Callie Delgado always puts family first, and unfortunately her brother knows it. She’s emptied her savings, lost work, and spilled countless tears trying to keep him out of trouble, but now he’s in deeper than ever, and his debt is on Callie’s head. She’s given a choice: do some dirty work for the mob, or have her brother returned to her in tiny pieces.
Renting souls is big business for the religious population of Gem City. Those looking to take part in immoral—or even illegal—activity can borrow someone else’s soul, for a price, and sin without consequence.
To save her brother, Callie needs a borrowed soul, but she doesn’t have anywhere near the money to pay for it. The slimy Soul Charmer is willing to barter, but accepting his offer will force Callie into a dangerous world of magic she isn’t ready for.
With the help of the guarded but undeniably attractive Derek—whose allegiance to the Charmer wavers as his connection to Callie grows—she’ll have to walk a tight line, avoid pissing off the bad guys, all while struggling to determine what her loyalty to her family’s really worth.
Losing her brother isn’t an option. Losing her soul? Maybe.
Callie was raised to put family first, so it’s no surprise she’s broke from trying to stay on the good side of the law while constantly bailing out her druggie brother. This time, though, he’s gone too far. He’s deep in debt to the local mobster, and the only way to get him freed is for Callie to rent a soul and commit a crime for the mobster. Renting souls is dangerous business, and the Soul Charmer, a creepy old man, has cornered the business, but the interesting part (to the mobster and police at least) is that it muddles your fingerprints and DNA. Callie can’t afford the rental, so she agrees to do odd jobs for the Soul Charmer, like repo’ing souls from various colorful characters. As her week proceeds, and after the Soul Charmer imbues her with some of his magic, Callie finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into the shady side of Gem City. Can she save her brother – and her own soul?
The Soul Charmer series is gritty urban fantasy with a strong romantic element. While this definitely suffers a lot from “first book” syndrome (notably in the uneven pacing), this was still pretty fun to read. I’m not usually one for too much of the “working for the mob”/morally grey stuff, but the paranormal element was intriguing. The premise is certainly original and the book left me wanting to know more about how the whole soul rental business worked.
