Friday, May 20, 2016

Kindle Unlimited Review: Keeper of My Soul by Rebecca Norinne Caudill

Series:     Macauley Series #2
Pub. Date:May 18, 2016
Publisher:Self-Pub
Pages:209
Source:Kindle Unlimited

The Macauley series continues to show the potential to become action-packed fangtastic entertainment set in the beautiful backdrop of Ireland.

As this is an urban fantasy, we met our main characters in the first installment. So this is not a standalone; you need to read the books in order to be "in the know" of what is going on. So if you haven't read the first book, A Time Apart, stop reading now because this review may contain minor spoilers.

Still with me? Alrighty. So the first installment culminated in a big event... namely Olivia being made vampire. This book picks up where the first left off where our couple have tied themselves together and are starting Olivia's new immortal life.

The pacing of this book was reminiscent of the first installment, in that the first 60% of the book meandered along over a short period of time where we watch Olivia and William hanging out in the restored castle, building their relationship and learning to cope with Olivia's new status as a vampire. Something is not quite right with Olivia's transformation.  There is a darkness that appears in her at times, which confounds both Olivia and William because neither are sure of the cause or consequences.  There was a lot of learning going on for both of our characters... and we spent a good deal of time learning about William's history. Man, I knew William was a tortured hero, but I didn't quite grasp the horror he endured as a new vampire. While his tale was hard to read at times, it did create a stronger empathic connection to William's character.  Olivia, on the other hand, started to hit my annoying heroine buttons. She acted shrewish toward William, storming off at the slightest argument and getting jealous over women he was with before he met her.   

The pace of the story did start to pick up in the last quarter... almost to the point that it felt like it was going in fast forward. Each new chapter started weeks or months later... and it seemed like we missed out on some events that would have provided some action and anticipation into the story. The vast majority of this story takes place with Oliva and William staying in or on the castle grounds, so I would have liked to see them venture out a little more. I was hoping this installment was where we were going to see the story pick-up, but we are still learning in this book about our character's past and an ancient prophecy which appears to be coming true.  However this book ends with another big event which provides a good jumping off point for the rest of the series, and I am looking forward to seeing how this prophecy plays out and what it means for Olivia and William.

Mcauley Series

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