The Bookish Babe: The Witch Avenue Series

Series: The Witch Avenue #2
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Publisher: Bulldog Press
Publication Date: 10/28/12
Format: ebook
Source: Received from author for review.

The realm of Altered Souls brings nothing but unrest, deceit, and pain forcing Triss to come face to face with heartbreak from her past.

Facing a betrayal like never before, Triss questions everything she thought she knew about her family, coven, and abilities.

With the help of Logan, she embarks on a journey enabling her to confront the dark side of magic and the person who controls it. Realizing Triss’s ancestors have been seduced for centuries by the dark side, Triss and Logan must ensure no more in their world fall victim to the realm of Altered Souls, even if that means ending the ones they love.

Full of revelations and shocking surprises, Altered Souls is an exciting sequel to Lonely Souls.

Middle books in a series are tricky. Authors must be able to keep the series storyline moving forward without giving away too much, enough to keep readers hanging for the finale. Sometimes, the book winds up being more of a "filler" than relevant to the overall arc of the series. In Altered Souls, author Karice Bolton did that job very well.

In Lonely Souls, Triss had to balance a reconnection with her childhood friend Logan with the mystery of what happened to her mother. It was a difficult balance to maneuver, but she did it well. In Altered Souls, she is still managing to handle her new, but intense connection to Logan, but also the struggle to get her mother back. And what I really love about this is yes, Logan and Triss do want to be together, and their relationship is very beautiful, but the story still revolves around the fight against evil. The romance is a lovely aspect to the story, but it never fully takes it over. Triss and Logan are following their hearts, and using their minds.

As I mentioned before, Altered Souls is full of shocking revelations. There are new enemies crawling out of the dark, one in particular is shocking. There is a new power player on the scene. And almost as surprising as the enemies are the potential allies. One group of allies was cool and pretty imaginative, the other truly shocked me. In the meantime, Triss and Logan are working to use power strong enough to defeat their enemies, without moving over to the dark side. The ending left them at a point that is a nice set-up for book three, Released Souls.

These days, it seems that I'm not one for a lot of paranormal young adult. But with Bolton's great take on witchcraft and love, The Witch Avenue Series is an exception.

Favorite Quotes:

"You are so beautiful," he murmured, as he gently cupped my face, allowing his finger to trace its way back down my neck to my collarbone. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be so close to you every night?"
"I think I can imagine." I tried to stifle a nervous giggle.

Oh, how I wanted to be a normal eighteen year old with nothing to worry about except a college exam and what to wear on a date. Instead, I was plagued with bringing home a mother who didn't want to be found and the prospect of a father willing to unleash dark sorcery on his own daughter. Welcome to adulthood, Triss.

The Witch Avenue Series

(click on cover for my review)

Purchase Lonely Souls at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Purchase Altered Souls at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the Author:
Karice Bolton is a paranormal romance/urban fantasy author living in the Pacific Northwest. All three books in The Watchers Trilogy are available now, Awakening, Legions, and Cataclysm. Lonely Souls, which is the first book in her new series Witch Avenue, was released in June 2012!

Karice married the love of her life who she met in high school, and she still can't get over how cute and funny he is. They have two English Bulldogs that are the cutest bullies in the world, and they use their cuteness to get what they want. Karice loves the snow and gravitates towards the stuff as often as possible! She enjoys skiing and tries really hard to snowboard, but often makes a nice little area to sit while everyone zips by on their board. She enjoys writing, and she also loves to read just about anything with print.

Connect with Karice at:

GoodReads | her website | Twitter | Facebook

I'm happy, today, to be featuring Altered Souls by Karice Bolton. Altered Souls is book two in the The Witch Avenue series, and the follow-up to Lonely Souls. Today's feature includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and a fantastic giveaway.

Series: The Witch Avenue #2
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Publisher: Bulldog Press
Publication Date: 10/28/12

The realm of Altered Souls brings nothing but unrest, deceit, and pain forcing Triss to come face to face with heartbreak from her past.

Facing a betrayal like never before, Triss questions everything she thought she knew about her family, coven, and abilities.

With the help of Logan, she embarks on a journey enabling her to confront the dark side of magic and the person who controls it. Realizing Triss’s ancestors have been seduced for centuries by the dark side, Triss and Logan must ensure no more in their world fall victim to the realm of Altered Souls, even if that means ending the ones they love.

