Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway ~ Soul Ties (Soul Ties #1) by Lisa Swallow

Hey guys, welcome to my stop on the Soul Ties Blog Tour hosted by Limitless Publishing. Click here to follow along with the blog tour schedule. 

Title: Soul Ties (Soul Ties #1)

Author: Lisa Swallow 

Publication date: July 22nd 2013

Genre: New Adult, Paranormal Romance 

Source: Review copy

Blog Tour organized by: Limitless Publishing

Add to Goodreads

~ Synopsis ~

On an English university campus, Ava is hunting Keir. She needs his Nephilim soul to trade for her freedom. 

But Ava didn't expect to find terrible secrets about the fate of the souls she takes. Or fall in love.

Soul-hunter Ava has retrieved hundreds of souls from demons but has never been assigned the dangerous mission for a Nephilim soul. When she arrives on campus and meets Keir, she discovers he has secrets more valuable than his Nephilim soul - secrets she could trade for the life she wants. She also meets Dahlia, the human girl with an inexplicable hold over Keir, and secrets of her own. 

When she uncovers the true fate of the souls she takes back to her superiors, and what Keir is doing to try and prevent it, Ava's world is turned upside down. 

Forced into a battle where the lines between good and evil are blurred, Ava is faced with the choice between saving herself by betraying those around her, or helping Keir and risking her life.

Ava's ultimate choice: retrieve Keir's soul and live, or join his battle and risk going to Hell. 

Warning: This book contains graphic language

~ My Thoughts ~ 

My Rating: 4 /5 

Soul Ties captured me immediately with its synopsis and the girl with pink hair on the cover. I love pink hair! This book did not disappoint - everything it promised, it delivered. The world as Ava knew it is ripped out from under her, and she begins to wonder if she really ever knew anything about her job at all. I wanted to know why and how she made the decision to become a soul-hunter when she was a teenager, especially after she was warned about all of the problems she could face with that single decision. 

Dahlia is a mystery, and I couldn't help but feel Ava needed to be friendlier to her. She has a very surprising past and is linked to Keir in that past in surprising ways. Dahlia and Keir's relationship makes more sense once you find out what they've been through together. Dahlia didn't start out as a character I liked very much, but I began to like her the more I got to know her. 

Keir is the perfect match for Ava in my opinion. As much as Ava tries to give the impression she's a tough and ruthless soul-hunter, Keir saw through her facade the moment they met. She's actually incredibly vulnerable and seemed at times to be close to letting that vulnerability slip through. The chemistry between Keir and Ava sizzled, and he turns her world upside down with the revelations about what really happens to the souls Ava collects and turns in. I thought the twist was pure genius. 

I kept rooting for Ava to choose to fight alongside Keir rather than collect his soul. I understood her indecision though - her relationship with Keir is fraught with tension because neither can fully trust the other. She had to make a choice with the risk of Keir lying to her to save his soul from being collected, so it made sense that she would proceed with caution. She can't just believe him right off the bat when she was sent there to kill him for his soul. I did wish that Ava had been a stronger female character. I liked that she had vulnerability, but she seemed a little weak to me at times that didn't have anything to do with feeling vulnerable. 

If you're looking for something different from vampires and werewolves in the paranormal department, Soul Ties is an excellent book for you to read. I love this book and can't wait for the next installment!     

~ Purchase Links ~ 

Amazon  

 ~ About the Author: Lisa Swallow ~ 

Lisa was born in the UK and she moved around Europe with her military family before completing a BA (Hons) in English at the University of Leeds. Her home is now in Perth, Australia with her husband and three children. Lisa has written since she was a child - moving from writing poems and short stories aged nine to writing novels in the last few years. With the encouragement of her family and local writers group, Lisa found the confidence to share her latest paranormal romance series with the world. 

In between running her home based craft supplies business, looking after her family, and writing, Lisa sometimes finds spare time to do other things. This often involves swapping her book worlds for gaming worlds. She even leaves the house occasionally, enjoying walks with her dog and time with her family. She loves all things from the Whedonverse and preferred vampires before they sparkled.

Lisa enjoys reading both classics and modern fiction. Her favorite genres are gothic, paranormal and urban fantasy, but she also enjoys contemporary new adult. She is currently working on more books in the Soul Ties series, and has other projects lined up waiting.

~ Social Links ~ 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 

a Rafflecopter giveaway