Review: Lonely Souls

Lonely Souls by Karice Bolton

Witch Avenue Series #1

June 29, 2012 -Bulldog Press

290 Pages-  Fiction, Paranormal, Young Adult (teeters on the edge of New Adult)

http://www.karicebolton.com/

Facebook: Yes 

Twitter: @KariceBolton

Source: From my Kindle Library 

Purpose: Review Related 

*Special Note* This title is currently free on Amazon

From Goodreads:It’s two weeks before Triss turns 18, and her world is about to change into the most magical one imaginable as she readies herself to enter The Witch Avenue Order... that is until her mother’s disappearance. Instead of celebrating her transformation, she finds herself spreading rose petals into her mother’s empty grave.
When Logan, her best friend from junior high, moves back to town for college, he vows to help her find the answers she so desperately seeks surrounding her mother’s disappearance. As they begin uncovering clues, it becomes apparent that the life of white magic they both grew up loving is not what the majority practices, and their lives are in danger.
With a haunting feeling that her mother may still be alive, she begins to hear a call to the wilderness. Triss realizes that in order to find the answers she needs, she must learn the ways of her ancestors and become the hunter, not the hunted before it’s too late, and she becomes part of the lonely souls.

My thoughts:

I picked up Lonely Souls a while back when it was free on Kindle. But somehow it just sat there unread, until now. I am part of the blog tour for Altered Souls (my stop is Saturday). Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t do well with reading series books out of order.  So I made sure that I got a jump start so I could read book 1.  In the beginning, I was a little irritated and had the “oh no not again” feeling. I had just finished a couple of new adult books that can best be described as teenage issues and adult sex scenes. I have never been a fan of straight out romances, but if it’s important to the story I can deal. After the last book, I really wanted a break from the hormonal mess. So what started to sound like that in Lonely Souls made me want to put the book down and withdrawal from the tour.

                But I didn't; I am not sure what happened exactly, but I decided to push on. (Not wanting to get back to school work may have been a factor.) I’m glad I didn't give up on it.  There was so much going on. Triss even started acting like a semi-adult (she’s not really. Some consider eighteen an adult, I don’t.) She was put in a position that no one should ever be put in; a situation that makes or breaks a character. Not everyone toughens up after the brutal blows that life impales her with. I’m sure that she didn't want to, but it was happening. There are some dark moments within the story. This is not the nice little witch story you may find, where the witches uses white magic to heal and do nice things. Or the ghosts that come because they have unfinished business or they are carrying messages from the other side. This tale is full of darkness that can alter the very fabric of one’s soul.

                This darkness is not something that Triss is familiar with, she only knows that it’s bad. Her childhood friend, Logan, comes back into her life under the sad circumstance of her mom missing. He is all too familiar the dark side of magic.  He is also in love with Triss. The romance between these two is at times awkward and hormonal and sweet and endearing at other times. Yes I know that they are both young, and so I was a little more understanding when they were acting like normal hormonal teenagers.  Some of it still made me cringe, but it grew on me. This may be due to the fact that there were other more important things going on and they were both aware of it and focused on that.

The ending, what can I say about that? It wasn't the kind of cliff hanging where you have to pick your jaw up off the floor. I wouldn't even classify as a cliff-hanger. It just stops.  At a good place though, so much is going on that there is need for breathing room.  I’m so glad that I have book 2 waiting to get started (actually I already took a peek at it), because I am not quite ready to let go. Seeing the way book 1 ended, I did what any responsible book reader would do and went ahead and purchased book 3. Yep, I’m in it for the entire journey. 

4 stars ****

Always Shine,

Starr K