Every Last Kiss by Courtney Cole

Every Last Kiss
Book One of the Bloodstone Saga
by Courtney Cole
reviewed by Megsly

What would you do if you held fate in your hands?

Macy Lockhart is a normal girl with an abnormal bird-shaped birthmark on her wrist. She doesn’t even think twice about the odd marking until strange things begin happening to her and an anonymous gift is left on her doorstep… a beautiful, blood-red pendant. A bloodstone.

It isn’t long before she is surrounded by craziness… ancient high priests, visions and memories that she can’t explain. And that’s just the beginning.

She quickly comes to the realization that the bloodstone wasn’t just given to her… it was returned to her. It has been hers all along, for thousands of years. She has lived hundreds of lives and all of them have been important.

But before she can even come to terms with that craziness, she is forced to return to one of them that was particularly tragic….a previous doomed life where she lived as Cleopatra’s handmaiden, Charmian.

Fate, the very thing that she is born to protect, is being threatened in a way that would destroy history as we know it. The fate of the world literally sits on her shoulders. But of course, just handling that small issue would be too easy.

Unless she interferes with destiny, her soul-mate will die. Can she really stand aside and allow the love of her life to die all over again?

 

I can’t honestly even remember what drew me to this book to begin with. Lately I’ve been avoiding any unfinished series as if they carry the plague and will kill me, but for some reason I picked this one up. Not sure why…but I’m glad I did.

Macy is happy in her life, even though her scum bag of a boyfriend cheated on her and left her hurting. She has a loving mother, two best friends who happily help her to enact her revenge on her cheating ex, and who are everything best friends should be. Then, one day a package arrives for her, a package with an unbelievably priceless diamond that changes everything for her.

Immediately, she is assaulted by memories that span lifetimes, and the truth of her life and the reason for her existence is revealed to her. Macy is a Keeper, a soul that never moves on and helps guide the existence of someone of importance throughout history. The Daedal, the soul she’s destined to guide, has lived many famous lives, the most famous of which is the life of Cleopatra. Macy was Cleopatra’s handmaiden (and best friend) Charmian. As I mentioned before, her goal was to lead Cleopatra’s soul to make the right choices, which regretfully would always lead to hardship, sadness, and strife for the soul in Macy’s care. Originally, during Cleopatra’s reign, she had to guide the queen to making the decisions that ultimately led to the deaths of Marc Antony, Cleopatra’s lover and Hasani, which was Charmian’s lover. Macy had also been responsible for the tragic suicides of Cleopatra and Charmian. It seems like it’s a painful and tragic job to have, but one that Macy works hard to fulfill because even though these souls must suffer horribly, their decisions impact the world in only the most positive of ways.

Strangely enough though, Macy is normally not gifted the bloodstone diamond until after she’s met up with her Daedal, which 17 year old Macy has yet to encounter. Instead, this time the gift is given with the strange appearance of a dark robed man who claims Macy must be the one to change destiny this time, and in the blink of an eye, Macy finds herself back in the world of Cleopatra and Charmian, destine to repeat the pain of losing her lover Hasani. What Macy doesn’t realize is that there is more going on then the mere repetition of a life. There are events she’s destined to change, and events she must keep the same, and as history begins to morph around her, Macy finds herself wondering if she’ll ever escape the past and find her way back to present time again, and that if she does, how badly would her decisions change the future?

To be honest, when I started to read this I was a little put off. It had seemed as if the transition from present day to the past was entirely too abrupt. There are also questions that were never answered, such as why were the visions Macy saw when she first got the Bloodstone never addressed? But then, as I got further into the book and saw how cleverly the author twisted actual history and mythology to fit her story and make it believable as an item of legend and lore, I really started to enjoy the book.

Macy’s character at first is really bland, and then as she takes on the role of Charmian and she becomes this Egyptian handmaiden to Cleopatra, her character starts to come alive. Her personality develops into this enchanting lady who’s only love in the world is for that of her friends and her lover, Hasani. She cares for Cleopatra in such a way that transcends normal friendship. They are as sisters would be. And the way that the author writes about Marc Antony (who is one of my favorite historic figures) is really entertaining. I’ve always loved the stories of Marc Antony and Cleopatra and how they were truly in a relationship of love, not politics even though many say that is so. I love the story of Marc Antony committing suicide because he’d thought Cleopatra had already done so, and that when he learned otherwise, just before his death, he was taken to her where he died in her arms (there are like…50 different stories centering around the death of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, but this is the one my romantic heart chooses to believe). The characters of Cleopatra and Hasani (which is the one truly, completely fictional character within the book) are also unbelievably detailed and well thought out. Some how, the author manages to mingle in just the right amount of fiction into the historical lives of these characters to turn them into something personal, and relatable.

The plot is also really detailed and in depth, and once I was immersed into it, I couldn’t wait to see what would come next in the book. Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and couldn’t wait to read the second in the series, Fated.

Below is my rating of Every Last Kiss by Courtney Cole. These are reflective strictly of my opinion of the novels I’ve read and reviewed, and not necessarily reflective of the other staff members of MVF.

Plot – 8.5
Character Development – 8
Grammar and Punctuation – 8
Prose – 9
Paranormal Element – 9

Total Score: 8.5/10

(Total score is derived from the average of the 5 individual scores)