Hello everyone!
And that's saying something, considering how many dystopian books I've read up until this point in time, honestly.
But Sarah Westill somehow managed to create something unique where everyone else is usually doing the exact same thing, or similar at least, and it hooked me right from the start.
Now, to remember that I need to order physical copies of her books at some point in the near future ...
Ahem.
Seeing as the main story of her Guardians of Sziveria series has ended at this point, it's not that which we'll be looking at tonight.
No, these serve as prequels, of a sort, made even more important because her NEXT book series talks about the children of the couple happening in these.
Without further ado, then, Perfect Melody Silenced.
In Perfect Melody Silenced, we once again tag alongside Bella Fenwick, who, after helping Ruthenian beast master Markus Ralston with a murder investigation, has been ... demoted, shall we say.
Basically, she doesn't have a documented genetic talent, and as such, everyone and their mother was apparently embarrassed and wanted to humiliate her for doing a better job than they have, so they literally sent her into the basement.
If you're feeling confused, let me debrief: Sziveria is a country that rose out of the ashes of a cataclysm which basically erased the world as we know it, and now they're all living in much cooler temperatures, there's almost no electricity to speak of, winters last forever, and to top it off strong genetic traits have now become talents that are universally prized and praised.
Markus, who's from another country (Ruthenia), is returning after a long winter to both pick up another case, and pick up where he and Bella left off, because he kinda likes the woman, you know.
He finds her - or more exactly, his wolf Lunah finds her - and he whisks her off with promise of doubling the pay she receives at her current job so that she can help him again.
See, unlike everyone else, he both fully believes in her talent, and also knows just how valuable it is - not to mention how valuable SHE is, to him.
Because while the first sparks were starting to fly in Frozen Flowers Fallen, they're really heating up now in the second book as the two of them don't really do much to fight their attraction towards one another, instead fanning the flames.
And all this while actually investigating the current murder mystery.
A wealthy family contacts Markus after the death of their daughter - an up-and-coming singer - is declared suicide, but they're unconvinced. Markus and Bella discover that, nope, it wasn't suicide, but murder disguised as such, and after digging around, talking to her manager and getting to her old vocal coach, they hit payday when they interview a "stalker".
Turns out, she's not one at all, but a woman who'd started collecting evidence that OTHER promising young stars were taken off the board over the years, yet the deaths weren't looked at collectively, so she'd been trying to warn the latest victim.
The perp? That vocal coach.
Who, they also discover, suggested the latest victim sings at a discounted venue with lower standards than the one she'd originally been offered to perform at, which just goes to show jealousy will literally paint everything green.
Markus and Bella split unwillingly as he goes to conduct further interviews, but she realizes something's wrong when she doesn't hear from him, and after teaming up with the current Arch Guardian Wolvenguard (a position later held by her own son, cough cough) she bonds with Lunah as he reveals that she's Markus' mate and can do so.
See, Markus may have ostensibly just been trying to protect her from the leech her late father borrowed money from who'd come a-knocking, and he put one of his wrist guards on her to declare their engagement, but he'd known they were forming a bond for a bit now. Lunah was the one who noticed first, and it didn't make sense to him because Bella isn't Ruthenian and it shouldn't be possible for her to mate with him to begin with.
Lunah has her own logic here, and she leads Bella straight to Markus, who'd been given a sedative and left for dead, as most painkillers tend to be VERY unfriendly towards Ruthenians.
But after that's all over and done with, and he feels better, they finally have a talk about their future, and he explains there isn't anyone else for him. Whatever genetic traits marks Ruthenians as different, mark beast masters as MORE so, because once they bond with someone it's for life, regardless if she rejects that bond or not.
So he does the smart thing and also asks her to contract with him, which is the Sziverian version of marriage. Seeing as Bella loves him, and he loves her, that's a no-brainer, and before he has to return to Ruthenia, he buys a beautiful, luxurious new home for her and her mother to move into while he's away, since he wants their life together to be the start of something wonderful.
And that's where we leave them, as he's sorting things out in Ruthenia to later return to his mate, and Bella and her mother putter about the apartment!
Short, sweet, with decidedly hot interludes because Bella and Markus can't seem to keep their hands off each other, this is a beautiful entry into the Sziverian tapestry Sarah Westill's weaving, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's also a different sort of series in that it only follows the one couple, exploring a relationship on a much deeper level since we have the time to really focus on the two of them.
There's currently five books in total in this one, and I'm unsure just how many the author has in store here, but we DO know that their children will feature in the very next spin-off from Guardians, so I'm very much looking forward to that!
Until then, I'll just keep reading about Bella and Markus.
10/10 recommend.
xx
*image not mine
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