“Outcast. Stragner. Lady of House Maris.
Will her new life in a new land set her on a path from which she can’t escape?
Selene Ravenwood, once the heir to House Ravenwood, is now an exile. On the run and free of her family's destiny, Selene hopes to find the real reason her family was given the gift of dreamwalking. But first she must adapt to her new life as wife to Lord Damien Maris, the man she was originally assigned to kill.
While adjusting to her marriage and her home in the north, her power over dreams begins to grow. As the strongest dreamwalker to exist in ages, her expanding power attracts not only nightmares but the attention of the Dark Lady herself.
With a war looming on the horizon and a wicked being after her gift, Selene is faced with a choice: embrace the Dark Lady's offer, or search out the one who gave her the gift of dreamwalking. One path offers power, the other offers freedom. But time is running out, and soon her choice will be made for her.”
Series: Book #2 in “The Ravenwood Saga”. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- Prayers; Visiting an abbey & a temple; A festival for the Light; Talks about the Light (God figure), praying to him, trusting him, & following him; 'H's are not capital when referring to the Light; Selene longs for the light, but thinks her soul is too dark; Damien shows Selene how he worships the Light with his gift; Selene asks a lot of questions about the Light (*Spoiler* she prays to the Light for others, thinking that is isn’t worthy of asking for anything on her behalf but maybe the Light would listen if she interceded for others; Towards the end, she asks the Light for help and the Light talks to her *End of Spoiler*); Damien protects Selene by calling on the Light; Selene wonders what happens to someone when they die; Mentions of the Light, having faith, & why he allows bad or sad things to happen; Mentions of prayers, praying, & Thanking the Light (mentions of prayers to the Dark Lady as well); Mentions of Damien’s time of prayer and offering his gift up to the Light (similar to worship); Mentions of monks, their chanting, an abbey, & a temple; Mentions of a pilgrimage; A mention of a man believing the Light exists but nothing more as he’s “seen too much darkness”; A mention of a blessing;
*Note: Each of the seven Great Houses have a special gift (some control water, others fire or the earth, and Selene’s house is able to get into others’ dreams) and some believe in gods of some form, the “old god/god of old ways”(called “the Light”), and others believe in “the Dark Lady”; The gifts each house has are from the Light to protect their people; The House Ravenwood’s patroness is the Dark Lady, who tries to chase after Selene in her dreams to keep her in her control (Selene wonders if she’s been punished for forsaking her house, but does not want to worship her; There’s a war going on inside of her to who she will choose, up to semi-detailed); To keep people from sharing house secrets, they are “bounded” to their house (and consort as well) and if they go to speak of the secrets with someone else, now words will come out of their mouths; Selene slips into others’ dreams, talking on the form of a raven and can change back into her human form; Amara has no interest in the Dark Lady or the Light, believing that religion was a foolish pursuit (*Spoiler* But goes on a pilgrimage to get to a place to murder someone and starts listening about the Light; She acknowledges the Light at the end *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of souls & some being dark and some being light; Mentions of the Dark Lady, the sanctuary for her in the Ravenwood home, & the dark priest receiving messages from her; Mentions of worship (a couple towards the Dark Lady and a couple towards the Light); A few mentions of people looking like spirits in the dream world; A couple mentions of seeing those who have passed on the other “side of the veil”; A mention of the Dark Lady being capable of many things and have power, but cannot give gifts; A mention of someone wishing for the Dark Lady to be with another on a trip.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘by the Light’ (used as the beginning of a sentence), a ‘stupid’, a ‘who in land’s end’, two forms of ‘confound it/confound it all’, two unfinished ‘what in the…’s, two unfinished ‘what the—‘s, and fifteen ‘dart’an’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Seeing a loved one die (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a dead body (up to semi-detailed); Causing a death (via a dream and seeing the body in real life, Amara, up to semi-detailed); Fighting, Being attacked, Pain, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Being slapped (Amara, from her mother); Nightmares (up to semi-detailed); Social drinking (wine at dinners, both main characters drink, though Selene is careful to not drink too much); Selene has a dream where she’s standing on a cliff and a voice tells her to take another step and end it; Selene feels guilty keeping something from Damien (she tells him a few days later); A handful of lies (from Selene and Amara); Damien is grieving his parents and brother (recalling seeing his brother pass away, barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoiler* Selene grieves her sister *End of Spoiler*; Sibling rivalry (Selene & Amara); All about many mentions of nightmares & different things Selene has seen in them (including a man who was killed by a wolf, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of wars, fighting, & a razing of an empire; Mentions of deaths, assassins/assassinations, & drownings (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of bandits, attacks, fighting, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of threats; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of alcohol & drinking; Mentions of deaths from a plague & grief/grieving (for parents, a father, a brother, and a sister); A few mentions of executions; A few mentions of a woman’s mind being shattered and her becoming “as good as dead” as she can’t do anything (Book #1); A few mentions of poison; A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of slaves/slavery; A couple mentions of passing out; A mention of a plan being suicide; A mention of fires burning those who have died because of a plague.
Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, four hand (up to semi-detailed) kisses, three forehead/head kisses, a cheek kiss, two almost (semi-detailed) kisses, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, six semi-detailed kisses, and two detailed kisses; Remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Cuddling, Hand holding, Heat, Warmth, Smelling, & Flutters (up to semi-detailed); Remembering touches & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (mainly Damien towards Selene, up to semi-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (including muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Damien walks in on Selene bathing (he doesn’t see anything because of her hair, barely-above-not-detailed); Selene & Damien share bedrooms (at first, one of them sleeps on the floor and a few other times, she falls asleep next to him in bed); About halfway, Selene wonders if she is ready to do more than just kiss with Damien (there are scenes of her thinking about it and if she’s ready; Later that chapter, there’s a fade-to-black scene of them going into his bedroom and the next chapter starts with them waking up in bed together, missing clothing; They continue to sleep in the same bed for the rest of the book); Mentions of an affair & an illegitimate child from it; Mentions of the main couple sleeping together (in the same room and bed, mostly blushing and being flustered when it’s brought up); Mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of blushes; A few mentions of jealousy; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A comment/misunderstanding of joining someone while washing up (didn’t mean it that way and so he awkwardly clarifies); Mentions of the main couple getting dressed & the other not being ready to see them in a “state of undress”; A mention of a woman’s curves; A mention of a group of men being coarse and vulgar.
-Selene Maris, age 19
-Damien Maris, age 24
P.O.V. switches between them, Amara (x7), & Lady Ragna (x2)
396 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
**
My personal Rating-
**Due to a fade-to-black scene, this rating is a case-by-case bases. See below.
This book definitely toed the line for me, personally.
While I’m interested in the plot and this world (the author has made it well, it’s very fleshed out and detailed), this book went past my comfort zone on some elements. Mainly the romance and the Good vs. Evil fight.
Let’s discuss the second one first: Because of the Dark Lady is chasing Selene in her dreams, it kind of felt like a spiritual warfare book, which I’ll admit, I typically stay far away from those kinds of stories. I can handle all kinds of suspense books, but spiritual warfare is my personal tipping point.
Secondly, the romance: There’s a fade-to-black scene of our main couple and while they’re married at the time, I still don’t need to know about their kissing leading to the bedroom. It’s an unpopular opinion, but one I stand firm on. I think it rubbed me the wrong way even more because they were not equally yoked then and being lead by their emotions and feelings for the other. I wish that would have at least been touched on, but no. (Side note: If you loved the whole “River of Time” series by Lisa T. Bergren, you would most likely be completely okay with how it’s handled in this book. I wasn’t a fan of that series because of the marital content. This book had it milder and less comments/suggestions. I’m not a fan of either way, though, so there’s that.) Damien and Selene are cute together, but there’s quite a bit of tension now that they’re married.
So, opinion thus far on this series? Hmm. I see why so many love it. It’s fleshed out and captivating. But this book definitely goes right up to the line of what I’m comfortable with in both the spiritual warfare and the romance.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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