Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany

Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads: When Eden was ten years old she found her father, David, bleeding out on the bathroom floor. The suicide attempt led to her parents’ divorce, and David all but vanished from Eden’s life. Since childhood, she has heard from him only rarely, just enough to know he’s been living on the streets and struggling with mental illness. But lately, there has been no word at all.

Now in her thirties, Eden decides to go look for her father, so she can forgive him at last, and finally move forward. When her search uncovers other painful truths—not only the secrets her mother has kept from her, but also the agonizing question of whether David, after all these years, even wants to be found—Eden is forced to decide just how far she’ll go in the name of love.

My take: Eden's father is mentally ill. The book toggles between time lines and voices. This is a very tricky endeavor which the author does very well. Eden and David have distinct voices and I am never confused with POV. Also, time period is clear as Eden sees things as a little girl and changes perspective as she gets older. David grows more mentally unstable as time continues on. Although David is never given a clear diagnosis, it appears he begins with Bi-polar which progresses to "with psychotic features." David struggles with calming the mania and slowing his mind which quiets his creativity. This is too hard for the artist in him and continually ceases his medication.

So Eden is now 31 years old. She is successful chef and her best companion is her dog, Jasper. For some reason, Eden suddenly wants to locate her father. The last she saw of him was during his suicide attempt. When he was hospitalized, her mother served him with divorce papers. She remarried a fireman who was at the scene of the tragedy and they gave Eden a baby brother shortly after that. Eden shares a close relationship with her brother who has some demons of his own with pleasing his father. This is hinted at but never fully explored. Same with the romance the develops that was interesting. I would have liked to know a little more about that one.

Eden begins the arduous task of trying to find David. She starts at a homeless shelter and meets love interest. Loved him. Wonderful love story. Very sweet and healing. Eden has issues of trust and allowing herself to love and be loved by another person. This is all part of her journey to find David.

Another relationship that is explored and well developed is between mother and daughter. Eden has held her mother somewhat responsible for her father's mental demise. If she'd only tried harder to help him, he wouldn't be missing or living on the streets. Slowly, Eden discovers the difficult decisions her mother had to make and why she made them.

The story is very well developed except for the two side notes previously mentioned but they are pertinent to the story of Eden and David. The main characters are VERY well developed. There is emotional and psychological exploration and metamorphoses as the years go by. It is a well written exploration of mental illness and respecting yourself and the mentally ill person and their choices. I really enjoyed this one.

Follower Love Giveaway Hop

Blog hop sponsored by Kathy and Racheal.

The book for contest is May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy



Product Description: An engrossing, epic American drama told from four distinct perspectives, spanning the first major wave of Irish immigration to New York through the end of the Civil War.

Four unique voices; two parallel love stories; one sweeping novel rich in the history of nineteenth-century America. This remarkable debut draws from the great themes of literature—famine, war, love, and family—as it introduces four unforgettable characters. Ethan McOwen is an Irish immigrant whose endurance is tested in Brooklyn and the Five Points at the height of its urban destitution; he is among the first to join the famed Irish Brigade and becomes a celebrated war photographer. Marcella, a society girl from Spain, defies her father to become a passionate abolitionist. Mary and Micah are slaves of varying circumstances, who form an instant connection and embark on a tumultuous path to freedom.
     
All four lives unfold in two beautiful love stories, which eventually collide. Written in gorgeous language that subtly captures the diverse backgrounds of the characters, and interspersed with letters, journals, and dreams, this unforgettable story, rendered in cinematic detail, is about having faith in life's great meaning amidst its various tangles.


2 copies available.
It's a historical fiction.
Would it be AN historical fiction?
I always get confused with those "H" words.
Unless it's a swear word, I don't struggle quite so much. Flows far too easily.
Click HERE or fill out form below.

For more great sites with books and book giveaways, see below.

Then I wouldn't mind some comment love. Validate me even though I don't know how to qualify historical fiction. And sometimes slip out a *heck* or something. Or is it "an" heck?

