Rachel McClellan

In Fractured Light by Rachel McClellan, her main character Llona stands out even though throughout the book, she is focused on fitting in. You can sense the inner battle that she faces as she fights both the desire to be peaceable and violent. Will she disobey the Auran Council and use her gift as a weapon or will she hide behind what should be her gift? She is hilarious and so much like myself. When things go wrong, she pretends to be stronger than she actually is and she lies to seem show more stronger when something is wrong.

May is probably one of my favorite best friend characters in all of the books I've read. She is loyal and determined to remain friends despite Llona's stand-offishness and the things that set them apart from "normal" people. Christian is a frustrating love interest that most of the time makes you want to bang your head against the wall. Despite this though, he is set in doing everything the right way and because of this, he pushes important people away. Can we agree that if a gorgeous guy was constantly like, "I love you but I shouldn't so I will pretend I don't," that we would be frustrated? Yeah, that covers that whole frustrating situation.

I wish the bad guy had played a bigger part, other than being a creepy stalker and stuff. I want more struggle, more fights, and so that was a little disappointing. The bad guy still gave me the chills.

The plot follows the typical battle between light and dark although light and dark takes the form of two different races or people. That definitely set the whole story apart. Rachel McClellan did a great job of using plot twists which truly twisted my ideas about how the book was going to work out and they were easy to follow.

I really liked the story. show less

Here I am, going to fangirl for a little bit before I get into anything else. This book is amazing and so utterly heartbreaking that I am currently debating on ranting at the same time as fangirling. All I can really say is that the plot thickens a lot by the end of the book and I am craving the next book more than you can imagine.

Fractured Soul is the perfect title for this story. A lot of books you wonder why authors select that title above a different one and you can't seem to grasp what show more made this title better than another. Well, that isn't true for this novel. Throughout the story, you grapple with just how real that title comes into play. To have a fractured soul -- to be fractured at all -- would destroy a person and Llona battles with allowing herself to break in every way possible. I know that if I were her, I wouldn't have made it to the last chapter.

There is so much development for Llona and she is so strong that I long to be like her. Just like the first novel, she isn't hard to connect with and there is something very human in her weaknesses even if the typical person doesn't experience what she does. If I wasn't certain that she could handle everything thrown at her, I would definitely be tempted to pull her from the story and keep her safe. Is that possible? I don't care because I would find a way. Llona faces a lot of struggle, heartbreak, and happiness which puts you on an emotional roller coaster that you never want to get off. Her strength, which I going to continually praise, is awe-inspiring and her abilities as well as selflessness is something that I don't know if I could have. She is an amazing leader and friend, yet she battles with something darker, something more sinister.

Can I marry Christian? Despite my earlier questions about him as a love interest, he became one of my favorites by far. He has so much depth, so much loyalty, and so much love to him that makes me just want to hug him. Well that and keep him forever. Why can't there be a Christian in my life? Anyways, I love him. There is no doubt in my mind that he is a strong character and yet has a softer side that most men either shy away from showing or maintain instead of being strong.

All of the new characters introduced throughout the story were either someone who I want to be my best friend or someone I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. There were a few that fit into both. May, oh May, I think we should be best friends. She is probably the greatest person ever, except for Llona who has skyrocketed a lot for me. I also fell in love with Tessa who is a brand new character to the story and the story definitely wouldn't have been the same without her.

If I wasn't so chicken, I would adamantly say that I want to be Llona and have her friends (and let's not forget Christian) but I honestly couldn't handle everything she goes through.

I am going to now sing praises for the epic bad guy(s). I can't even begin to tell you how much I love a well written bad guy, the type that sends chills down my spine and makes me think twice about going out at night. You, Rachel McClellan, will never be questioned about writing bad guys again. You blew my mind and showed me just how much darkness can hide even in the brightest of places. I think you even inadvertently created some less bad guys -- but still not good guys -- throughout the story and whether that was on purpose or not, I loved it. You made me question everything and everyone which is hard to do once I've formed an opinion.

I love this story. There is a lot of beauty to it's darkness and it was awesome in its heartbreaking way. Very few stories have made me so frustrated and I think Fractured Soul is definitely one of them.

The plot...
The characters...
The romance...
The world...
Why can't it be real?

I can without a doubt say that if you read the Fractured Light series, you will not be disappointed. It has everything you could possibly want in a story and leaves you craving more. If you haven't read Fractured Light, go read it because the world isn't complete without reading this series. show less

Didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first, as I felt there was a lack of world-building, but I was still completely engaged with the characters and in the narrative. The pace of these first two installments so far has been phenomenal. Not a dull moment!

I'd still recommend giving this one a go.

I received The Devil’s Fool written by Rachel McClellan through Library Thing.

If I were to sum up my whole review into one word it would be…WOW! Make sure you have everything you need before you crack the cover because you are not coming out of this book anytime soon! From the first sentence to the last, I was not willing to put this book down. My poor dogs have never felt so neglected!

This book is intense in all the best ways. It is dark, but with hope around every corner. It breaks the show more rules…in a good way. The heroine is not always a good girl and it is shocking at times to see just how far she will go and how evil she can be. But there is light in her heart and that is all I will say about that.

This is a fast paced, horror, romance, paranormal, witty and very well written story. Rachel brings you on a Journey with Eve that is nothing short of spectacular. The magical words woven into this story will make your imagination come alive. When I say “very well written”, I mean , I think this Author could write a story about the phone book and I would be captivated.

I cannot wait to read The Devil’s Angel, book two and hopefully not the last in this series. I will say that even though this book could be read alone, it will leave you wanting more. There is a cliffhanger and a very good one. The book doesn’t end making you feel like you are missing anything, you just feel sad that it is over and you will want more…I hope that makes sense. You really need to read this book to understand my enthusiasm and I hope you do, you won’t regret one second of it. show less