Venom

September 17, 2012
This first book in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy introduces Cass, a wealthy 15-year-old living in Renaissance-era Venice, who chafes at the constraints of her society. After a friend dies, Cass steals away to her tomb, where she discovers the gruesome body of a murdered courtesan and runs into a handsome artist named Falco. Cass’s subsequent actions revolve around Falco as she helps him search for the killer, occasionally posing as a courtesan and putting her life at risk. The Venetian setting is well chosen for its beauty and mystery, and Paul writes some wonderful, lush descriptions in her debut novel. The murder mystery, however, is little more than a device to kindle the relationship between Cass and Falco, forcing her to chose between him and her betrothed, Luca, a university student she hasn’t seen in years. The romantic moments and sentiments tend toward cliché (“She pressed her lips against him, her soul against him, and she felt truly warm for the first time”), making for a steamy but fairly predictable romance. Ages 14–up. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Foundry Literary + Media.

September 15, 2012
A romantic potboiler set in turn-of-the-17th-century Venice. Readers meet Cassandra at the funeral of one of her best friends. Distraught, she leaves the funeral and bumps into a cocky young artist. That night, Cass goes wandering in the graveyard next to her guardian aunt's villa across the lagoon and discovers that her friend's body has been taken from its tomb and replaced with another's, a murder victim. Readers will not be nearly as astonished as Cass that she meets the artist again next to the tomb. Though she is betrothed to another, she and Falco quickly team up to solve the mystery. Their investigations involve many hugely unlikely excursions into Venice proper: to a charnel house, a brothel and a masked ball, all at night. Fortunately, Cass' aunt is wealthy, so she has gowns aplenty to replace the ones that get ripped, rained upon and otherwise ruined. Though the setting should be evocative, worldbuilding is continually hamstrung by cliched and clunky American colloquialisms that overwhelm the occasional mild Italian imprecation. Steamy make-out sessions with Falco tempt Cass to adopt his carpe diem attitude--but could he be hiding a sinister secret? Her betrothed returns from France, setting up a love triangle that may prompt readers who make it to the end to pick up subsequent volumes. Those reading the book for the mystery will have given up long before it grinds to its tepid, 400-plus-page conclusion. (Historical mystery. 14 & up)

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November 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-As a young noblewoman in Renaissance Venice, Cassandra feels trapped in her confined role, but everything changes when she finds the body of a murdered courtesan in a crypt when she goes to bid a recently deceased friend farewell. An exposition-heavy start gives way to an addictive mystery as Cass sets out to discover the whereabouts of her friend's body and the truth behind the courtesan's death. Debut author Paul constructs a tantalizing web of intrigue, deception, and danger as Cass delves into the darkness behind the city's sumptuous facade, going undercover in a brothel and stumbling onto a storehouse of cadavers. As the stakes grow higher, Cass doesn't know who to trust: the rakish young artist helping her solve the mystery, or her gentlemanly fiance, both of whom seem suspiciously connected to a series of murders plaguing the city. Romantics will thrill at an alluring love triangle with two equally appealing choices. Characters are well developed; in particular, Cass exhibits a remarkable amount of growth. Initially self-absorbed, she makes mature decisions by the story's conclusion. The conflict in this first volume in a trilogy is satisfyingly resolved, with a few plot threads deliberately left dangling. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from the fictional Book of the Eternal Rose, but that volume never comes into play within the narrative, and only the barest hints are given as to what the Eternal Rose might be. Readers will surely be eager for the sequel to find out.Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 Someone is killing young Venetian courtesans and, in a twist of fate, may also have targeted Cassandra Caravello, a lovely young contessa betrothed to Luca da Peraga, whom she has not seen in more than three years. Venom is awash in the aura and mystery of Renaissance Venice with its shadowy canals, water-logged structures, and unique traditions and history. Beautiful women dressed in gorgeous clothing, attended to by doting servants, are courted by handsome, powerful men who lead double lives. Yet romantic and titillating as the setting is, it can't upstage the larger-than-life story of murder, seduction, and duplicity featuring a heroine determined to live her own life in spite of the strictures and constraints of time and place. Loved by two men, forced to consider the future security of her elderly aunt, and haunted by deaths both personal and public, Cass moves among the many worlds of Venice in this debut drama, the first in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, which will fascinate and compel readers until its all-too-soon final page. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Paul's debut is pubbing to great fanfare, including a national consumer ad campaign and a presence at Romantic Times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)