Review: Blood Phoenix by Amber K. Bryant 5 of 5 stars

Blood Phoenix by Amber K. Bryant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sybille Esmond is a psychic and just saved the world from a supernatural assault so she is hoping for some slack and downtime. However, instead, her cousin is possessed by the spirit of Sybille's nemesis, her dearest friend is likely dead and her previously undead boyfriend refuses to resign himself to his new status as a mortal. Let's not forget the spirits either - as they are trapped on earth thousands have flocked to her hoping that if they haunt her she'll be able to fixture out why they are barred from the afterlife. But as she investigates that she stumbles across a plan that makes everything else appear trivial. However, it is not just the spirits trying to get to the afterlife - there is a fae scheme in the works and when Sybille is granted a vision of the future she realises that the stakes really can't be higher because if her team fails to stop the fae both the living and the dead will run out of time.

This was definitely a complex and dramatic problem for Sybille as she had to deal with multiple problems at the same time. As always, she kept her cool (mostly) and using her wits managed to make a difference in order to get the right result. You might be able to read this stand-alone but I recommend that you should actually read the entire series in order to make more sense of the characters and the events that are happening. It was easy to read, understand and feel their thoughts and emotions. A great series to lose yourself to other realms.

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Review: Blood Fae by Amber K. Bryant 4 of 5 stars

Blood Fae by Amber K. Bryant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sybille is a psychic so when her best friend Devin is abducted by a strange fae woman she is determined to get him back even if she has to fight like hell to succeed. She is also trying her niece safe which also keeping her blood-thirster boyfriend Ellis at bay as he very openly wishes she would join him in the undead life. Either way, she will not let Ellis, evil-sprits or the barrier between worlds stop her from rescuing Devin. As part of all of this, she will need to travel between realms and risk starting a war. But the fae wants control over those people and places that Sybille holds most dear - Devin, his possessed niece and even the Earth. If she fails to stop the fae war, everyone she loves will become a war prize or end up as collateral damage.

This was a little slow to start, but having stuck with it, the story started to move and make much more sense as it became clearer who was who, what they were and the impacts of the various possible outcomes. I loved some aspects of the story although I really hope there is some way of reversing what happened at the end of the book as it was quite heartbreaking (and not the way I wanted it to end). Reasonably well written, it was easy to understand (even if it took a little bit of perseverance at the start). I'm now wondering what on earth is going to happen in the next book in the series.

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Review: Blood King by Amber K. Bryant 3 of 5 stars

Blood King by Amber K. Bryant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sybille Esmond has inherited her family's business and summons the spirits of the undead and guides them to the afterlife. She never wanted to but it pays the bills although there are huge risks including becoming undead. Elis Tanner is undead and trying to be reformed although he does bring along a possessive ex-wife which increases the risks for Sybille as she helps him to confront his jealous ex-wife as well as try to investigate the Blood King who refuses to die by stake or poison. As part of this Sibille is harrowingly possessed which leaves her burned and bruised she finds herself drawing closer to Elis who may be the only one capable of helping her to kill the Blood King although more is in jeopardy as the minions and the King close in. Can Sibille survive this and will the Blood King be defeated?

I really wanted to like this story as the outline looked really interesting, however, I did find it hard to read and it was difficult to keep track of the plot as the author expanded the events that were happening. There was a lot of what I consider to be background information and a little bit too much detail on Elis and his ex-wife (and their unorthodox meeting). I did manage to get back into it so maybe it is like 2 books joined together - one about Elis and his life with his wife, and another about Elis working with Sibille to find out more about the Blood King and tackle the ex-wife. It was enjoyable just don't expect to be blown away.

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