Book Review: Roastmaster (A Coffee Novel) by Janice Lierz

roastmasterReviewer: Kate

I received a copy of Roastmaster (A Coffee Novel) by Janice Lierz in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

The seventh sister is over the moon for a Costa Rican coffee farmer…

In the spring of 1984, John Mallory, the seventh sister in a coffee family dies a legend when she is uprooted from Kansas City and travels to a coffee farm in Costa Rica to become a Roastmaster. Now, eighteen years later, Capri is connected to her dead aunt through a surreal sense of smell. When Capri runs away with her boyfriend, she unearths John Mallory’s story and the myth of the Pleiades, a cluster of blue stars known as the Seven Sisters. But her quirky mother, grandfather and five aunts fear love will also lead Capri to an early grave.

A heartwarming and emotionally tugging story about family bonds, sisters, coffee and the never-ending love of parent and child. It’s a novel about falling in love—and the different journeys life takes us on…A tale for those who know magic can be found in the bean of a fruit.

Review:

Roastmaster is a novel steeped in magical realism, a haunting story of cross generational angst, a coming of age story that links past, present and future in a circle of hope and love. This is not a light read, but it is a worthwhile effort. The language leaves the reader suspended between realms, a place that may be uncomfortable for some but enchanting to others. This is a book that took me some time to open to; a suspension of disbelief and permission to abandon linear time was necessary to see the beauty that this Coffee Novel reveals. Once entrenched in the jungle with John Mallory and Capri, I fell in love with the extrasensory intuition bestowed by their supersensory olfactory glands—understanding the connection of smell to memory and place. Janice Lierz transports the reader to a reality outside of the material, embarking on a journey of the senses to obtain selfhood. Lierz poetic rendering of this tale is commendable; she takes the cliché tale of entering womanhood and spins a tale of epic proportions. This is a love story for the ages. An intelligent read that challenges the reader to smell the coffee.

Rating: 4 Stars

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