I freely chose to review this book and wish I had the whole series! A fatal plague sweeps through the magekind while they sleep and no one is immune, Cari Dolan of Dolan House is one of the richest houses in the land, but as she watches the plague take her father's life and almost hers she is the only one left to care for members and staff of the house and she has no time to mourn her dad...

Outsider, Mason had no family and no House to claim him and his son so that their were called "Stay?" At the invitation of the mayor to the Shadow people and he had hoped that one House would take him and his son in otherwise they were at the mercy of the hellish things this world offered... ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A mage and a Stray must work together to stop a deadly plague in this enchanting and engrossing novel by Erin Kellison.

Opening Sentence: Mason waited for his son to climb out of the car, then slammed the back passenger door shut.

The Review:

I’ve officially found a new favorite author! It’s going to be hard for me to write a coherent review because I currently feel like running around the room screaming “Oh my God, this book was awesome!” I will do my best to put my thoughts down in some semblance of order though.

Mages, angels, fae, and humans all exist in this wonderful world Erin Kellison has created; however, they do no co-exist peacefully. Someone has unleashed a plague that only targets mages, causing all of magekind to retreat to the safety of their Houses, which keep out the plague by way of the ward-stones that protect each House and its inhabitants.

Cari Dolan’s father has died from the plague, leaving her the official head of Dolan House. Amidst the turmoil of her grief and the humans’ rising displeasure with mages, Cari has also begun to hear a voice in her head, which is never a good sign.

Mason Stray has no house to claim him. Because of this, he has sometimes had to take unsavory jobs in order to provide for his 8-year-old son, Fletcher. When the head of the mage council offers Fletcher a fosterage in a House in return for Mason’s help tracking down the culprit behind the plague, he readily agrees.

Mason and Cari knew each other as teenagers, and both remember the night they almost became more than friends. Now, they must work together to find out who’s causing this plague before it’s too late.

I loved Cari as the heroine. She seemed very realistic to me, and it was fascinating to watch her struggle with her grief for her father, her desire to live up to his wishes for her, and her wish to be her own person. She is the very definition of a strong heroine.

Mason is an amazing leading man. It’s not often you see a single father in paranormal romance, and this makes Mason all the more attractive. His entire existence is centered around his son and his desire to keep him safe. From the moment I “met” him in the prologue, I was completely invested in this man getting his happily-ever-after.

The narration in the book covers multiple points of view, although events are most often told through the eyes of Mason and Cari. The switch in points of view did not negatively affect the flow of the book in my opinion. It was actually very interesting to see a different perspective from time to time.

It should also be mentioned that this is the second book in a series, and that this series is connected to Kellison’s earlier Shadow series. This is the first book I’ve read in either series, and I rarely had a problem understanding what was happening. What little confusion I had certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book.

Suffice to say, I absolutely loved this book. It had my attention from page one, and by the time I read the last page of the epilogue, I was sad it was over. I will certainly be reading more books from this series and the series that came before it!

Notable Scene:

“Mayor Bingham has this idea that we’re all basically the same. And in many ways we are. Family, for example, is very important to us. And loyalty is one of our most prized character traits. Power, too, is highly sought after among my kind.”

Mason glanced over long enough to see the mayor’s smile faltering. Yeah, buddy. Little late now.

The crowd was utterly silent.

“But it’s best you know that we’re fundamentally different, so much so that there can never really be peace between us.” Cawl continued, “Point of fact, you humans have souls. We don’t. We have dark magic within us. There was a time when you humans used to hunt us down and burn us alive. It’s time for Shadow now.”

FTC Advisory: Zebra/Kensington provided me with a copy of Soul Kissed. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Thanks to Kaye Brand the human world now knows of Mages and Shadow. During a human/shadow event a plague is released reeking havoc on Mages. Reluctantly Mason and Cari partner up to find the culprit behind this plague.

This is book two in the Shadow Kissed series, and Soul Kissed definitely delivers. It is dark and sensual and everything loved about Shadowverse. A good read for me. I don't know if it was the mood I was in while reading or what, but I did have a hard time liking the heroine Cari. Now Mason on the other hand was an exciting character to read about. Even though I was put off a bit, I still recommend this one. Especially if you've been reading this series since the beginning. ( )

Link to book: Amazon

Book Description:

While the world slumbers in Shadow, a fatal plague has swept through magekind. No one is immune to its ravages, and now that her father is dead, Cari Dolan must wield the fearful magic of her House to save innocent lives.

At the mage Council’s bidding, dangerous outsider Mason Stray joins forces with Cari to hunt down the fiend responsible. But can he trust the daughter of wealth and privilege, especially when his own son is at risk?

The princess will always welcome to her bed the warrior, even if one must pay the ultimate price…

** I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review*

Review: 4 stars

General: Please not before reading this is book 2 in series. I firmly believe that without book 1 it would prove to be a confusing read as the world is complex, fantastic and large and without basic knowledge it would be hard to follow concepts and terms in this.

I loved the series this kind of spun off from. And I love this one with all it’s complexities and dangers. I did have a little trouble staying involved in the book because it felt like a little too much was going on. There are multiple important plots and I loved them both but I think together I was a touch distracted and it put some distance between myself and the characters. Also, there were quite a few points of views in the book and at times I had to reread a section because I somehow missed the change.

That being said this book dovetails off of one of the strongest worlds built. Shadow is alive, it’s essentially another world and it has bred another type of creature, but not a human despite how they look. The leads in this book, Cari and Mason, are faced with saving not only the shadowmages they call family (or does Mason?) from an incurable plague but also stop from unleashed an evil fae queen into the world that would destroy humans and mages alike. I found the struggle they faced wonderful and the plots themselves exciting and fantastic. The world is so vivid and wonderfully set up it’s impossible to not be interested.



Characters: Cari- Cari Donlan is the head of her House after her fathers death. She handles this incredibly well, taking on responsibility at such a young age it is a reminder of how different the characters created are. She is headstrong, authoritative, and quite in denial for much of the book. The denial didn’t quite ring true with her other traits and it made it hard for me to believe that she would do some of the things she did. Her compassion however made me take a liking to her and hope to see her in the future of the series.

Mason- I loved Mason! He was everything a kid needs in a father. He was protective and loving of his son in such a way I was shocked it didn’t overwhelm the entire book. But it also made him very loveable. He handled his situation as a Stray wonderfully and was supportive every time Cari needed him to be. ( )

I loved it. I'm so happy that I came a crossed this series last year. It's a must own series for me! I'm amazed by how well the world Erin built and continues to build with each book. I love seeing my favorite characters from previous books pop up (Khan!). She bring something new with each book nothing is ever boring or repetitive. Each book is fresh, exciting and for me always a one sit read.
Mason and Cari were so great together. They both brought out the best in each other and were perfect. What can I say I actually liked the villain Maeve aka Mad Mab aka fae Queen aka Cari's (lots of greats) grandmother who possesses/lives inside her grandkids. Maeve was hilarious I couldn't get enough of her. I wish she would have been a bit more reasonable but I guess that what's happens when you have lots of power you go a little Mad. The real villain for me was Liv Mason's ex and Fletcher's mom. When she jumped back into the picture I could have screamed. Really didn't like her. Which leads me to Fletcher aka Stealth (coolest name ever for a really great kid) I didn't know how he was going to fit into all of this and really he was awesome and I hope one day he'll have his own book. Not yet he's to young.
Okay now I need to go back and read all the books again. You don't know what you’re missing until you start reading a very well developed creative world and characters! I hope this series never ends!
Recommend for any paranormal romance and urban fantasy fans!
ARC courtesy of Kensington via NetGalley ( )