An Echo in the Sorrow by Hailey Turner
Soulbound #6
Urban Fantasy
March 1, 2021
About the Book:
Forgiveness is a hollow prayer you only hear in your dreams.
Patrick Collins has spent years handling cases as a special agent for the Supernatural Operations Agency, even as his secret standing in the preternatural community has changed. He should have confessed to his role as co-leader of the New York City god pack when he and Jonothon de Vere took up the mantle months ago, but he didn’t. Now that split loyalty will cost him at a time when he can least afford it.
Outmaneuvered, framed for murder, and targeted by the Dominion Sect, Patrick has to face a past full of lies to regain his freedom. Revealing the truth means he’ll need to give up the life that has defined him. Everything he’s fought to build with his pack is at stake, and losing them isn’t a price Patrick is willing to pay, but some choices aren’t his to make.
Jono knows they can’t cede any more territory if they want to win the god pack civil war spilling into the streets of New York City. But the souls of werecreatures are free for the taking when demons come to town and angels sing a warning no one can ignore. When Jono’s worst fear comes to life, and he loses the one person he can’t live without, the only option left is to fight.
Facing down the demons of their past and the ones in their present, Patrick and Jono will learn the hard way that some sins never wash away clean.
In the beginning, I honestly had no idea how much the Soulbound series would grow on me. I went through my Urban Fantasy phase years ago with Fever, BDB, and Kate Daniels. I thought this ship had sailed, but Hailey Turner reminded me of why UF used to be one of my favorite genres.
Like any truly fantastic UF series, Soulbound’s beginning was impressive but with room to develop. The so-so UF series deflate, or only maintain the intensity. The fabulous ones grow with every single book, until they become something that is so spectacular, like the finale of a fireworks show.
Soulbound isn’t over yet, but we’re building up, that’s for sure. Every book ups the pressure.
An Echo in the Sorrow was pretty explosive!
The beauty was in how all facets of the series get better with every installment. The plot, the pack, and especially Jono and Patrick. Here’s what I find interesting about this couple: In fiction, specifically in romance, we tend to get two types of relationships. First, we get a slow burn. In the slow burn 95% of the story is the buildup to a big “love” reveal, and we as the reader only get 25ish pages of actual lurve. (I love a slow burn. Anticipation is life.) Then, on the otherside, we get an insta-love when they meet-cute, and then two chapters in they’re soulmates foreva!
Neither of these scenarios are a reflection of real life, not for most of us anyway. Love is really about an attraction. Attraction then leads to dating. Dating to exclusivity, exclusivity to engagement… etc etc. That’s Jono and Patrick. It’s not mundane. It’s beautiful and organic. It felt awkward in the beginning, but over the last 6 books I’ve enjoyed watching them find each other. I got to see them fall in love, and the progression of the relationship. It was tender.
I can also tell that Hailey Turner knew how this was going to play out from the beginning. Nothing about the story feels contrived, or contorted. It felt like she had control of the story from beginning to the near end. There is one more book, so I guess there’s still room to prove me wrong.
And Jono and Patrick’s pack… They’ve all developed such personalities. They’ve grown as characters, and I hope when the series is over, I don’t have to completely say goodbye.
P.S. Also, thank you to Hailey Turner for rekindling my drive to read. This was a great reentry to the blogging world.
Birdie Bookworm 
I always wonder about writers of series and what they know and don’t know at the beginning. I tend to know a lot but try to give myself freedom to deviate if the story pulls me that way.
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