Leafing Through Pages – Poppy’s Coin

Stars: 2 / 5

Recommendation: This is a fun little historical romance, with just a touch of magic as allot device. It is not the traditional spooky that you expect based on the title of the anthology. Yet there were parts that seemed rushed and unexplained and other parts that seemed too detailed with nothing happened.

J.D. Robb along with three other authors published an anthology titled Bump In The Night in March of 2006. I posted J.D. Robb’s novella Haunted in Death that came as part of this book, and is the fourth novella in her In Death Series.

The second novella in the book was by Mary Blayney titled Poppy’s Coin which eventually would become the first book in her series called Poppy’s Coin series. Her books deal with a magic coin that floats from plot to plot taking the readers in Regency Era in England.

This first book takes us through the story of Major David Lindsay and Lady Grace Andersen in 1817. Albeit the story is told by a docent to our heroine (name unknown) in 2006. In the beginning it took a while for me to get to read the story and move, it felt like I was waiting for that spooky factor and it never came. Partially my mistake in expecting based on the title.

Mary dedicates the book to her three co-authors in the anthology which none of the other authors do so. It has a fantasy to the story and bit of magic, but even short felt like I spent days reading it. There were parts that seemed rushed thru and unexplained and other parts that seemed too detailed with nothing happened.

Even though J.D. Robb has her novellas in the In Death series, each is a complete plot. Here I felt that the ending was abrupt and hoped to have a conclusion. It was a good beginning to a series, but a bad ending for a novella. Also the epilogue jumps by a year from when the prologue began, and no explanation how our heroine landed a year later. And no explanation of what happened to her friend that she comes with in the beginning.

Perhaps need to read the next book to get answers, but I have too many on my “To Read” Pile that it might not get added to it yet. May be in a few years.

This series centers on a magic coin that can grant a wish, but not always in the way you expect. This is a fun little historical romance, with just a touch of magic as allot device. It is not the traditional spooky that you expect based on the title of the anthology.

Spoiler Alerts:

Plot Reveals:

Heroine’s name is unknown. All we know is she is from Topeka, Kansas and she is looking for more than the life that was in Topeka.

What happened to her friend Jim?

What is the name of the bar tender she meets at the end?

How did she jump a year while listening to the story by the docent? Who is the docent, even his name is unknown?