Lucy Donovan was supposed to have a weekend of fun in the sun, celebrating her upcoming graduation from college. In a split second, everything changed. A drunk driver ended Lucy’s mortal life.
Lucy opens her eyes to a world she never imagined possible and a new destiny: as a Patronus, a guardian of spirits. Adjusting to her new role and abilities while negotiating this confusing realm will test her limits and push her further than she ever dreamed she would go. From wayward spirits who don’t want her help to soul stealing vampires, and even a stuck-up British royal, Lucy must brave them all to save one spirit she can’t bear to lose.
Further complicating her life is an inexplicable yet growing connection she feels to a member of her team, Max, whose mysterious behavior leaves her both confused and intrigued.
Waking up dead was just the beginning of her problems. Lucy’s death is about to become the greatest adventure of her life.
This book was so completely different from what I expected. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.
To begin with, I really enjoyed this story. The story begins with Lucy, our heroine, in a great mood happily considering her future plans as she and her bff headed to the beach for their last weekend of excitement before they graduate from college. Cut to Lucy waking up in an unfamiliar room that is quite apparently NOT a hospital room. She is then made aware that she has been chosen as Patronus. A spirit guardian. In this world, when a person dies, a Patronus shows up to escort them to another realm to wait until their final judgment comes from either above or below. In the mean time, various beasties will try to steal the soul to use for their own nefarious purposes. Here vampires and werewolves are terrifying creatures that are more than happy to steal the souls of the innocent and turn them into creatures of nightmares. When Lucy is told that the soul of someone she is close to will soon be released, she makes it her mission to be the guardian who escorts the soul to its destination.
For the rest of the book, it is mainly about her training as a Patronus and preparing her for collecting this soul. I love that Miss Ross uses so many exciting characters from history. I’m a big history person, so it made me happy to see them in a new light. Lucy is a weird character for me. She can act very immature and mature at the same time. She will throw a fit, and no one really responds to it, but then turns around and sucks it up to do what needs to be done. I liked that she refused to give up. She is tested in ways I would not have thought and has her abilities tested in different ways. She shows promise as a guardian. I didn’t notice an explanation as to why she has all of these abilities that others don’t have, and that bugged me a little, but it was easy to overlook because the story itself kept my interest.
The romantic side story was sweet, but I wanted to slap them. She is inexplicably drawn to Max, who is one of the members of her “team”. She is almost obsessive about him and it’s obvious that he wants her too. There are several references between him and other characters as to what is going on, but you don’t find out what’s really happening until the end. I would like to have known sooner, and with more detail but I guess it’s better late than never! That story is kind of awesome in its own right and was very creative.
Essentially, I really did enjoy this story. There is action, adventure, love and lots of fun stuff. It runs on a fairly positive note whenever possible and ends with a crazy cliffhanger! Ross does a really good job describing what being a Patronus is all about and I really liked her world building. I recommend this story for anyone who is looking for a book that is pleasant to read, has an element of positivity, exciting action, and likes romance, but not the kind that overtakes the story. I definitely look forward to reading Avenge, which is the next in the series.