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: A life hanging in the balance…a family torn apart. The #1 internationally bestselling author Jodi Picoult tells an unforgettable story about family, love, and letting go. 

Edward Warren, twenty-four, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara. 

With her father’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision? 

Lone Wolf explores the notion of family, and the love, protection and strength it’s meant to offer. But what if the hope that should sustain it, is the very thing that pulls it apart? Another tour de force from Jodi Picoult, Lone Wolf examines the wild and lonely terrain upon which love battles reason.

My take: I'm going to admit a shocking fact and I might be judged here. Love me, anyway. I have already read two Jodi Picoult books and I did not love them. In fact, I marginally tolerated them, although the subject matter had merit. Maybe it was the state of mind I was in at the time but whenever someone mentions a book by Picoult, I am underwhelmed.

Now I feel bad. The five stars is not overcompensating. It's a story that is complex and provides much introspection. And it kind of hurt my heart but not in a bad way. I sound a little oxi-moronic, don't I.

The story begins with Cara at the scene of an accident. She's hurt and she's just pulled her father from the wreckage of his truck. The ambulance arrives and she is aware of the severity of his injuries. They are both hospitalized and Cara's mother, Georgie, is called.

Georgie is living with her new husband, Joe, and their twins. She immediately calls her son, Cara's brother who is in Thailand, to come home. He jumps on the first plane and rushes to the hospital. Luke, Cara's and Edward's father, has suffered a severe brain injury and is on a ventilator and feeding tube. Georgie is no longer married to Luke. Edward is over the age of 18 but estranged from his father for reasons later explained while Cara is closest to her father but a minor and physically and emotionally a wreck. Who will be the spokesperson for Luke? That's one story line.

I think I want to make it clear right now that the ethical dilemma is not what strikes me as brilliance of the author. Euthanasia and the right to pull the plug or live in a vegetative state has been argued for decades. It is argued in a courtroom in the book. The real brilliance is the way Picoult tells the story through the different points of view. One moment and font it is Cara, then a different moment and font it is through Edward, then Georgie and so it goes. Each character offering a perspective that is equally compelling given the characters age and experience. Meanwhile, interspersed is Luke's story which foreshadows the next event.

Luke offers no commentary or perspective to the current battle. Luke is a fascinating creature in that he is a wolf biologist. He is so committed to the species that he insinuates himself into a captive pack of wolves and makes observations. To carry himself to the next level, he leaves his family for two years to live in the wild, insinuating himself into a wild pack of wolves or die trying. Obviously, he didn't die trying but he was gone for two years. I'll end the suspense. He enters a pack of wolves.

Wolves live by the rules of the pack. Each wolf holds a job within the pack. There is also protocol that must be followed down to the social strata of eating their prey. It is fascinating to read the behaviors and pack creed as Picoult researched this subject then simplified it for the reader to digest it. What I realized, about halfway through the book, was that Luke's diatribes and fascinating facts about the wolves were not random but mirroring his own family. It is subtle and can have many different interpretations but definitely present.

It's a book that leaves the reader digesting it for days afterward.

IMM (2/5/12)

This week in my mailbox I am reading:

Alienation by Jon S. Lewis

Alienation by Jon S. Lewis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads: The invasion was only the beginning . . .

After his parents were killed in a car accident, Colt McAllister was drawn into a world he thought only existed in comic books-one where mind control, jet packs, and flying motorcycles don't even scratch the surface.

Along with his best friends Oz and Danielle, Colt is now training at the secret Central Headquarters Against the Occult and Supernatural academy. But strange accidents seem to follow him. . . even with the security of the school grounds. What first seems random soon turns deadly. But who is targeting Colt?

As the alien invasions increase in frequency and force, C.H.A.O.S resources are taxed to the limit and they're forced to utilize the new recruits. In the midst of battle, Colt will discover some startling revelations . . . about himself, his friendship with Oz, and why he has been chosen to defeat this alien attack against earth.

