This second book of the Lost Clan series starts right where Rose Petal Graves left off... and at full speed. So please consider reading these in order. Granted Olivia Wildenstein does a great job of filling in the major details, as well as providing extras to help with the different languages and large list of characters that are part of the story. 

Catori Price is focused first on keeping her father safe now that faeries and hunters are becoming more and more of a daily nuisance for her.  She cannot decide which half of her blood line she will pick. As a result both groups are showing up and trying to convince her to act for them.

Kajika is struggling to find his way in this familiar yet different world and the memories that Blake left with him only make the process more complicated. As he tries to find his way, he often clashes with Catori over how to proceed, and that only complicates her opinions on which blood line to follow. 

Ace & Cruz show up again and again with only minor bits of information to assist Catori - leaving her more and more confused about how the fae world even works. 

More than anything, Catori knows that a war is beginning and if she doesn't pick a side there is no guarantee her friends and family will survive it. 

I am loving the foundation of the Gottwa people lie in Native American traditions - I know that this is a sort spot in some of the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. But this is a fantasy book, so I prefer the fact that this isn't an actual Native American tribe, but clearly was influenced by tribes.

The fact that Catori's focus always goes back to her family and friends - her life before the story begins- sets up a solid character basis, and I am very appreciative that she continues to keep that baseline even as the story progresses.  She is clearly maturing as life is throwing traumatic events and serious decisions her direction, but she is faithful to her core beliefs.

I was also a big fan of how Olivia has put characters in her story that are diverse in their abilities and how their families are responding to them.

While I just pointed out Catori's baseline, her opinions on everything else sway very easily... each side is giving her only bits of what would result if she picked their side, and she always believes everyone.  The back-and-forth drove me nuts. She old enough to have a little more street smarts about politics of sides, and well, it was a bit frustrating... even if it was needed to help develop more of the characters and drive the plot...

A little more on that, Catori acts and speaks like she is very smart, and sure, yet she clearly does not know everything... and there were a few times in the story where that made the story line feel a little pushed. It's hard to set up a good fantasy world that runs congruent to reality, and in these moments it could have been smoothed out a bit.

My biggest issue, and this could be a trigger for some, is a scene where Catori chooses to get behind the wheel of a car even though she knows, and says, she shouldn't be driving since she had a little too much to drink. I know it helped the pace, but still...

I'm giving this a five heart rating - I am just so into Catori's life... and Olivia knows how to leave you wanting more from a story.  Sure there are some hiccups in the details, but the story is too much fun.  And it's a quick read, which tends to mean the story is very captivating for me. 

I am going to continue to say this a  NA - for readers 18+ as Catori is in college, and is dealing with more adult issues than a younger YA novel character would deal with.  And the details of the love relationships are more appropriate for an older audience. That said, younger readers could be interested if they can handle the more mature scenes.

There is more violence in this book than the first one, so that should be noted - as Catori's family owns the graveyard there are some more graphic descriptions of death, and burials. Again there is minor swearing throughout the book as fits with the personalities of the characters. And the superstitions and different religious/faith references could bother some people. 

About the Author

Wondering Questions to Consider

I love how these books are showing how a person's genealogy can impact their future - that the knowledge of the past of a family can explain more and more about where a person is in life and the paths in front of them, while still not demanding one to go down a certain path.

This book allows for plenty of discussion of diversity, race, as well continues to allow for discussions on death and life after death.