Review: Second Stone by Kelly Walker

You are only a pawn if you don't know the game you are playing.

In the second installment in Souls of the Stones, the stakes are higher, the romance is hotter, and Emariya's power as a Cornerstone is growing.

DETERMINED TO MAKE SENSE OF THE BETRAYALS, lies, and her undeniable attraction to Torian, Emariya and her prince begin the journey to Sheas to confront her uncle and bring her father home.

Only days after leaving the castle, devastating news threatens to tear Torian and Emariya apart. Overcome by guilt, Emariya wants to repair the rift between them but first she must answer one important question: why can't she wake up?

A DEADLY FORCE HAS COME FROM THE SEA to claim its daughter, and if Torian wants to save Emariya, he'll first have to find a way to forgive her...and himself. That's easier said than done when both his sister and Emariya are counting on him at two separate ends of their world and the only people who might know how to help him are hiding in exile.

TO WIN THE BATTLE FOR THEIR LIVES, they will first have to win the battle for Emariya's mind. Only then can she rise up strong enough to face what she has to do.

Title: Second Stone

Series: Souls of the Stones #2
Published February 15th 2013 by Kelly Walker (first published February 1st 2013)
ISBN: 1482357100 (ISBN13: 9781482357103)

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Warning: There isn't a way I can write this review without spoiling major plot points for Cornerstone (link to that review here), the first book in this series, and you've been forewarned so there shall be no complaining. 

Even from the beginning I was absolutely enthralled, after I had read that Riya's brother, Reeve, was behind all of it! I couldn't see him being evil, really, but, what you learn in the second book about that is also very interesting, and I thought unexpected. I thought this book had less twists, but more action and more romance between Torian and Riya. There might even be another couple forming, however unlikely it usually would be. 

Something I thought is important to mention is the flawless changing between POV's, and there were a quite a few of them. I never thought the transition was jumpy and erratic, plus in some books there's that annoying re-account of events that JUST happened, and truly provide no further information to the reader, but that didn't happen in this book. Even more important than that is that I could automatically tell who was speaking, I never encountered a moment when I was thinking: "Is this Riya or Jessa? Or maybe even Terin...?" 

Jessa groaned. "So he told you he loves you, and you said 'see you later.' Brilliant, Emariya.
Flashes of Torian's distant and strange looks earlier at the campfire came surging back. Once more, she pushed to her feet. "I think I need to go find Torian"

As I mentioned there's even more romance between Torian and Riya, I think they're a great couple. It started out as just an arranged married meant to bind the lines but now it's so much more than that. They both understand that part of their pull is because of them both being stones, but I think they would be in love even if there wasn't a pull. They make each other the best they can be, and that's a great kind of love. As mentioned in the description of the book, Riya does make a very bad (unintentional) decision, which really did test them. 

While Torian and Riya are very important, some pretty important things happen to other characters too. Riya's accidentally slip may end up risking the life of Terin, (I was really excited when I got to see things from her POV), and I don't think I'm spoiling anything because it basically says the same thing reworded in the description, plus you learn about this either at the end of the first book or during the first 10 pages of the second book. I can see the third book being important for Jessa, but this book was for Garith. He really grows, showing how strong and smart he is. He graciously takes the leadership he is given (but didn't ask for), leading better than most would've expected, and maybe even better than their formally trained leader did. Someone else you can't forget about is Riya's father, while we all know she's taking a trip to the Shea's to find her father when Reeve actually has him, and maybe they'll figure that out once they find out they've assumed the wrong person has had her father locked up for years. Will he finally be freed? 

While this book isn't free I totally believe it's totally worth the $5 it costs (as an eBook), I'm sad the series is ending with the next book but I'm also very excited to read it.  

Book Nerd and Proud,

K.G.