Midnight Burning Solina Mundy lives a quiet life, running the family bakery in her small North Carolina hometown. But one night, she suffers a vivid nightmare in which a wolfish beast is devouring her twin brother, who lives in Alaska. The next morning, police notify her that Mani is dead. Driven to learn the truth, Solina heads for the Land of the Midnight Sun. Once there, she begins to suspect Mani’s friends know more about his death than they’ve let on. Skyla, an ex-Marine, is the only one willing to help her. As Solina and Skyla delve into the mystery surrounding Mani’s death, Solina is stunned to learn that her own life is tied to Mani’s friends, his death, and the fate of the entire world. If she can’t learn to control her newfound gifts and keep her friends safe, a long-lost dominion over mortals will rise again, and everything she knows will fall into darkness. Arctic Dawn Alone and exhausted after her month-long sojourn as a shooting star, Solina Mundy flees to southern California to lie low, recuperate, and plot a survival strategy. The one person she trusts to watch her back is her best friend, Skyla Ramirez. But Skyla has been missing for weeks. The arrival of a dangerous stranger and the discovery of a legendary weapon of mass destruction force Solina out of hiding and back into the fight for her life. Solina knows she won’t last long on her own. She must find out what happened to Skyla and unite her contentious allies if she hopes to track down this devastating weapon before her enemies use it to burn the world to ash. Molten Dusk While recovering from a devastating betrayal, Solina becomes increasingly drawn to Thorin as he helps her hunt down Skoll, the mythical wolf who vowed to kill her. If she can find and destroy the beast, she’ll bring a swift and brutal end to her enemies’ schemes. But nothing ever goes as planned in Solina’s strange new world. During her search for Skoll, Solina uncovers a plot to unleash a battalion of legendary soldiers and launch an apocalyptic war. Before she and her allies can locate the fabled army, several ghosts from her past return to haunt her. Solina must fight for life and the fate of the world, or her hopes for love and a peaceful future will go up in flames |
Review
I had my doubts during Midnight Burning, the first book of this trilogy, because it seemed like the characters were following all the old PNR/UF clichés of the gutsy woman whose capability is a façade and would die without the needy, controlling creepopath who’s decided to own her. Despite my doubts, I kept reading because this book was addictive and Laurel proved me wrong.
Solina is wily and while she’s certainly out of depth at times, she’s self-sufficient and focused on her goal to discover who murdered her brother. She realises she can’t do it on her own either, and teams up with Skyla, a former marine who was close to Mani.
This is a slow-burn romance and there is a love triangle of sorts in that Solina has two romance options in Val and Thorin, but Val’s clinginess is a turn-off for Solina (Yay for smart UF heroines) and Thorin tends to be prickly, cold, and defensive. Character development is gradual but steady. You reach a certain point where you just realise that these people aren’t quite the same as they were a few hundred pages ago. This influences the love triangle too, which continues through book two until it closes with a major plot twist and a clear winner in the hot, supernatural, romantic interest department.
Each of the three books in this omnibus is satisfying to read on its own, but it’s also great for a binge read. I read this with borderline fanaticism for a week and it was exactly the sort of escapist UF I needed.
The Norse Chronicles isn’t too heavy on mythology. Readers familiar with the Norse myths will appreciate Laurel’s twists on the familiar myths and deities while those who know little about this topic won’t be overwhelmed by it.
Laurel’s Norse Chronicles omnibus is a bingeworthy Urban Fantasy with a slow-burn romance to melt for.
Book provided by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review