Blog Tour – The Life Of Death by Lucy Booth – #Randomthingstours @unbounders

Well its my stop on the Blog Tour for The Life Of Death by Lucy Booth. This is my first ever Blog Tour and I am delighted to have been included alongside these other fab bloggers!

Be sure to check their blogs out too!

Thanks to Ann, Random Things Tours and Unbound who provided me with an ARC of the book, in return for an honest review as part of the Blog Tour.

About The Book

In 1590, I sold my soul to the Devil. I was twenty-three.

Elizabeth Murray has been condemned to burn at the stake. As she awaits her fate, a strange,
handsome man visits her cell. He offers her a deal: her soul in return for immortality, but what
he offers is not a normal life. To survive Elizabeth must become Death itself.

Elizabeth must ease the passing of all those who die, appearing at the point of death and using
her compassion to guide them over the threshold. She accepts, and for 500 years whirls from
one death to the next, never stopping to think of the life she never lived. Until one day,
everything changes. She – Death – falls in love.

Desperate to escape the terms of her deal, she summons the man who saved her. He agrees to
release her on one condition: that she gives him five lives. These five lives she must take
herself, each one more difficult and painful than the last.

Dark Reads Review

Every action has a consequence

I found the whole concept of The Life Of Death really unique and interesting. We have the idea of death being portrayed by an ominous dark figure, in this book that preconception is turned on its head.

Lizzy is death but appears to the dying individual as a prominent female figure from their lives, she could appear as a mother, daughter, lover or wife who then offers comfort and peace during the final moments before they die.

As the story follows Lizzy over the decades drifting from one death to another, I got a real sense of how lonely and unfulfilling her existence had become. She decides she wants her life back as she has fallen in love. The Devil does not intend to let her go easily and proposes a game to Lizzy; Take 5 lives, of his choosing in return for her soul.

I naïvely thought this would be a horrible task but it couldn’t be that bad, could it?! I didn’t imagine how difficult it would actually be. I thought the author perfectly captured the turmoil that Lizzy goes through and the conscience of not just being death, who is there for those who are already dying, but actually causing these deaths for her own gain, each task is increasingly difficult and unethical than the last, but it is Lizzy’s only chance to get her life back.

I thought The life Of Death was beautifully written, it was lyrical and lovely to read. The imagery was brilliant too.

I pre-empted how the book would end, within reason, but the way it played out was not a disappointment by any means.

Does anyone win if you make a deal with the Devil?

I think The Life of Death was greatly influenced by the Authors battle with cancer while writing it, and her coming to terms with her own mortality.

Sadly Lucy Booth did not live to see this book published, she passed away after losing her battle with cancer in 2016.

Knowing that this book was written during that time makes it very poignant.

I don’t often read romance unless there is a dark undertone. The life of Death is categorised as ‘part Gothic horror story, part murder mystery, part modern romance’ This sums up the life of death perfectly for me.

I enjoyed this read, it’s a thought provoking and heart-breaking story of love and loss, with a unique take on death.

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Unbound
  
• ISBN: 9781783527106
  
• Published: 2nd May 2019

Go get a copy from Unbound or Amazon!

About The Author

From Unbound

Lucy Booth was born in Suffolk, moved with her family to Solihull, Cyprus and Lymm, Cheshire where she attended Manchester High School for Girls before studying Behavioural Sciences at Nottingham University. On graduating Lucy moved to London to pursue her career as a freelance producer for various top of the range adverts & music videos.

In 2011 Lucy was diagnosed with breast cancer resulting in surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Undaunted, and with the great assistance of her friends, Lucy not only continued working and writing her blog (lucifersboob.blogspot.co.uk) of her ‘cancer experience’ in a typically forthright and humorous fashion but felt the urge to write a novel. The Life of Death is the result.

In 2014 the aggressive cancer returned. However, Lucy was determined to live her life to the full and to finish her novel before she died in August 2016.

Lucy was funny and brave and an inspiration to all who knew and loved her; she never allowed her cancer to define her and remained upbeat and positive until her last days.

She is much missed by her parents, Jackie and Alan, and sister, Analie, her many friends, her godchildren and, of course, her cat Oliver.