Shadow Silence by Yasmine Galenorn Series: Whisper Hollow, #2
Published by Jove Publication Date: September 27th 2016
Pages: 336
Also in this series: Autumn Thorns
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New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn invites readers to Whisper Hollow, where spirits walk among the living and the lake never gives up her dead…
Fifteen years ago, I ran away from Whisper Hollow, Washington, a small town on Crescent Lake in the Olympic Peninsula. But truth is, if you were born here, you can never really leave. I'm Kerris Fellwater, and I'm a spirit shaman. It's my responsibility to drive the dead back to their graves, because around Whisper Hollow, people—and secrets—don't always stay buried.
My best friend Peggin finds herself under a curse after she is almost taken by the Lady of the Lake, and the Unliving are determined to drag her back to the hungry waters. As Bryan—my guardian and mate—and I work to break the hex, we uncover a dark and violent mystery from the past. One the Hounds of Cú Chulainn will do anything to guard—even if they must summon a legion of the dead to destroy Whisper Hollow.
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
Though there were some writing points I’ll address later in this review, I enjoyed this read a lot! I’m a new fan of this author and after having read the first book in the Whisper Hollow series, I was excited to see what she would come up with next. Galenorn delivers another great installment in this unique and eerie tale that will keep you turning the pages.
Kerris is a spirit shaman who helps restless spirits passover into their afterlife. She, along with a gifted council of others, helps protect the people of Whisper Hollow, so that the dead and the supernatural have a harder time disrupting the lives of the townspeople. But nothing is ever safe in Whisper Hollow and just as Kerris’s powers are growing and she’s becoming stronger in her birthright, something sinister is trying to take hold of the foggy little hamlet. The forests have become hunting grounds, the lady in the lake is taking more people than ever before and things are more unsafe for the living than they ever have been.
The imagination that went into the telling of this story, is outstanding. The author pulls you right into the mystery and horror these townspeople are living. I got chills reading some of these scenes as the author delivers superbly written descriptive prose, and felt a sense of awe at how fascinating the characters and their powers were.
Though there wasn’t a lot of heartfelt romancing in this read, I enjoyed the continuing relationship between Kerris and Bryan as well as the newly evolved relationship between Peggin and Divine! I LOVED Devine! He was something special, for sure.
BUT….as great as this read was, I sometimes felt the flow of the story got bogged down with irrelevant things, such as the feeding of Kerris’s cats and the washing out of their bowls in the dishwasher, clothing choices, simple routines or grooming habits such as washing her hair every other day so it doesn’t dry out, or applying makeup. Sometimes the scenes felt drawn out with the amount of detail these unnecessary descriptions offered, pulling me out of the story itself.
And then I have to talk about the sex scenes. I like Kerris and Bryan as a couple. He’s her protector and they are in love, that’s obvious. But their relationship sometimes felt stilted and unnatural, like the author was forcing their connection. And the sex scenes? They felt awkward, like they were thrown in just for the benefit of having sex scenes in the book. The writing didn’t flow well for me in this area and that too, distracted from the amazing plot.
Regardless of some of the faults in this book, I still enjoyed the story, the mystery and the incredible imagination that went into it. I’m looking forward to the next one!