My take: This is book 2 in the series and very easy to jump into without a lot of work. Colt, the protagonist, is ready to enter the C.H.A.O.S. training with his best friends. The problem is that Colt doesn't know who he can trust. It becomes clear, early on, that someone wants Colt dead and he is being followed. An alien who can shape shift is provided as a hired assassin which gives the thriller more interest. Also, Colt unknowingly (although he discovers) carries a secret within him that could be very dangerous depending on the political party or planetary race. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

The book is well paced, a quick read and provides the reader with a dose of higher power and God. Colt's grandfather is religious and Colt shares his beliefs and struggles with ethical dilemmas. The book is well suited for a teenager who enjoys a little bit of action mixed in with some alien domination threat along with some social strife common for teens.

At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Anne Clinard Barnhill

At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Anne Clinard Barnhill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads:  A sweeping tale of sexual seduction and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII, At the Mercy of the Queen is a rich and dramatic debut historical about Madge Shelton, cousin and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.

At the innocent age of fifteen, Lady Margaret Shelton arrives at the court of Henry VIII and quickly becomes the confidante of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn. But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne’s ambition.

Desperate to hold onto the king’s waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband’s new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of her cousin, Queen Anne.

My take: The story begins after Anne Boleyn has succeeded in wedding King Henry VIII. The protagonist is the author's ancestor, Margaret Shelton or Madge. I didn't love the protagonist because she was not a strong character. On the other hand, she provided a point of view that is different from other books I've read on Henry's second wife; she is Anne's first cousin.

Other books on Anne Boleyn have either painted her as a victim or an antagonist. In this book, she is neither. She is a strong woman in a time period where women held very little power. Brief history that is not often mentioned - Henry married Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, because his older brother was supposed to. His older brother was to be king but he died. Henry inherited his bride. They had Mary (Bloody Mary). In the preceding decades, Protestantism (I made that word up) was born. The history of protestant faiths is not covered but both Martin Luther and John Calvin were actively opposing the pope in the early 1500's. The common people, tired of hell and damnation and driven to poverty by constant taxes and church offerings, were quickly split between Catholicism and Reformation.

Meanwhile, there were court politics. Henry had his part to play as did every courtier at the palace. Henry had many mistresses, including Anne's sister, Mary. When Henry approached Anne for some sexual dalliances, she refused. Her reasons are suspect but ultimately she claimed she would not offer her body unless he married her. And then we know the rest.

Madge is a beautiful cousin who arrives at court at the age of 16, shortly before Anne's coronation. She becomes a close confidante to the queen and through her eyes we get to know more about the palace politics and Anne's nature. Rather than being a scheming social climber, Anne is presented as an imperfect woman who is also a champion for the Reformation. As queen, she holds sway over promoting the Reformed church. At the same time, however, she did not support Henry's dissolution of monasteries which filled his coffers, much to Cromwell's chagrin. Cromwell enjoyed the bounty he skimmed from the to coffers of Henry and didn't like Anne's complaints.

Overall, the book provided a fresh view on Anne Boleyn. She is neither innocent nor guilty, victimized nor seductress. She was a woman trying to survive in a time and place where her options were unsavory.

Dialog and swearing - mild
Sex - Moderate to heavy
Violence - Moderate

All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay

All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: A celebration of love from StoryCorps.

In All There Is, founder Dave Isay shares stories of love and marriage from the revolutionary oral history project, revealing the many and remarkable paths that relationships can take.

From the excitement and anticipation of courtship to the deep connection of lifelong commitment, we discover that love is found in the most unexpected of places-a New York toll booth, a military base in Iraq, an airport lounge. As the storytellers in this book start careers, build homes, and raise families, we witness the life-affirming joy of partnership, the comfort of shared sorrows, and profound gratitude in the face of loss.

These stories are also testament to love's remarkable endurance. Love survives discrimination, illness, poverty, time-even death. In the courage of people's passion we are reminded of the strength and resilience of the human spirit and its enduring capacity to begin anew. This powerful collection bears witness to real love, in its many varied forms, enriching our understanding of that most magical feeling.

