Serenya's Song - A review

Hi everyone. I have joined the bandwagon (again) of Mysti Parker’s book tour. This has nothing to do with this post, however.

I won a copy of her latest book, Serenya’s Song and read it…pretty darn fast, considering the fact that I just got married and had no time for silly things like reading. So, I wanted to share the magic with the world, since this book has left me satisfied :)

Serenya Crowe is trying to be the perfect wife to the Earl of Summerwind, Sebastian Crowe. With a birth defect and shady background, landing the most eligible bachelor and living in a mansion is pure luck…right?

Jayden Ravenwing (yes, it’s Jayden from A Ranger’s Tale), broken hearted by his divorce, decides to retreat into a small town. There, he meets Serenya and sparks start flying.

Add a creepy portal to hell in the mix and you’ve got one adventure with great promise.

I personally really enjoyed this story. It was a little harder for me to read than A Ranger’s Tale because I actually critted about 80% of it for Mysti. Even so, I still managed to get surprised regarding a particular twist and confuse the culprit.

What I liked most about this story: As opposed to A Ranger’s Tale, the plot is more focused. It’s actually sort of action-adventure with a very powerful romance plot, but it’s not the romance itself that seems to drive the story. And Mysti’s imagination runs wild. Lovely.

There is also extra world building. I already know the world of Tallenmere from the previous book, but more mythology and history comes through in this piece and I love that. We get more creatures, more spells, a deeper look into magic and some handy work from Jayden.

Sebastian is an awesome antagonist. He’s not the kinda person you love to hate, because, in my eyes at least, he wasn’t THAT despicable, but he’s in shades of grey. That’s what I loved about him – you know he’s a prick, but you can’t really hate him because you kinda get him.

Lilly was as kick-ass as ever, and I enjoyed finding out more about her and her people, the Haddo.

Caliphany and Galadin make a reappearance and show off their skills.

The atmosphere is also darker than ART, but me likey dark, so I enjoyed that. The setting is also superb and easy to picture.

Now, let’s move on to some criticism as well, right? Can’t be all kittens and rainbows.

Though I liked both Jayden and Serenya, the two of them are artsy, sensitive characters. The feistiest person in this book was Lilly. Now, as much as I love sweet romance and sensitive people, Serenya and Jayden together felt a bit like… sugar overdose, if you know what I mean. Mysti did handle this problem by giving them little love scenes together, and also by giving Serenya a…. okay, almost spoiled the story for you. Not gonna do that. So, yeah, bottom line is, they almost gave me diabetes.

There were also a few sections where I thought there should have been more of a reaction from characters. Like when Jayden and Caliphany meet again, and Jayden and Galadin come face to face – That part felt a little rushed to me, even if I agree that all characters were in a hurry.

Also, I didn’t get to feel much about Shade and Zephyrus before the end, and that was a shame.

But, of course, that’s just my opinion. Here’s my score for this book:

Atmosphere – 5/5

Characters – 4/5

Setting – 5/5

Romance – 4/5

Plot – 5/5

Side plots – 4/5

World building – 5/5

Entertainment value – 5/5

This is Mysti - teh awesome writer

So, yes, as you may notice, my second dive into the fantasy world of Tallenmere was very satisfying. The book was well worth the read and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next installment which will star one of the characters in Serenya’s Song.

If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. Right now, you’re lucky. Until June 9^th, Mysti Parker is on tour and offers you the chance to win BOTH ART and SS. So join her for the chance at magic reading.

I'll be hosting my own interview with Mrs.Parker on the 4th of July. So drop on by for a chance to find out more about Mysti, her writing habits and maybe even win a little something. :)

If you’d like to purchase this awesome story, here are some handy links:

From the publisher (Melange)

Amazon