Chasing the Star Garden by Melanie Karsak

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Book summary:

An opium-addicted beauty.An infamous poet living in self-imposed exile.An ancient treasure about to fall into the wrong hands.
Melanie Karsak's Chasing the Star Garden takes readers on a thrilling adventure from the gritty opium dens of gaslamp London to the gem-colored waters of the ancient world. Lily Stargazer, a loveable but reckless airship racer with a famous lover and shattered past, reluctantly plunges into a centuries-old mystery in a romantic adventure best described as Dan Brown meets Mary Shelley.
It all begins on one of the worst days of Lily’s life. She just lost the London leg of the 1823 Airship Grand Prix. To top it off, a harlequin fleeing from constables shoved a kaleidoscope down her pants, told her to fly to Venice, then threw himself from her airship tower. What’s a girl to do? For Lily, the answer is easy: drink absinthe and smoke opium. 
Lily’s lover, Lord Byron, encourages her to make the trip to Venice. Lily soon finds herself at the heart of an ancient mystery which has her running from her past and chasing true love and the stars along the way.

         This was one of those books I kept seeing around and every time the cover really blew me away. So you can only imagine my happiness when this book appeared free on Amazon. I grabbed it right away and jumped into this world.

          I cannot say that at the start this book seemed like something that at the end I'd enjoy much. It started off with a heroine who wasn't someone to be admired. Even though she was an admirable airship racer still she lived a life with many sins. Not to mention when Lord Byron jumped into this story (Yes, that Lord Byron) I didn't know what to expect. But slowly I got to meet Lily better and hear her story which then made me feel for her and understand her behavior and action. She wasn't one of the ladies you read about in Romantic poetry, those that are only muses, but Lily is rather new age woman. She is capable and really good at what she is doing. Just that makes her different and really accessible character.

         As this story went on I found myself more and more intrigued by it. It was so amazing how suddenly astrology mixed in all this, together with old Greek legends and myths. It all made a really nice whole which didn't lack explanations. It seemed real in my eyes. There is also that dose of romance which was different but still love was built up and not there out of sudden.

        Only thing that I had problems with here were those "adult parts" at the start. It did fit the characters but somehow it felt off for me.

Rating: 4 stars. 

Until the next time,