Review: Lost Souls – Chelsea Mueller
Lost Soulsby Chelsea Mueller
Series: Soul Charmer #3
Also in this series: Borrowed Souls, Rogue Souls
Publisher: Chelsea Mueller
Publication Date: February 25, 2019
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 245
Source: Publisher
I received an advance review copy of this book from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My rating:
Get out of Hell free card? Not for Callie Delgado, Gem City's newest soul charmer. Sin and salvation collide in this gritty and action-packed urban fantasy.
Callie's magic is finally her own. She and Derek dispatched Ford. They should have been able to breathe, but layers of sin run deep beneath Gem City. Another mob boss quickly rises, and his sights are firmly set on Callie--and her family.
Mobile soul rental shops begin to bite at the Soul Charmer's business. His retribution is wicked, but the blowback threatens to crush Callie. If she can't maintain the tenuous balance of souls in Gem City, more lives will be lost.
Only the more magic she uses, the more danger finds her. A break-in, pools of blood, and bare shelves at the Soul Charmer's store force Callie to choose the fates of others.
But which can she live with? Losing her city, her love, her family ...or her very soul?
I’d heard good things about the first two books in this series, so I jumped on the chance to review this book, the third in the Soul Charmer series. I’d already purchased the other books, which meant there was nothing to stop me from binge reading the books back to back in a few days! This is some delightfully fun urban fantasy, and while dark and gritty isn’t usually my go-to, Ms. Mueller really sold me on her world and characters. As the third book in series, this can’t be read as a standalone, and there are definitely spoilers for the earlier books in this review!
She’d been living an above-board life. Now she ripped souls out of people, doled out the equivalent of celestial cheat codes, and had done enough bad shit to earn her twenty to life. Not exactly an upward trajectory.”
Where we last left off, though the mobster Ford is now permanently out of the picture, Callie’s mom, Zara, had been kidnapped by one of the big bad guys. We pick up with Callie, understandably, a ball of nerves, running herself ragged trying to hunt down the man responsible. New developments leave them flailing, perpetually one step behind, and it’s also becoming clear that someone else is now trying to edge in on the Soul Charmer’s territory, again. If the plot sounds similar to the last book, well, it is. It seems like everyone in Gem City wants to be in the soul renting business – except Callie and Derek. What will they have to go through to protect themselves and those they love?
“I’m not worried about Heaven, Derek. I’m worried about here.”
He tightened his arms around her. “I’m good. I’ve got you.”
“I need to keep you.” Why did honesty always catch in her throat?
“Not going anywhere, doll. Unless you want to book it, and then we go together.”
Three books in, and I still love Callie! Callie is really growing into her power, or at least she’s more capable of keeping herself from turning into a human torch.She continues to come into her own with each book, and one of my favorite parts of this book was her slow realization that while she’s always been there for her family, the sentiment isn’t necessarily returned – especially in contrast to Derek, who always puts her first. Even though he tends toward the silent, over-protective type, he’s able to recognize when Callie is able to – or needs to – do dangerous things on her own, and that she’s capable of deciding that for herself. Their relationship keeps growing as well, though, like the last book, I wanted a little more romance. And like the last book, I think that’s mainly because it was just so action-packed that there was never enough time for Callie and Derek to just be themselves together. We also get to see more of Callie’s brother Josh and Derek’s brother Henry, and suffice it to say that both have important parts in the story, as well as doing some growth themselves. The world building just gets better and better, with the mechanics of soul renting and the source of the souls further explored. And, thankfully, while the book ends with a bang, it’s not another cliff-hanger.
Overall, I enjoyed the heck out of this, and I am very excited to see where the next book takes Callie and Derek!
