Her Soul to Take

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This is a great book to read during October. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea when it comes to the spicy parts of the book, but I thought it fit with the whole atmosphere of the book and the world that was built into the story. Plenty of creepy moments and creatures to make it spooky, but also good moments of banter between the two main characters and romance to fill in the gaps of horror and action.

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Not badly written; just not my cuppa.

The Relief of Substance

I’m so thankful this book was more than I ever expected it to be.

I wish I had waited until Spooky Season to read it because I definitely thought I saw an Eld while I was driving early this morning. The paranormal vibes were spot on.

I enjoyed the plot/spice ratio so much. I enjoy spice as much as the next booktoker, but I need a plot and I need spice with some lead up. This book was *chef’s kiss* in that balance.

Plot:

Raelynn Lawson has always felt the pull to return to her hometown of Abelaum and the paranormal vibe it's always had. So with her final year of university looming, she makes the decision to transfer. But she soon finds the paranormal vibe is a lot more real than she imagined.

Leon has been the captive of a human cult for over a century and he hates every freaking minute. He can't wait for the day they screw up and he can slaughter them all and he will finally be able to return to Hell. But when the option for freedom comes, he manages to find another reason to stay - Rae.

I read the second book, Her Soul for Revenge first. It said I could in the blurb and since that one really appealed to my mood - I did. And it was epic. I loved every minute even if it wasn't necessarily a perfect book. So with my book hangover and a slight curiosity of Leon and Rae's story - I thought I'd give this one a go. In some ways, I'm glad I did. In other ways not so much.

This is an okay read. It runs concurrently to the second book and there is the tiniest bit of overlap but otherwise it is kind of separate. It's got a decent plot, some interesting worldbuilding (though, as in the second one, it's a bit skint on the details), red hot sex and one really big problem in the form of the two main characters. Well, one main character.

The problem was Rae. Leon is average - I liked him more in this book than I did in the second - but he didn't really gain much more than like. On the other hand - I hated Rae. Or at least very strongly disliked her. She was too stupid to live. Seriously. Everything takes a crazy amount of proof for her to believe. I mean she's a paranormal investigator for fks sake - why would it be so unbelievable that any of it is true? Plus she completely ignores her instincts. She knows when something is wrong - but that seems to be her cue to convince herself that it's not and it was fkn annoying. She drove me insane and it made it very hard to enjoy the rest of the book. See, Juniper from the second book is a badass. She fights and fights and fights. Rae is defiant but she's not really much of a fighter - successful or otherwise. And I just didn't want to read a story about a timid mouse. It was not what I was expecting. And maybe that's on me - cause I read the second book first.

That said though I don't think I could've read it the other way around. Her Soul to Take fills in some of the blanks but I feel like the overall story is stronger for me having read Her Soul for Revenge first. It provides a better overview of what's actually going on and I don't think it would've made as much sense the other way round.

The relationship between Rae and Leon was sweet and flirty with a dark edge. It wasn't quite as dark as the next one gets in some ways but I also feel that it doesn't necessarily address kink and the lines between fantasy and the real world as well either. Although it

does provide a disclaimer at the beginning regarding this.

Honestly I didn't really get the relationship between them. I didn't understand why Leon was so keen on her when she was busy doing everything she could to destroy his trust or run. I hated the bit where Rae tries to

bind Leon to her will. He was already doing everything for her and proving he could be trusted and she just ruined it - and Leon kind of just accepted it! I mean yeah he punished her but after all his rants about freedom - how the hell did he let that go?

Not liking the main character did mean this was a particularly long book. Much too long when you find the sex starting to get boring and repetitive. But as I said, this book does fill in a few blanks mainly in regards to Everly and Callum (I'm so excited to read their story!) - it's not much and you could potentially skip it but I'm glad I didn't. Even if Rae drove me mad.

If nothing else, Harley Laroux is an author to watch. 3.5 stars.