My take: I love the concept of this book! It's a company that sets up shop and ordinary people go into a booth where with another person and a moderator. They interview one another or just tell their story. A prompt might be: If you have only 45 minutes to live, what legacy would you leave? They tell their stories of love, loss, heartbreak, and happiness. The stories run the gamut of love; from young marriages, to people in their 90's, those who survived WWII, gay couples, those who lost loved ones during the 9/11 attacks, lost then found loves.

The most moving were the stories of 9/11 and those that have lasted through decades of ups and downs. The book is organized in three parts. Nearly every story brought an emotional response. Mostly, I felt the hope.

Vampirates - Immortal War GIVEAWAY and Author Guest Post

Author Justin Somper:

It certainly feels strange bringing my six-book sequence VAMPIRATES to a close. Some ten years ago, I had a flash of inspiration when the word “Vampirate” arrived, Eureka-like, in my head. It took me a while to get the idea for the books together and then to sit down and write the first one. DEMONS OF THE OCEAN was published in the UK, where I’m based, in 2005 and in the US in 2006. It’s been quite a voyage as I’ve combined writing a book a year with touring, blogging and a parallel career in public relations. Working on the VAMPIRATES books has proved enormously rewarding in ways I could never have anticipated. When I had that first flash of inspiration, little did I know that the books would be published in 35 countries and 25 languages, or that I’d have a wonderfully vocal online audience airing their views on characters and plotlines at vampirates.co.uk and via twitter and facebook, or that there would be a stage version of the books touring around theatres and schools.

I have learned a LOT as I’ve worked on these books and it’s clear to me that the latter three books in the sequence are more sharply plotted than the first three. It was gratifying to see a recent online review at bittenbybooks.com comment that “this sixth and final book in the Vampirates series is by far the best. Filled with non-stop action and edge-of-your-seat excitement, Justin Somper does not disappoint.” All thanks to the chapter grid system – involving large sheets of graph paper and a truck-load of coloured post-it notes - I evolved as I moved along! I think the latter books are probably a bit nastier but also somewhat funnier – I have discovered, like others before me, that horror and comedy are rather good companions, though I still primarily see these books as adventure stories.

I’m often asked who is my favourite amongst my many characters. It’s tempting to nominate my arch villains, Sidorio and Lady Lola. The bad guys do indeed get the best lines and it’s been deliciously fun to live in their crazy heads for a time. But, over the sequence as a whole, I’d pick Jez Stukeley as my favourite character – not least because he has grown so far from my initial concept of him. I brought him into Book 2 – TIDE OF TERROR – to make a quick impact, to be loved by the characters in the story (and hopefully readers too) and then be killed in a pirate duel early on. So far, so good. But, after Jez’s rather moving funeral and his coffin being slung in the ocean, he floats away to a beach where he lands at the feet of Sidorio, who brings the mariner “back from the dead” and appoints him his second in command. So Stukeley moves from the pirate world to the Vampirate realm but it’s clear that he has attachments to both. I think the fact that he is torn between his two lives, gives Stukeley more depth and pathos than the other characters. One of my favourite scenes in the sequence as a whole is in Book 3 – BLOOD CAPTAIN – when he returns to the pirate haunt, Ma Kettle’s Tavern, but can’t connect with his old friends now he is a Vampirate. I won’t spoil the scene, in case you haven’t read it, but suffice to say it doesn’t end well. 

The hardest book for me to write was definitely Book 6 - IMMORTAL WAR – perhaps because a big part of me didn’t want to let go of these characters or the world of this story, which I have inhabited for eight years or more. At the end of the book, you’ll find that I have left a few threads hanging. This gives me the opportunity to go back in, at some point in the future, and pick up my business with the Vampirates. But, even if I don’t ever return, I wanted to give the sense that the characters will be going about their business, whether I’m there or not. They have their own destinies and it’s time for me embark on a new journey with a whole new cast of characters. I’m excited to see where my next idea will take me.

Nancy here: I am glad to know that authors feel attached to their characters, too. I like a tidy ending but with the idea that life goes on. In my mind, Sam Malone is still serving drinks at Cheers in Boston with daily Cliff Clavin little known facts, a bar yelling, "Norm!" and Carla is still popping out babies and getting more cantankerous. 

Meanwhile, Vampirates is waiting for you! It's a great escape, easy and fun read, action packed with characters you will LOVE! As much as Norm, Cliff, and Sam? I don't know. But the world is just a better place with great characters (even imaginary) occupying space.

If you are ready to launch into this great book (and I know you are), you can buy the book at a local bookstore, or go to Amazon or enter to win a copy right HERE, thanks to awesome publicist at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr

 Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr

I hated the short story units during high school. They were weird. I think the fact that I enjoy well written short stories so much today is a testament that I have, indeed, grown up as a reader. Reiteration - well written short stories.

Marr accomplishes well written short stories. She lost me on the first one that was only a couple of pages long but the rest were entirely enjoyable, if not slightly disturbing. I think that was part of the allure for me. I really did love the selchie story best, although I'd known them as silkies.

The stories were about mythical creatures and included not only their draw but their dangers. The stories were short, clear, concise and provided just enough at the end to wonder what would happen. I kind of hoped there would be a part II of the stories.

The second half of the book befuddled me. This is not the fault of the author. It is a continuation of the world Marr created in her Wicked Lovely series which I am not caught up with. Okay, I read the first one then jumped into the next big thing. My apologies. End result is that I didn't finish this part. But I can recommend the short stories. Marr is gifted in writing shorts.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey GIVEAWAY

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.

This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

Do you know what I love? I mean besides German Chocolate Cupcakes with cream cheese/whipped topping filling. Great books. I'm not finished with this one but the writing style is addicting. Also, if you click on the book's image up there, you can see what other readers say about it. It is getting an average of 4.16 stars.

Do you know what else I love? Giveaways. It makes me feel benevolent even though Little, Brown Company is the benevolent ones. Humor me in my make-believe benevolence. Love the book. Enter the contest.
Fill out form below. If you can't see it, click HERE.

Darkness Falls Author Interview and GIVEAWAY

Remember when I reviewed Cate Tiernan's books, Immortal Beloved and Darkness Falls? Here's what I said: {Don't be shy. Go ahead and click me.}

So I got to interview Cate. If you didn't read my review, you won't know how very funny Cate is. She is nearly as funny as me. And I find myself absolutely HILARIOUS.


It's my head. I get to choose how funny I am inside of it.


So here is Cate on her sense of humor and other Need-To-Know info:

Q: Do you know you are hilarious?

No--I didn't know I was hilarious! I think I can be pretty funny sometimes, and it's fun to put that into my books.

 Where did you buy that wicked sense of humor?

 Online. I had a gift card.

Q: I love the flashbacks of years of past. How did you do your research for those?

 I do a ton of research, mostly on the interwebz. But I also have many reference books with pictures--about clothes, weapons, ancient maps, etc. The research is so fascinating--I always get sucked into another topic.

Q: If the books were made into a movie, who would you have play Nastasya? Viking God?

Gosh, I'm just not really familiar enough with young actors/actresses these days to really say. It would have to be someone who looked young, but seemed old, if that makes sense. It's fun when readers send in their own ideas for casts.

So here's your chance to not only win a copy of the hardback edition of Darkness Falls (Book 2 but not absolutely crucial to read Book 1 - I just suggest it because it's so fun). If you are feeling saucy, you can name your favorite snarky Hollywood starlet and serious man eye-candy (Justin Beiber does not count).

But only if you are feeling snarky and saucy. I want to give my ideas but my brain is completely fried from working all day then parent teacher conferences at the grade school.

Fill out the FORM:

No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel

No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel

Goodreads: In 1939, the families in a remote Jewish village in Romania feel the war close in on them. Their tribe has moved and escaped for thousands of years- across oceans, deserts, and mountains-but now, it seems, there is nowhere else to go. Danger is imminent in every direction, yet the territory of imagination and belief is limitless. At the suggestion of an eleven-year-old girl and a mysterious stranger who has washed up on the riverbank, the villagers decide to reinvent the world: deny any relationship with the known and start over from scratch. Destiny is unwritten. Time and history are forgotten. Jobs, husbands, a child, are reassigned. And for years, there is boundless hope. But the real world continues to unfold alongside the imagined one, eventually overtaking it, and soon our narrator-the girl, grown into a young mother-must flee her village, move from one world to the next, to find her husband and save her children, and propel them toward a real and hopeful future. A beguiling, imaginative, inspiring story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, No One Is Here Except All Of Us explores how we use storytelling to survive and shape our own truths. It marks the arrival of a major new literary talent.


My take: This is the most unique WWII book I have ever read. I don't even know how to review this book. I know I won't forget it.

The book opens in a remote Romanian village after a storm. The villagers collect what was brought down the river as the water recedes and finds a woman. She's alive. She doesn't remember much except that all of her people are gone. The reader assumes her village was destroyed by the Nazis and she is the lone survivor. It is through this experience that the villagers decide to start anew. There is no God but the one they invent. There is no world outside their village. They make their own rules and time becomes irrelevant.

At times the book is beautifully poetic and philosophical. At other times the ridiculousness of the people is glaring. The conclusions are not logical to a person who lives in the bigger society but could be plausible if the group-think were the way the author creates it.

World War II rages around the village but they know nothing of it. Time passes but, since time is irrelevant, the reader has no idea how long until Lena is compelled to leave the village to protect her sons, finding herself safely on the Russian side of the war. She believes she is not safe, she is hunted but being Jewish is not what makes her feel unsafe. Jewishness is no longer part of her world. She is ill-prepared for the bigger society, although her experiences in the village help through some difficult situations.

Lena misses the war. In fact, most of the villagers miss the war. They may not escape the violence at some point in the book, but they wouldn't know why there was violence against them if it were to occur.

I don't know what the point of the book was except to somehow recount a few of the experiences of the author's own ancestors. That said, I would not dismiss this book. It was unique and at times weird, but extremely compelling. I believe there is a lot of symbolism that can be gleaned and transferred to societal pressures. I found the different ways of dealing with difficulty intriguing. One village pretended to be alone in the world, discounting all the rest of civilization and history. One or two couples rewrite their own history to include and justify stealing a child. In fact, rewriting history and the rules of society are justification for a lot of questionable behavior. What one person calls a crime is another person's attempt to make things equal and right.

Do you see how this might be an interesting sociological study?

There is also a character who, because of the war (a very bad thing) decides to accept that something very good came out of it and recreates his life because it is far easier than doing the right thing. Lena herself recreates herself throughout the book and constantly asks, "Who am I?" She is a testament of human resilience.

It's an interesting book. I won't forget it.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows Review

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads: 
NEWSOUL 
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why. 

NOSOUL 
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame? 

HEART 
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all? 

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

My take: There are one million souls in this world that recycle over 5,000 years. Then one day one soul died and another was born. A new soul. Sometimes referred to as "no soul." Ana makes her debut to this world and few, if any are pleased. Her father abandons the family and her mother hates her. Anna reaches age 18 and goes in search of her identity. Ill-prepared (thank you, Mommy Dearest), she is attacked by the Sylph and saved by Sam, an old soul returning to Heart, the main city whose walls have a heartbeat, the city center has a temple. The temple is supposed to house Janaan, the God who created then abandoned the souls to fend for themselves against the Sylph, centaurs, trolls, dragons and the elements.

In heart, Ana is shunned, attacked, rejected, ignored and, in some cases, accepted. Theology is addressed and purpose of life questions asked. Where is Janaan since creating their world and souls? Is Ana a mistake or does she matter? Are all souls precious?

Sexual tension - high but no sex. Souls love one another and lack gender. Physical body manifests gender and is not consistent. Tastefully written.

Violence - abundant in dragon scenes

Swearing - None

Dialogue - Clean

Resolution of the first book in this trilogy was not clean. There are a lot of hanging threads that I hope will be addressed in the next books. I'm invested enough to read on.