Genre: Romance/Fantasy/Superstition
Description:
“After a failed love affair, Emilio Aguilar journeys to El Paradiso: a
vast plantation in the Ecuadorian highlands.
Hoping to retreat from civilization and temptation, he settles in and
promises never to get involved with a married woman again.
But soon, he meets Alma - the beautiful, unhappy wife of El Patròn -
and is drawn to a magical world of spirits and ancient power.
Can Alma conquer her spirit animal - the jaguar - and save her soul,
or will they all be swallowed by jealousy and madness? And in the end, can
Emilio stay true to himself?”
Author:
“Mark Giglio is a writer, artist and award winning furniture maker
living in San Diego County, California. His education in creative writing and
lifelong interest in history bring him to writing the Alchemist Gift book series.
From a long line of artists and craftsmen, he has the vocation of
Furniture Maker and is the creator of the Alchemist Series of Art Furniture
available on his website.”
Appraisal:
Emilio Aguilar (or is it Aguila?) is suffering from a bad breakup with
a married woman. He takes a job in the Ecuadorian jungle to design a plan for solar
panels for Senior Hector Alvarez, the owner of a coffee plantation called El
Paradiso. When Emilio meets Alma Alvarez he is immediately captivated by her
beauty and her love of poetry. Alma has a touching story on how she came to
stay at El Paradiso. As the years passed she became fascinated with the spirit
of a Jaguar. Now, she is being consumed by the spirit and can’t break loose
alone.
So, here we are with a story of a weak female who needs rescuing.
Emilio is hardly the hero she needs. As the plot thickens and becomes more
desperate the plot twists. Bad decisions lead to unforeseen consequences. I
became bored quickly with several stupid decisions on all their parts.
The prose describing the landscape of the different areas of the
plateau was well written and it made it easy to step into the scenery. I also
enjoyed the mysticism of the local stories. Bottom line is that this book
wasn’t for me, that doesn’t mean it is a bad story.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 45-50,000 words
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