SoulFire by Lillie J. Roberts

Genre: YA Fantasy

What’s worse than finding out the monsters from your nightmares are real? Discovering you’ve spent lifetimes trying to defeat them. . . And lost.
Seventeen-year-old Rena Langley wants her life to be normal. She works hard to not attract attention, to be a face lost in the crowd. A gamer, she succeeds in flying under the radar. Except for the nightmares. They’ve plagued her life and they’re worse than ever.
Petrov DeForest claims that the monsters from her nightmares are deadly real and hunger for the pureness of her soul. She’s starting to think he’s right, even if she doesn’t believe they’ve spent lifetimes together. Then Petrov tells her she has the defense against the monsters held deep within her body, her SoulFire. She’s certain he’s insane. Until the monsters invade her waking hours. Using her SoulFire to defeat the monsters means accepting her destiny.
Ben Foster is a detective investigating the murder of two students at Rena’s high school. Can she be involved? Her name is the last word his partner spoke before being swallowed by the darkness.
Can Rena and Petrov survive? Or will this lifetime end like so many have before?

Rena rolled her eyes as she increased the video game’s volume. “Have fun Brea,” she shouted over the racket, ignoring her sister and the news that the relative invasion had begun. She would never begrudge her mother’s time with her only sister, or the injection of testosterone in a house flooded with female hormones, but she didn’t have to like it. Her father and her uncle Ron were friends from way back, at least to their college days. Pretty soon it would be all fishing trips and barbeques.

“He’s been stuck with creepy Eugene all summer, but they’re here now, and he’s all ours!” Brea buzzed, almost quivering, and shot to her feet.

“No, he’s all yours, and Eugene’s not that creepy.” Rena ignored the rest of her sister’s words, slipping the headphones back into place.

“He’s gorgeous… dark wavy hair, big beautiful sapphire blue eyes.” She faked a swoon, once again landing on the bed, but quickly sitting back up. When Rena didn’t respond, Brea pulled the headphones away.

“You gotta see him! But, remember, I saw him first!” She dragged Rena to her feet.

The problem with Brea was that she never had a shortage of boyfriends, and another stupid jock was so not worth Rena’s time.

“Oh, you saw him first all right. Go for it; I’ve had my fill.” Rena tugged her hand from Brea’s clutch. “It’s very okay with me. Besides, I don’t want to deal with relatives or their friends, but you go ahead, have fun.” Rena’s hands found the middle of Brea’s back, prodding her toward the door. Guys were the last thing on Rena’s mind. She remembered the humiliation of being ditched. Her first and only date had left with Brea instead.

“Oh, honestly! Just come and meet him, then you can come back here to brood and hide. Besides, he’s already asked about y-o-u.” Brea crowed as she sucked in another breath. “Isn’t it driving you crazy? Knowing a strange boy has asked about you? Come on, you’re not still mad about Bobby?” Brea squeezed her eyes closed. “It’s not my fault he asked me to go out with him.”

Rena shook her head in disbelief. How could Brea not see how wrong that was? “Oh, no, not me, I’m not mad at all.” She reached down, stroking Random’s soft fur. “Gee-sus, Brea! He dumped me in the living room, and you left with him!” It had all been a ploy to get close to Brea. He was a creep-a-zoid from the outer reaches of Tamriel. Rena tried to imagine him as one of the goons on Skyrim.

Then, she stopped cold, almost dropping the game controller. “What do you mean he asked about me? Why would he think about me? I don’t know him.” Rena wanted to strangle Brea. Now it was going to drive her crazy.

“Come on Ree, say you’re not mad.” Brea fluttered her pretty blonde eyelashes. “Come on, I’d do it for you.” She pushed out her bottom lip in a pout, giving Rena her best imitation of puppy dog eyes.

Rena snorted a laugh, covering her mouth with her hands. “You’re delusional Brea.”

“Oh, come on, you know you have got to meet this guy! It could be your destiny!” Brea breathed with wonder as she wheedled. “Besides, Mom said to come get you, to introduce you to our company. Want me to go back and tell her you said no?” Her toe started to tap an annoying beat.

Rena squeezed her eyes closed. “Okay, all right, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” She eyed Brea, and thought, the sooner I get it over with the better. “Fine, I’ll come meet your Petrov whatever, but don’t say I didn’t do you any favors.” Rena heaved a sigh, dragging her feet as she followed her sister out of the room, Random close to her side.

Brea hurried ahead to the living room where the others waited. When Rena finally made her way down the hall, dog quivering at her side, Brea snatched up her hand.

“Ree, meet Petrov, Petrov, my sister Rena,” Brea gushed as she released Rena’s hand to grab Petrov’s.

Rena could only stand and stare. His eyes… His sapphire gaze faded to an icy blue as she became aware of his critical appraisal, and she felt like a bug on display.

Buy Links: Amazon Midnight Frost Books

Lillie J. Roberts is a multi-published author who loves to reviews books as well. Lillie (a.k.a Dottie at Tink’s Place), enjoys sharing her thoughts about the books she’s read. Stop by sometime, let her know what your think. Her preferred genre is paranormal romance, the darker the better, though if you give her a good thriller/chiller and she’s happy too. She loves all types paranormal creatures from vampires, were- creatures, witches, ghosts, and other things that go bump in the night. She loves a good ghost story, so if you have one, share it with her. The scariest book she’s ever read is a toss up between Bram Stroker’s Dracula or Stephen King’s It (both gave her nightmares).

Lillie lives in central Illinois with her husband, three children, and one wild Westie (who is also her reading and critique partner; he listens to all her new story ideas, almost always with a wicked sense of humor). She is an animal lover as are her heroines and heroes (and no, that doesn’t include insects or spiders). She loves movies and listens to them while she writes, it doesn’t matter if they’re old or new, as long as they’re engaging. She enjoys all kinds of music, especially if it has a hard driving beat. You’ll find some on her favorite artists mentioned in the pages of her books. She writes Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Chillers/Thillers, Suspense from Modern Contemporary to New Adult and YA, from sweetly innocent to naughty romance. She tends to be a genre bender, mixing her genres to provide an unique read.

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