Title: Keeper of Souls Author: Harper Ray Series: The Revenant Trilogy #1 Genre: New Adult Paranormal
“What would you do if Death gave you a second chance?”
Most people who escaped death were relieved, happy to be granted that second chance at life. In my case, it was more of a curse than a blessing.
Everyday I woke, I was tortured with another soul. They all wanted something from me, but I couldn’t give it to them. Instead, I ignored them. I neglected the pain they had laced beneath their hollow eyes. I dismissed the screams that shattered my eardrums every time my head hit the pillow.
The souls took pleasure in patronizing me. They were a constant reminder of why I shouldn’t have been granted a second chance.
I had managed to escape Death twice, but the third time was my undoing. He came back with a heavy vengeance. Suddenly, I was thrown into a battle between two brothers. Heaven and Hell. Light versus Dark.
They both needed me on their side, but after facing Death for the third time, I wasn’t sure I would survive the cruel fate he had planned.
Slowly, I managed to pull myself off the hard ground, and rise to a standing position. I glanced around and noticed that all the souls I had seen earlier were gone. My lips dipped into a frown. That’s weird.
“Well, things just got…interesting, didn’t they, Ace?” the guy with dark hair taunted.
Ace sighed. “Why are you here, Deagan?”
His body was radiating an un-humanly amount of heat, so I took a few steps back, looking for an exit. The animosity between these two had me ready to bolt, but for some reason, I didn’t think Deagan would let me leave that easily.
I took another step back. Deagan took a few steps forward. There was something about him that made me want to run for the hills. He was dangerous, and that cocky smirk he had plastered on his lips told me that he knew it too.
“Where do you think you’re going, sweet cheeks?” he asked.
“Away from you,” I sneered.
His brows raised. “We’ve got a feisty one here. I like it.”
I clicked my tongue and turned around to bolt in the direction towards the exit. My ear-shattering scream filled the cemetery when Deagan materialized in front of me. I glanced behind me and back to him. “How did you do that?”
His sharp gaze was full of amusement. He was getting off on being a jackass.
A hand landed on my shoulder, pushing me back as Ace stepped between us. “I suggest you leave. You have no purpose here, Deagan.” His words came out clipped, and somehow, even I felt threatened just being in his presence.
My eyes narrowed. “I don’t need you to defend me.”
Ace glanced over his shoulder, and his gaze turned to slits.
Great, now I was on his shit list too. Why the hell was I still standing here?
“Already protecting her, huh?” Deagan pursed his lips, and the temperature outside raised the humidity twenty degrees. Sweat started leaking down my forehead.
Ace’s jaw ticked.
“Did you forget what happened the last time you interfered?”
Ace whipped his head in Deagan’s direction and crossed his arms over his chest. “The real question of the hour is what you’re doing here. We both know whose territory this is.”
Deagan’s stocky body stiffened. His obsidian gaze hardened. For a brief moment, I could have sworn I saw flames dancing in the darkness of his eyes. I shook my head, I really needed to get out of here, it seemed that I was on the verge of losing my mind.
As an author of young and new adult romances, Harper has a passion for writing stories that readers enjoy reading over and over again. Her imagination is the creative tool that helps her come up with several intriguing story lines that she hopes to share with the world. Her fans call her the “page turner author” because with each story she sucks the readers in, instantly hooking them from page one.
If Harper’s not busy writing her next book, she’s either digging into a sappy romance novel, binge watching Harry Potter or going to school full time.
Gwen Foster has never been kissed. But when she gets the chance to finally see what all the hype is about, it’s with her best friend’s crush. Embroiled in relationship drama she doesn’t understand, and ostracized from her friend group, Gwen escapes the angst by using her favorite femme fatale as a role model… and makes snooping on her classmates her new pastime.
Gwen’s detective work appears to be going well, until an unknown social media account starts spilling all the scandalous personal details she’s uncovered. Now this wannabe spy must stop whoever is behind it before everyone’s dirty laundry is aired, and Gwen is forced to finish high school without any friends.
Other People’s Butterflies is a coming-of-age contemporary mystery about not needing to find your first love – but yourself – and how to mend the relationships that matter to you.
Now it’s just me and Big Jimmy in the den, and I realize with mounting discomfort that his arm is resting behind me on the back of the sofa. Is that a move? Maybe his arm’s just tired. I turn to look at him, hoping I can read his intentions on his face. As I turn, a straggly bit of hair falls across my face. Big Jimmy reaches out and tucks it behind my ear.
