Pink Heart Reviews
Wizard’s Daughter
Catherine Coulter
ISBN-13: 9780515143942
JOVE, January 2008, 359 pp
Victorian/Paranormal, circa 1835
$7.99 (US) $10.99 (CDN)
Reviewed by Laurel
April 2008
When she was eight she was beaten, bloodied and left for dead in a dark alley, where Ryder Sherbrooke found her and took her in as his foster child. For six months she did not utter a word until a haunting song came from her lips. Having no recollection of who she is and where she came from, she selects her name from books. Growing up into a beautiful woman she is embracing her debut into London Society, knowing it brings the possibility of danger and enemies who thought she was already dead.
Lurking in the shadows is Nicolas Vale watching her dance, mesmerized by her eyes and beauty, he knows Rosalind, but only from his dreams. Determined to gain her favor he boldly introduces himself to her foster family with dignified charm and grace, earning the invitation to romance Rosalind. With her chaperone, Grayson, visiting the market, they distract him with books as they seek some private time with each other. Meanwhile Grayson, a writer of ghost stories, stumbles across a very old book in some strange code. Perplexed, he anxiously looks for them to show them his great find. Nicolas recognizes the book from his grandfather’s library but is not able to decipher it either. However, Rosalind takes one look at the code and is able to recount to them both about this strange but eerily familiar world called the Land of Pale. As the three of them meet each day to read more, Nicolas and Rosalind are swept up by the passion and underlying love they feel for each other and become secretly engaged.
However, it is not long before danger lands at their doorstep, with Nicolas' family wanting to murder him. He is not overly close with his family as his stepmother sent him away at the age of five and he spent his years living with his grandfather – rumored to be a wizard. They, the family, feel he is not the rightful heir. But someone is also after Rosalind after a failed attempt to kidnap her occurred. Shaken and concerned that harm will come to Rosalind, the Sherbrooke’s agree that to further protect Rosalind she should leave with Nicolas to his ancestral home, Wyvlery Chase. It’s there with the two copies of this strange novel in hand and a mischievous ghost that they discover both Nicolas and Rosalind are deeply connected—and their next moves could affect their love and future together.
I am not exactly sure what happened with the author and this story but the ending was lack-luster and fell flat, proving to make WIZARD'S DAUGHTER the first “Say what?" While shaking your head ending, of 2008. However, that aside the characters and story were enjoyable, and I had a few laugh out loud moments with a bawdy ghost who, strangely enough, added some much needed normalcy to this paranormal world Catherine was introducing us to. The novel and the abundance of secondary characters also piqued my interest and had me wondering if future novels will address some if not all of the unanswered questions remaining in this novel. The main characters, Rosalind and Nicholas were appealing, humorous and over all a generally likable couple. I would have liked to see more character development between them focusing on the love and chemistry of the characters, instead of the side story they are both connected to that leaves you feeling disjointed and let down come the conclusion of the novel.
While WIZARD'S DAUGHTER did not live up to my reading
expectations, it is not the worst book, nor is it the best book I have read.
Catherine Coulter over the years has written many novels, some of them have
landed on my keeper shelf…sadly this isn’t one of them.
