Cover Design: Regina Wamba, Mae I Design
YA Paranormal Romance
Book 2 in The Soul Mate Series
Release Date: July 22, 2014
“Broken is finding the light and the healing you crave, and knowing you can never have it.”
After the attack on his sister and his new found abilities forming,
Henry Williams is struggling to keep it all together. His wolf does not allow
him to sleep, and he is beginning to hear voices, torturing him mercilessly.
Henry feels as though there is a war brewing inside of him and he
is unable to control it. As a protector, he must find a way to fight his inner
demons before he is left vulnerable to the real ones.
But an unexpected love finds Henry and he tries hard to resist it.
Will Henry be able to overcome his inner demons? Will he be able to protect his
mate?
*** This is
book number 2 in this series. Please note that it is suggested to read the
series in sequential order.***
**WARNING**
This novel is intended for mature YA readers. 15+ for language and mild
violence.
Excerpt
Finding Dad and Sophie’s graves, I
shift back to my human form and slip the elastic belt loose to release my
shorts. I put them on and walk between the stones to sit right in front of
Dad’s headstone. Seeing his name, Curtis James Williams, I nearly lose myself.
I break my stillness by wiping away some dirt from the face of the stone.
“Hey, Dad,” I whisper. Taking a
seat in the grass, I begin pulling weeds, my usual routine. “Things have
been…well, pretty insane.”
I think back over the last few
weeks since the last time I visited. Between finals in school, working out,
pack duties, learning things of this world that I never knew possible, fighting
and not fighting with Skeeter, things have been intense and nonstop crazy.
“Football will start in August. I
don’t think I’m doing the playbook boot camp again this year. I know it’s
important, but I’ve got a lot on my plate now. I won’t give up football,” I
promise my dad.
With a hard swallow, I decide to
move into updating him on the family. “Mom is trying to be Mom,” I say, yanking
a weed from in front of his headstone. “She’s okay, I think. I know it’s harder
on her than she lets on, but she’s trying to live for us, which is more than
she did a few months ago. She has days where the tears just won’t stop, but
they’re not as constant now. She seems angrier than usual.” I wince as memories
zoom around me. Mom got angry at me for throwing my wet towel in the hamper,
ripped into Leland over a brand of peanut butter he bought, and has been
suspicious of Jaz and Seth for no reason. I’d rather not rehash all that again,
so I continue on with the family updates.
“Alex is talking more. Sometimes we
can understand him. He just started calling me Heywe the other day,” I say
proudly. Alex is Leland’s son and is a little over a year old. He only says
“dada” and “Heywe.” Mom and Jaz were a bit upset about that and are still
trying to teach him new words.
“He’s getting a lot better with
walking, too. He’s not tottering as much and doesn’t need help all the time.
Mom fusses when he falls down, but I know she’s enjoying watching him walk and
try to reach different milestones. Leland had to baby proof the living room and
kitchen, too, because Alex thought his gold fish crackers belonged in the VCR
and DVD player. That was a mess. Leland just tossed it after attempting to
shake out all the crackers.” I snort.
I don’t tell him about the time
Alex put his teddy in the cabinet next to the oven. None of us could find it
and he had no way of letting us know where it was, even if he could remember. I
can laugh now, but that was a rough two days. He screamed almost non-stop for
that thing. Jazzy finally found it when she went to make waffles, and he conked
out as soon as he got his little hands on it. Dad had picked out that teddy
bear just for Alex the day Psycho Sammy, Leland’s ex, dropped him off, calling
him freak spawn. That teddy is Alex’s best friend now.
I grab a few more weeds and pile
them off to the side. It’s not many, and the landscapers usually get them all,
but they don’t come out often.
