Sherry J. Soule

My Thoughts:
Wow! This is a fantastic read! It is captivating! Brilliantly written. This alluring tale is original and yet classic at the same time. It is more than just your average story of good (light) versus evil (dark). This is a story of jealousy, greed, betrayal, sacrifice, desire, and love. It is a story of what happens when what a person wants corrupts them into doing the unthinkable, and the results of that corruption. I was left wondering...what price is too high?

The characters are show more fantastic. They are creatively and carefully constructed. Their lives, relationships, interactions, and emotions are so realistic that I was instantly invested in their lives. Each of the characters is living through trauma and/or some kind of personal drama that they are forced to struggle with every day. The characters are given strong personalities and I found myself on an emotional rollercoaster with them as the story progressed.

Sherry Soule has created a mystery steeped in history and heritage, and hidden by fear, lies, deception and secrecy. I was thrilled with the witchcraft/Wiccan/Native American Shaman combination of magic.
The plot twists and turns, by the end of the book I was hanging on to my seat unable to read fast enough to find out more! Now, I can't wait for the next book in the series! show less

Timing is everything, when Mercy is about to be homeless as well as jobless she inherits not only a book store but a new home although her Aunt had to pass for this to occur. Whilst trying to make the best of her new start at life, death seems to follow her and it appears many people are after the Secreta book and she is considered a prime suspect in the murders. I loved Mercy and how she tries to be subtle about her questioning as well as starts to make new friends (and old from when she show more use to live there) but every one held a note of suspicion as just like the note from her Aunt said "be careful who you trust". This is the perfect cozy mystery that has you trying to guess who is behind it all while enjoying great characters, having a few laughs and leaves you looking forward to the next book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. show less

Shiloh Ravenwolf is different. She can see things that no-one else can see, shadows that shun the sunlight and feed on her fear. Demons that stalk the night and whisper her of debts unpaid. And she has powers and abilities she cannot fully explain, but increasingly sees as part of a family legacy that has been kept carefully hidden from her – even when she needs those tools the most

And she does need them – with the town being even more spooky than usual, labouring under a curse and with show more an increasing number of young people disappearing – including people she cares about. She has to dig into the history of the town’s most haunted house and her own family history – as well as learning to master her powers and her potential.

And then there’s Trent, the gorgeous and intriguing new guy in town who seems very interested in her.

We have a town cursed and demons lurking about leading to the disappearance of children. We have magic and mystical beings and demons and ghosts, which is a nice shift from the more corporeal monsters we normally see. We have a young woman coming into her legacy of magic, with two heritages to draw upon. We have her learning and growing as a person, in magic, in personality and in relationships. We have a family torn and turning against itself between morals and magical practices. We have a chosen one who has the power and the legacy without being so typically annoying with it. We have a decently racially diverse cast and mystical founding families which isn’t a sloppy code for “more white folks!” We have a teenager with minimal high school drama and even a love interest who isn’t abusive (though he is repeatedly described as cocky or giving mixed signals despite not doing either). And while the protagonist starts as a Bella-style klutz, she quickly forgets to be.

We have a lot of elements that could have made this book very very good.

Like many books, however, this concept is just utter derailed by the writing that I found really hard to get into. It’s overwrought, it’s grossly melodramatic and I strongly suspect the word “anthracite” has appeared on the author’s word-a-day calendar lately. In fact, it’d help if the characters just used to word “black” to describe something that is black. I felt like burning a thesaurus by the end of the first few chapters. And there’s a lot of really excess description – do we really need to know what Shiloh’s best friend’s hair smells like? Really? The dialogue is often long winded and I think it’s meant to contain humorous banter but it just falls really flat. The conversations feels convoluted, long winded, repetitive and generally aren’t particularly interesting and are covered with far too much of Shiloh’s personal exposition and often repeated feelings.

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While Sherry Soule’s Beautifully Broken is narrated by a teenage girl, it is not your usual young adult coming-of-age novel. Fifteen-year-old Shiloh Trudell has the ability to see spirits. Not the bottled kind, and not the benevolent kind; the evil, dark, suck out your life essence kind. At first, she’s able to keep them off with sunlight, but when the Shadow Man, the Eater of Souls, makes an appearance, things begin to change for the worse. Shiloh finds herself at the center of the dark show more secrets of the town of Fallen Oaks, and in danger of losing not only her soul, but her life.
A spooky, paranormal, horror story that will keep you awake at night, and have you looking under the bed before going to sleep, and jumping at every sound. Sherry Soule has written a story that is the standard by which others in this genre will be measured. If you think your nerves can take it, this is a must read book. show less