Review: Borrowed Souls by Chelsea Mueller

Borrowed Souls

Author: Chelsea Mueller

Release Date: May 2, 2017

Publisher: Talos

Soul Charmer Book #1

ISBN:   1940456827

ISBN13: 9781940456829

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: Edelweiss

Callie Delgado always puts family first, and unfortunately her brother knows it. She’s emptied her savings, lost work, and spilled countless tears trying to keep him out of trouble, but now he’s in deeper than ever, and his debt is on Callie’s head. She’s given a choice: do some dirty work for the mob, or have her brother returned to her in tiny pieces.

Renting souls is big business for the religious population of Gem City. Those looking to take part in immoral—or even illegal—activity can borrow someone else’s soul, for a price, and sin without consequence.

To save her brother, Callie needs a borrowed soul, but she doesn’t have anywhere near the money to pay for it. The slimy Soul Charmer is willing to barter, but accepting his offer will force Callie into a dangerous world of magic she isn’t ready for.

With the help of the guarded but undeniably attractive Derek—whose allegiance to the Charmer wavers as his connection to Callie grows—she’ll have to walk a tight line, avoid pissing off the bad guys, all while struggling to determine what her loyalty to her family’s really worth.

Losing her brother isn’t an option. Losing her soul? Maybe.

The whole premise of BORROWED SOULS quickly drew my attention and when I had the chance to review it, I jumped into it pretty quickly.

Callie is a huge believer of being there for family, but in my—and every other normal person's mind—they don't deserve her at all. Her brother is a drug addict that uses her to bail him out of trouble and I can't even begin to explain how I feel about her mother. BORROWED SOULS finds Callie trying to save her brother once again, at the expense of herself.

Callie was an easy character to connect with. I found her to be both brave and determined. She really needed to work on making it harder for her family to manipulate her into doing everything for them, but I think it will come. There is a bit of a romantic connection between Callie and Derek, but it is far from the focus of the story. I did however really enjoy watching them work together.

I really enjoyed the world-building aspect of BORROWED SOULS. It was well explained without it being overly done. We got a lot of little tidbits scattered throughout the story, but I didn't feel like I was waiting to know about it, it was smooth learning. There is of course a lot more that needs to be known and explained, but for the first book in a series, I thought it did a good job. I look forward to reading more!

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.