Keturah & Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
Published: November 1st, 2006
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Fairy Tale, YA, Historical Fiction
Martine Leavitt offers a spellbinding story, interweaving elements of classic fantasy and high romance in this National Book Award Finalist. Keturah follows a legendary hart into the king’s forest, where she becomes hopelessly lost. Her strength diminishes until, finally, she realizes that death is near. Little does she know that he is a young, handsome lord, melancholy and stern. Renowned for her storytelling, Keturah is able to charm Lord Death with a story and thereby gain a reprieve but only for twenty-four hours. She must find her one true love within that time or all is lost. Keturah searches desperately while the village prepares for an unexpected visit from the king, and Keturah is thrust into a prominent role as mysterious happenings alarm her friends and neighbors. Lord Death’s presence hovers over this all until Keturah confronts him one last time in the harrowing climax.
Get on Goodreads & Amazon
Rating:
This was a very predictable romance but I loved it so much. I loved Martine’s style it was whimsical and really went with the time period. The historical aspect was definitely one of my favorite things about this story. The book is told in layers of stories but it never gets confusing. It makes a lot of sense and I really enjoyed the use of stories. True love is another big aspect of the story and as a hopeless romantic I really related to that on many levels. Death is a huge part of the story and it really brought some great discussion questions on how people deal with death and how people speak or don’t speak about death. I LOVED the strong use of female friendship between Keturah, Gretta, and Beatrice. They really had each others back till the very end and it reminded me of my friendship with my best friends. The whole story hit a lot of points about acceptance, life, love, death, relationships, etc.
“I will tell you a story that is all of those things, a story of magic and love, of daring and death, and one to comfort your heart. It will be the truest story I have ever told. Now listen, and tell me if it is not so.”
“You, my lord, are the ending of all true stories.”
- Keturah’s need for true love (I RELATE)
- The story telling that Keturah does to stop Lord Death from taking her
- The slow burning romance
- The Magic
- How sweet Lord Death is
- LORD DEATH!!!!!!!! When he laughs
- The beautiful description
- Historical setting and accuracy (mention of plague)
- Death wanting to know about the true love & his growth
- The female friendships
- Really seeing how different people see death and view death
- When Death compliments Keturah thus showing his romantic side
- The character Soor Lily
- Keturah’s ability to see Death and speak with him but no one else can
- Death being vulnerable and in love (Page 100)
- The story telling and whimsical writing style
- The story of deaths secret and the growing love story
- The way Death always did things for Keturah like saving people in her village
- PAGE 163-165 I LOVE THEM SO MUCHHHHH
- PAGE 206-211 MY PRECIOUS KIDS
“I will give you the world for your footstool.”
- It was a bit of a slow story
- The way the town treated Keturah
- The way the town used Keturah
- How long Keturah took to understand Death was her true love lol
- The way Keturah manipulated poor Lord Death a bit
This was overall such a fun and cute romantic story I would definitely read it again when I need a light easy read with a cute romance. If you read it what did you think?