Okay, that was definitely a move. I shake my head so that the lock of hair falls again, to show him that I don’t appreciate him tidying me up. I’d probably be more convincing if I weren’t grinning, but I can’t help it – it’s some kind of nervous reaction. He grins back and tucks the hair behind my ear again, and I shake it free again. Now I’m grinning because I’m actually kind of enjoying this. It feels like a game, and it feels like I’m winning somehow.
We carry on. Tuck and shake, tuck and shake. I think he’s going to kiss me. If he does, I’m going to kiss him back. I don’t particularly want to, but I have to kiss somebody sometime and I may as well get it over with. I’m assuming the desire to kiss will kick in once I’m actually doing it. Like in a romantic comedy, when one character kisses another out of the blue. Maybe they’re arguing, or waiting for a train, and the mood isn’t noticeably romantic but then the guy kisses the girl and there’s a little bit of music. Sparkly sounding, with the notes rising upwards, and you can almost feel it in your stomach. Tingly.
His hand cups the side of my face, I close my eyes automatically, and then it’s happening. Our mouths slide slickly over each other, like our lips are coated in oil or something. Romantic comedies have lied to me – kissing does not feel like the music sounds. Maybe the music is only there to cover up the embarrassing squishing noises coming from between two faces.
Cora Ruskin is a part-time MSc student of Science Communication, and works for a charity that helps victims of crime. Writing gets squeezed in between the two. She lives in Bristol, England, with five housemates and a very messy kitchen. “Other People’s Butterflies” is her debut novel.
As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
Three Reasons You Should Read This WWII Historical Fiction:
The Edelweis Sisters by Kate Hewitt is an emotional story about the Eder family and their three daughters during World War II that is equal parts dramatic, thrilling, and romantic.
Each of the three sisters goes through a journey that allows them to find deep parts of themselves they never imagined existed – and each one is unique.
A few of the “bad” characters were different from what I expected and made several surprising choices.
Johanna Eder and her sisters Birgit and Lotte have always lived quiet lives, working in their father’s clockmaking shop and helping their mother in the house. But they find it impossible to ignore the changes in the world around them.
At first Johanna finds it hard to believe the Nazis pose a real threat. But then her father hires Franz. He’s soulful, with dark eyes that twinkle with intelligence and humor. But he’s Jewish, and as Johanna falls for him, she realizes that loving him puts them all in danger.
The only way to save Franz is to get him to the safety of Switzerland. For this, she needs her sisters’ help, and they join the resistance. As the world turns dark around them, they must slip unnoticed right under the noses of the Nazi soldiers filling their cobbled streets.
Johanna knew she and her sisters would die for each other, but as their hearts are broken afresh each day and the lives of beloved friends and family are threatened, she discovers they would also die for the man she loves, and for what is right.
Johanna could never have foreseen how falling for a dark-eyed man would take her from an innocent girl to a fearless woman; from her quiet clock shop into the very depths of hell.
In the concentration camps of Ravensbruck and Mauthausen, Johanna and her sisters must show the strength of human spirit like never before. If they are to survive, they must prove that even in the darkness, the tiniest seeds of hope can bloom…
The Edelweis Sisters by Kate Hewitt follows the story of the three Eder girls, Johanna, Birgit, and Lotte. Each one very differnt in their own ways, they’ve lived a relatively peacful and normal life until World War II approaches their doorstep. The invasion of Austria is swift and mostly non-violent, and suddenly life is drastically different.
Lotte – the youngest believes she will find peach at the convent through a vocation. Birgit finds herself falling for a soldier, and Johanna falls in love with her father’s apprentice, a Jewish man. The story of each sister wraps its way around the others – showing how connected the three are even when physical distance separates them. Each story is uplifting and heartbreaking its own way, and none of them end quite the way I expected.
The Edelweis sisters really highlighted how the lives of everyday people were altered by the war – and not everyone made it out alive, healthy, or able to return to life as it was before. Work camps, interrogations, worrying about those you care for the most, and trying to find a way to do what you think is right all take a toll on the girls, and the toll was a real one.
Kate Hewitt did not shy away from the horrors of the Nazi regime, but she did find the very delicate balance between showing what happened and being too graphic for many readers. So many very heavy topics were addressed beautifully and in a manner that really showcased how life during war might have been.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
