by
Faith Hunter
Blurb: Before Nell Ingram met skinwalker Jane Yellowrock, she had no one to rely on, finding strength only in her arcane connection to the dark woods around her. But now she has friends in the newly formed PsyLED team to keep her grounded — even if being part of the agency responsible for policing paranormals comes with dangers of its own…
After training at the PsyLED academy, Nell returns home to her woods to find the land feeling sick and restless. And that sickness is spreading. With the help of her team, under the leadership of agent Rick LaFleur, Nell tries to determine the cause. But nothing can prepare them for the evil that awaits: an entity that feeds on death itself. And it wants more….
EXCERPT
Occam said, “Nell? What? What’s happening?”
“I think . . .” I turned and jogged to my right, to the baby car seat we had seen on the way in. “There’s a baby,” I whispered. “I didn’t feel it on my scan. Maybe because it’s in a car seat on a heavy rubberized frame.”
“Don’t touch it, Nell. Do not touch it. The baby will be contaminated.”
“I know.” But that might not matter. I dropped to a squat at the baby’s car seat, both knees up, off the ground, touching the dirt and grass with only my rubberized field boots. The little girl was dressed in pink, and she smelled of dirty diaper and sour milk and tears. She was sunburned, dark- haired, with green-brown eyes. My bloodlust withered and died at the sight of the child. I managed a deep, filling breath and blew it out.
The baby saw me and started squalling. “Can’t leave now. She’s thirsty. Hungry. Needs changing.” I looked around and saw a box of diapers and plastic-bottled formula, and everything I needed. “I can’t leave her here alone. And I can’t take her with me to contaminate the others. So it looks like I’m staying.”
“Stop, Nell. Don’t do this.”
CURSE ON THE LAND (Nell Ingram #2) | Faith Hunter | Roc Mass Market Paperback | $7.99 | 352 pages | November 1, 2016 | ISBN: 9780451473325 | Goodreads link
Purchase links:
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About Faith Hunter:
Under the pen name Gwen Hunter, she writes action-adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Faith and Gwen, she has 30+ books in print in 29 countries.
Hunter writes full-time, tries to keep house, and is a workaholic with a passion for travel, jewelry making, white-water kayaking, and writing. She and her husband love to RV, traveling with their rescued Pomeranians to whitewater rivers all over the Southeast.
Find Faith online at her website, her blog, on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.
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GIVEAWAY
There is a tour-wide giveaway for 5 copies of CURSE ON THE LAND, 2 sets of the Soulwood novels (BLOOD OF THE EARTH & CURSE ON THE LAND), and a $25 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Giveaway runs October 17th to November 12th.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Follow the tour at this link
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My review:
4 out of 5 stars
Curse on the Land by Faith Hunter is the second book in
the ‘Soulwood’ series, and continues the saga of Nell Ingram’s journey as she
becomes a vital part of the PsyLED (Psychometry Law Enforcement Division of
Homeland Security) team. Finding a way to apply everything she has been taught
in ‘Spook School’ while dealing with her personal issues such as the inimical
being infecting her land, and trying to pass her probationary period has Nell
reassessing her life and her approach to it. Using advanced technology to
evaluate the particles named psysitopes, the team discovers that the new
equipment and knowledge Nell has brought is going to get quite a workout
because an epidemic of cases is rapidly spreading and the team is about to be
handicapped by the upcoming full moon.
This urban fantasy series has spun off from the remarkable
Jane Yellowrock tales and explores different facets of the world through the
eyes of a woman whose existence has changed dramatically from a simplistic and
self-effacing role to that of protector and proactive problem-solver. I think
that the author set the bar so high with Jane’s stories that it is difficult to
maintain that intensity in this series, since the framework has to be
established.
There are sections that were a little slow for me,
particularly with respect to what Nell learned while away at school and the meters
that become more and more critical to the case, but these were interspersed
with amazing and sometimes disquieting events, both in the world and within Nell
herself. I love that there is an evolution within these stories and many of the
players become more 3-dimensional, while others demonstrate amazing sentience
and provide tendrils to connect to future stories. The felid members of the
team definitely provide interesting twists and I was delighted by the cameo
appearance by Jane. Although I didn’t enjoy this portion of Nell’s journey as
wholeheartedly as I did the first story in the series, it still was an
impressive addition to the collection and makes me anxious to continue to
accompany Nell on her voyage of self-discovery and find out what other
earthshaking changes she can catalyze in the world around her.
A copy of this title was provided to me for review