REVIEWS :
Soul Promise is book 2 in Rachel Walter’s soul mate series. If you haven’t read True Connection yet, start there. I was excited to see Henry get his story and he does in this book, and much more. Henry is trying to figure out himself and his wolf and what he is to others. All this and fighting the pull he has for Skeeter. Now, I want to slap them BOTH in this book. It was like QUIT FIGHTING IT. But they are also fighting against a force that wants to tear their group apart. Jazzy, Seth, and Barry are all there to help Henry through his tough time, even when he pushes them away. There are so many characters in this book, but I am weird I like my core group and what they are into. Henry had so much going against him, even himself. But he figured out that he should count on his friends to be there to help him through anything. There is a battle, I wont tell you about it but……. friends are lost. I cried. Get your tissues ready. I will say this is a VERY heavy book. Not just in size, but in emotion. Rachel does leave it open for all the characters to get something in the next book. Me? I want a Barry book. Then I will be thrilled. HAHAHA. Go Fall in love with all these friends. You feel like part of their lives by the time you are through.
One of the perks of being friends with an author is you
generally get teasers from the story before its finished. You also get to beta
read for them too, which is AWESOME. I knew before I read Soul Promise that it
was going to be deep and emotional, I wasn’t wrong, but it also had a comedic
relief that balanced everything. That’s what I love most about this book, this
series, and this author. Rachel Walter writes in a way that can have you
laughing one minute, crying the next, and back to laughing again. It’s truly
amazing.
Soul Promise is told from Henry’s POV, if you’ve read
True Connection, you’ll know that Henry is Jazzy’s brother. I definitely recommend
you reading it first because it gives back ground information on the world the
author has created. You could probably get away with just reading Soul Promise,
but you won’t grasps the significance of certain events fully. With that being
said, I hate spoilers, so if you haven’t read TC I would stop reading this
review.
So Henry is this amazing character who cares deeply about
everyone in his life, when Jazzy was threatened in TC, he found out he wasn’t a
normal human. His biological father was a shifter, not to mention a murder as
well, but that left Henry’s wolf side unknown until his family was in danger.
After his first shift he began receiving messages that only he could hear… he
thought it was his human half fighting with his wolf. Nothing is that easy, but
it represents something we all go through in our life. It’s figuring out who we
are when something significant happens. Something so life altering that you
find two pieces of yourself at odds with the other. The old you fighting with
the new you, who wins? Is there ever really a winner?
Then he’s confused about Delilah… you know Skeeter, Jazzy’s
best friend? Well he’s feeling things that he can’t express, on top of
everything else that’s going on, he begins to pull away. It hurts everyone.
Rachel writes in a way that has you pulling similarities in your own life, well
at least for me it does. Think back on your life, on friends and family…did you
ever have that one person that held the group together? Well that’s Henry in a
way, but Rachel has a better way of saying it.
So what happens? More than I can say, but know this book
had me on the edge of my seat. It takes a little while to pick up momentum but
once it does, you’ll be saying WTH just happened. It had me laughing throughout
the entire book. The love and bonds between the characters are uniquely refreshing,
Henry and Barry’s interaction’s are hilarious. But with the happy comes the
sad. There are a few chapters that had me in tears. I have to say I wasn’t real
happy with a few scenes that took place, and though I knew about them before
reading them, it still punched me in the gut.
What it all comes down to is that Henry finds his soul
mate with Skeeter, and its through their bond that he’s able to make it through
some pretty tough spots. There’s so much packed into this series that I can’t
wait to see what the author comes up with next. The paranormal aspects are top
notch, not to mention the variations of shifters, and characters that beg you
for each one of them to have their own story, you won’t be disappointed. If you
love YA and the Paranormal, The Soul Mate Series by Rachel Walter is definitely
for you.
BUY LINKS
About Rachel Walter
Rachel is a wife and mother from Central
Pennsylvania. Her favorite season is fall, for hockey, changing leaves, pumpkin
everything, and bonfires often. She’s also a coffeenista with an insomnia
problem. When Rachel isn’t playing with the people inside her head, making her
family believe she belongs in the loony bin, she enjoys spending time with her
family, friends, species confused cat (he believes he’s part dog, love him),
and finding new books and music.
Regarding writing, her first love is Young
Adult Paranormal, but she’s venturing outside of her comfort zone and opening
up to writing more genres. Be on the look out!
Stalk
Links:
More from this Author
True Connection (The Soul Mate Series) #1
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
A Message of Flowers (A Pocono Valley Romance) #1
Adult Contemporary Romance
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