the years preferring the angst that she must be having incredibly detailed hallucinations about things she knows nothing about because of some sort of brain malady. (I’m not a believer in reincarnation but I think I would have run with the past life scenarios over mental instability.) But, Jac finally stops resisting her unwanted memories and draws on them to try and get closer to deciphering and duplicating Le Floretin’s work.

In essence (going with the theme here), we have two different timelines running along side each other both searching for an answer to prolonging life to save a love. The story offers interesting side trips in the methods for making perfume - and poisons. It stirs thoughts on what is a soul and the different ways to view living forever - either through life after life or in one finite lifetime moving to a single afterlife. There is more than one love story and a question involves whether a love can be fated to always fail. The two timelines come together at the end in a very satisfying resolution.

I enjoyed this book on many levels. I will never smell a scent again without picturing the efforts and materials that went into creating it. In particular, for the view in Catherine de Medici’s life via her devoted perfumer/poisoner, Rene. I was interested by the concepts of past lives and reincarnation. The collection of dying breaths and their use in a formula to bring a soul to new life and how that would actually work intrigued me. The past and present storylines interchanged easily, although I would have wished for more time in Rene’s world. And I rooted for soul mates to beat fate in the end. I would recommend it as a good interesting read with a variety of views to focus on.

The Collector of Dying Breaths is the third book in a series about Jac L’Etoile. I have not read the other books and feel this book can be read as a stand alone.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. show less

Another wonderful read from M. J. Rose. I really enjoy all the books from this series. This book does feature Jac from L'Etoile from Seduction and The Book of Lost Fragrances. If you have not read either of these books that is ok as the author does a nice job of making this book allowable to be read as a stand alone novel.

This series is my favorite time travel period series. M. J. can really make both the past and present as equally interesting. However this time it was the past that I was the most intrigued by. Just wished that more of the focus was spent on the past and Rene. He was a big part of the present and his story was muted.

I felt that Jac with her remorse for her brother was not as strong as she has been in the past. Plus, show more I understand her grief for her brother but after a while I grew tried of her and wanted her to snap out of her dark cloud. Ok so maybe I am stretching it a bit here as it did not go on that long but you get the picture. The easy flow from past to present was great. Don't let the size of these books deceive you as they are quick reads. As I read more about these books and the fragrances, I want to go and check out how to make one of my own. I have to say that this book is probably one of my top favorites in this series. show less

The Collector of Dying Breaths, the latest installment in M.J. Rose's Reincarnationist series, takes the reader on a journey back and forth in time between modern day and 16th century France. The historical narrative focuses on the life of René le Florentine, personal perfumer to Catherine de Medici. While René is happy in his role as royal perfumer, he secretly works to discover an elixir that will bring the dead back to life by using their dying breaths. Almost five hundred years later, sometime perfumer Jac L'Etoile is called upon by an unusual art collector named Melinoe to finish René's work. Devasted by a recent loss and driven by a desire to unlock the secret to eternal life, Jac throws herself into her work. When it becomes show more apparent to Jac that she can't solve René's mysteries alone, she enlists the aid of her former lover, Griffin North. But recreating René's elixir proves difficult, and as Jac attempts to obtain the right ingredients she discovers that Melinoe will stop at nothing to ensure that René's secrets are revealed.

One of the things I enjoy most about Rose's novels is that they convey a very strong sense of place. Rose's beautifully descriptive prose enables the reader to easily visualize each setting. Rose's descriptions are particularly strong when it comes to detailing scents, which are vivid enough that the reader can almost smell them. While I wasn't immediately drawn into René's story, once his narrative shifted from Florence to France I was riveted, especially when Catherine de Medici appeared. While I liked Jac's component of the storyline overall, I got tired of reading about her issues with Griffin and reincarnation, which are also explored in depth in the series' other novels. Both the historical and modern-day components of the book read quickly, and Rose seamlessly ties the two together. Another strength of this novel are its characters. While Jac and Griffin will likely already be familiar to M.J. Rose fans, the new characters she introduces in this book, including René, are engaging no matter if they are hero or villain.

While The Collector of Dying Breaths is part of a series, Rose incorporates pertinent details from the series' other novels so that it isn't necessary to have read any of the previous books. As a result, this book is not only recommended to fans of M.J. Rose's previous Reincarnationist books, but also to new readers who enjoy fast-moving, dual time suspense novels.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Source: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. show less