When Amelia Caldwell learned that she was marked by a vampire’s soul, she did what any smart, self-preserving person would have done: tried to run. But thanks to the soulmate bond that tethered her mentally and emotionally to her vampire soulmate, Mitchell Lang, running was not an option and finding out she was a witch didn’t make her life any easier.
Now, Amelia has made peace with her new supernatural life and accepted her destiny with Mitchell, one of the most powerful vampires in the world. They are finally getting along but Amelia is sure he is hiding something—something big.
Little does she know that this is just the calm before the storm. When Mitchell’s former flame resurfaces and Eric’s dreams become distorted visions of his soulmate, hostility and tension threatens to tear their world apart.
Just when Amelia thinks life couldn’t get any crazier, vampires and humans start turning up dead. The killer—something more sinister and haunting than your run of the mill psychopath —is heading straight for their front door.
Genre - YA/Paranormal/Romance
Spellbinding and Enthralling! A Terrific Second Book In An Amazing Series!
The Review:
Once again, I really enjoyed my time in the world Ashley Stoyanoff creates with The Soul’s Mark: Hunted. This is the second book in the The Soul’s Mark series and it picks up eight months after the first book leaves off.
Story…
When book one, The Soul’s Mark: Found left off, Mitch and Amelia are still trying to work through their differences and find a balance of power between the two of them. Things were and still are strained but they have pockets of fun and laughter thrown in with the arguing and angst of their relationship. Things are happening in the town they live in, people are dying and there’s a newcomer in the mix, Mitch is keeping secrets and Amelia is laying down rules. Things are heating up and war seems to be on the brink. With Vampires, witches, immortals, hunters and soul mates in the mix and a prophesy to fulfill, what could go wrong?
Characters…
At first I was upset that Mitch was still the same overbearing, rude and uncompassionate vampire he portrayed himself to be in the first book and the fact he’s keeping secrets and not working with Amelia as a team was disappointing but reasons quickly come to light and things start to make sense. Mitch and Amelia both grow profoundly in this book from the characters they started out as. I loved how mature and courageous Amelia became and how trusting and inspired Mitch became. I have to admit that Mitch left me bewildered in book one and I was kind of rooting for an Eric and Amelia love connection, even though Mitch and Amelia are soul mates. Eric is funny and sweet and has a charm to him that the brooding and serious Mitch just doesn’t. However after this book, I am officially back on the Mitch and Amelia love train and am totally digging their relationship.
Mitch is a complicated character. He’s a leader and he’s got more to think of than himself of Amelia when he makes decisions. He loves Amelia and wants the connection they have together to be solid but he still feels guilty over the way they started out and he’s also having to sift through the doubts he think Amelia has about their relationship. She doesn’t make it easy by laying down rules that keep him at arm’s length letting miscommunication and avoidance cause major trouble and hurt feelings.
Amelia is young and struggling. She’s only eighteen, never had a real relationship and still trying to find her feet in an unconventional romance that also comes with the boon of being one of leadership, all the while, her powers are growing and she’s learning her witchcraft. She becomes capable of some extraordinary things in this book and she learns the meaning of sharing power and all the wonderful things that can include. I loved that about her and I love how her character and strength grew through the story.
A new member has joined the crew at Lang mansion and she’s got a few tricks of her own up her sleeve. I loved the relationship that developed between her and a certain vampire and how easy it was compared to Mitch and Amelia’s. Don’t get me wrong, I love the angst. Im all about the angst, but it was a nice reprieve.
Complaint…
I realize this is a YA book but some of the things just seemed implausible. First, Mitch is eight hundred years old and some of the others were centuries old. It seems unlikely that a family of vamps who have lived for that long would be scared of teenagers, even if they are hunters. There was one scene where they are stuck in a fire and I couldn’t for the life of my figure out why Mitch didn’t go all vampy and take out the bad guys with his super speed and strength. It’s the same complaint I had in book one with the ending fight scene. It’s the little things like this that kept me from giving it a full five stars. There were some plot holes I felt needed working out.
The Wrap Up:
Regardless of my complaint section, this book was well written, gripping, adventurous, angsty and full of exciting and imaginative things. There’s new power, new mythology, new characters, new enemies and a roller coaster ride of good and bad times. And because this read left off with one heck of a cliffy, Im on to book three, The Soul’s Mark: Broken to continue this incredible YA series.
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