The Scent Keeper

A Novel

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Gabra Zackman, Erica Bauermeister: The Scent Keeper (AudiobookFormat, 2019, Macmillan Audio)

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Published May 21, 2019 by Macmillan Audio.

ISBN:
978-1-250-22347-0
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Think about your five senses and which you would choose if you had to lose one of them forever. I think the vast majority of the planet would choose the sense of smell. Now imagine a family of characters who feel the opposite, that smell is the most important of the senses. Now imagine this family is part dog and part wizard when it comes to smells. That is this book.

Twice I headed over to Google to see if what I was reading was actually YA. Turns out it's just melodramatic and peopled with stupid characters. The protagonist is supposed to be likeable and relatable, she's coming of age after all. I did not like her. If there is something important in your life you need to find out more about, it shouldn't take you five years to Google it. Every action is delayed for no apparent reason and …

An olfactory fairy tale

A fairy tale or a myth with deep, evocative scenes through scent. If 'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer' is too intense, the dark base note in this tale is balanced by hopeful and bright top notes.

Review of 'The Scent Keeper' on 'Goodreads'

This book had many things going for it: the emphasis on scents in relation to memories, interesting characters, and a search for truth that isn’t cloying. However, the relationship between Emmeline and Fisher is meant to pull at the heart strings, but the author never took the time needed to flesh out their connection for it to seem natural. You can’t will such feelings into being without giving your readers something tangible to cling on to; simply spending time together isn’t sufficient. Overall, the book was entertaining, and I found myself looking forward to each new chapter, but the characters were never more than two dimensional. If I had been given a reason to believe in and care for the characters, my response would have been much less middling.

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