Excerpt

I felt the warmth of the flames reach my bones while I let my mind wander to the possibilities that this opportunity could bring. Finding out what Trevor knew about my father and mother was quickly becoming an obsession. Glancing up at Logan, he stood directly in front of me, grinning with his arms crossed.

“Do you know how enticing you look in that shirt?” I blurted.

“Do I?” Logan’s lips spread into a huge smile.

“Yes you do, and we really need to get him out of the cottage tonight,” I muttered, unable to stop myself from looking at how deliciously low his jeans hung.

“And why’s that, Triss?” his lips turned up slightly in amusement.

Looping my finger into his jean pocket, I pulled him closer and looked up into his eyes. He raised his eyebrow with anticipation, and I couldn’t help the smile that was spreading across my lips.

“Just because,” I whispered, quickly releasing my finger from his pocket.

Standing up next to him, I quickly pecked him on the cheek before I headed to the kitchen, hoping I had left him wanting so much more.

I needed to get out of the cottage.

Opening up the oven, I peeked under the tinfoil at the rubbery mess, which seemed all too fitting considering my life at the moment. I took the foil off so the cheese would brown and shut the oven door with a thud. Here I was, once more, trying to internally debate the rights and wrongs of our actions and the consequences that they held.

“Hmm. Not quite there yet. Probably another fifteen minutes or so,” I sighed, looking out the kitchen window.

“It’ll have to be quick with what the weather seems to have in store for us,” Logan said, placing the jar on the end table.

“How’d you know what I was thinking?” I asked.

“I can just tell,” Logan said, letting his fingers glide into his front pocket. “Seriously though, it looks like it will be pretty nasty soon, but we can go outside for a few minutes. At least until the lasagna is done.”

Stepping outside onto our stone porch, I took a deep breath in and felt the freshness of the mountain air run through my system. Rain was definitely on the way, but I didn’t mind. There was nothing better than being in the cottage during a rainstorm. Well, that wasn’t quite true. Having Trevor tied up in the attic kind of complicated things, which was why I just wanted to get answers from him and get rid of him. Grabbing a basket and flower clippers, I looked back at Logan as he secured the door.

“Ready?” I asked.

“I’ll follow your lead,” he said grinning coyly. “Looks like you’ve got some collecting you’d like to do… And here I thought this might lead to something else.”

He shoved his hand deeper into his pocket and wore an absolutely adorable smile that stole my heart.

“Maybe I’ll follow your plan,” I said, shrugging and tossing my basket back down on the porch.

“Works for me.” He grinned, quickly moving toward me.

I backed my legs up against the porch banister to brace myself, the cold of the stone alerting my senses even more. My heart screamed with delight as he reached around me and wrapped his arms around my waist, creating a perfect circle. His stare was intense with the same feelings of desire I felt.

“I think I like your plan better,” I whispered.

He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear sending such a shudder through my body that I was certain he felt it.

I gripped his arm as he lowered it back to my waist. Closing the gap between us, I craved his touch.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, as he gently cupped my face, allowing his finger to trace its way back down my neck to my collarbone. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to be so close to you every night?”

“I think I can imagine.” I tried to stifle a nervous giggle.

Leaning down, his lips met mine as all of my muscles tingled from head to heel. I could feel the softness of his lips mold to mine as I slid my arm around his waist. Feeling the firmness of his entire body pressed against mine created an unstoppable force between us. Wrapping his shirt around my knuckles I brought him closer to me, but I felt him pull away slightly. Opening my eyes, I saw where I had pulled on his shirt. My tug of his clothing had revealed something dark on his skin that caught my eye, but he pulled his shirt collar back up quickly.

“You have a tattoo?” I asked, not wanting our session to be over.

“Kind of. Listen we should get back inside,” Logan’s words hit me like the thunder out in the distance. I wasn’t sure what I had done or why a tattoo would be a big deal, but it seemed to be.

“I didn’t think we were done?” I smiled, hopeful that whatever might have made him back away would quickly be forgotten, but it wasn’t.

“To your point earlier, let’s get this over with and boot him out,” Logan said, trying to change the subject. “So we can start where we left off.”

“I don’t understand what just happened, but you can bet I’m going to figure it out and who’s to say I don’t think a little ink is sexy?” I joked, only to have Logan looking a little more horrified than before.

Nice. I can't wait to read Altered Souls!

The Witch Avenue Series

(click on cover for my review)

Purchase Lonely Souls at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Purchase Altered Souls at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble