Tuesday, January 26, 2021

#Review - Lost Souls by Chelsea Mueller #Fantasy #Paranormal

Series: Soul Charmer # 3
Format: Kindle Edition
Release Date: February 25th 2019
Publisher: Chelsea Mueller
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Romance

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?



"Sin can drag a soul down just as the lack of it can raise one up."

 
Lost Souls is the third installment in author Chelsea Mueller's Soul Charmer series. If you've read Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series, you will likely enjoy this series as well. Lost Souls picks right up where Rogue Souls left off. 24-year old Callie Delgado lives in Gem City. A place where you can rent a soul for a night to do whatever you want to do without being judged. Escaping judgment is what keeps the Soul Charmer in business. Callie just happens to be apprentice to the man. Callie has a lot on her plate in this installment. 
 
Her mother has been taken by a man named Nate. Soul dealers have been popping up all over town. Her brother Josh is allegedly on the straight and narrow, but blames Callie for her mother's situation. To make matters worse, Nate wants his soul back that Callie took and several others or her mother dies. Oh, and just when you thought the situation couldn't get any more dangerous, the Soul Charmer disappears along with a bunch of souls that are not the purest souls in his inventory.
 
Forgive me for saying this, but I loathe Callie's self flagellation when it comes to blaming herself for things her own family does. I don't want to hear that family is first when her family never thinks about their own actions before ending up with Callie having to bail them out over and over and over again. The one good thing in Callie's life is Derek. I love Derek for not wanting to reach out and slap Callie when she blames her self for things that she had no control over. I love Derek for not abandoning Callie and for always thinking that there is a way out of this for both of them if they remain strong together. 
 
I'm happy to say that there is no comparison's to Callie and Chess. When it comes to being a pill popping addict mess of of a church witch, Chess takes first place. Callie is just learning that she may be as powerful as the Soul Charmer. She is able to take souls from people, as well as enter the soul well beneath the Cortean Church to keep the balance between realms. I think that both characters struggle with self-esteem issues. Now for the similarities between this series and Downside Ghosts. First is the churches. In this series we have the Cortean Catholic Church which sits on top of a well of souls. In Downside Ghosts, you had the Church of Real Truth which deals in ghosts. Chess Putnam, from Downside Ghosts, has a sidekick named Terrible. One could say that both series are dark, and gritty, and sexy, and a speculative fantasy series that people should be reading. This book does end on a cliffhanger ending. I do hope Chelsea has plans on writing a 4th book.  
 




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