Passion Blue Review and Giveaway

Title:  Passion Blue
Author:  Victoria Strauss
Format:  Print
Length:  346 pages 
Publisher:  Amazon Children's Publishing
Rating:  5 stars

Passion Blue"Be sure you know your true heart’s desire, or you may find yourself surprised by what you receive."

This is the warning the Astrologer-Sorcerer gives Giulia when she pays him to create a magical talisman for her. The scorned illegitimate daughter of a Milanese nobleman, Giulia is determined to defy the dire fate predicted by her horoscope, and use the talisman to claim what she believes is her heart’s desire: true love and a place where she belongs–not likely prospects for a girl about to be packed off to the cloistered world of a convent.

But the convent of Santa Marta is full of surprises. There are strict rules, long hours of work, and spiteful rivalries…but there’s also friendship, and the biggest surprise of all: a workshop of female artists who produce paintings of astonishing beauty, using a luminous blue mixed from a secret formula: Passion blue. Yet even as Giulia begins to learn the mysteries of the painter’s craft, the magic of the talisman is at work, and a forbidden romance beckons her down a path of uncertainty and danger. She is haunted by the sorcerer’s warning, and by a question: does she really know the true compass of her heart?

Set in Renaissance Italy, this richly imagined novel about a girl’s daring journey towards self-discovery transports readers into a fascinating, exotic world where love, faith, and art inspire passion–of many different hues.
-Goodreads 

My Thoughts
All Giulia has ever wanted was a place to call her own, and someone to love her.  Being a girl of dubious background, hated and cast aside by her stepmother; Giulia finds herself on a journey that will change the shape her destiny forever.
This story is the perfect blend of the religious, the magical, the art, and the passion that burns so bright in the heart of a young woman who is willing to do anything to find what she seeks.

There have been many stories written about male artists of the Renaissance, but this is one of a very few stories involving a female. This story is tailor-made to inspire young adult readers to follow their dreams, as they follow the smart and plucky Giuilia in her quest to discover hers.

Though the time period and situations facing our young heroine are far removed from those facing today's reader; the message self discovery, perseverance, and the search for true happiness is one that transcends the confines of time and space to ring ever true.

Written in a style reminiscent of Irving Stone's "The Agony and the Ecstasy," this is a read that has the power to transport the reader with words that paint indelible images on the canvas of the mind, while forever brightening the hue of the heart. 


4 comments:

  1. Passion Blue (I say it in a sexy voice)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christina K. in the rafflecopter

    Passion Blue, Guardian of the Hills, and lots more:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Lady of Rhuddesmere

    ^^

    Thx for the giveaway ^^

    Ana Death Duarte @anaeileendeath

    ReplyDelete

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