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 has to save her brother. Again. And the only way she can do that is to rent a soul and accomplish a task. A huge, and very illegal, task. But when Callie goes to rent the soul she needs, she doesn't have enough money and ends up bartering her services - and things quickly go from bad to worse. Callie's mom is hounding her, her brother's jailer is pressuring her, she still needs to work her job AND work off the soul she is trying to rent...and to top it all off, she has to have a partner for the souls business, and he appears one who would rather knock heads than anything else. Can it get any worse?
Overall, I enjoyed the book - though the romance seems to have hit the ground running without ever taking a moment for a breath. The idea of renting souls - with the permission of the church - is a new twist that gives the book its interest. What if everyone could rent a soul and anything they did would not count as "sin"? It's an intriguing idea, and Mueller runs with it.
Callie is both interesting, and frustrating. She is basically a doormat for her family, and there were times that I wanted to smack her upside the head with the book. However, as the book progresses, so does Callie - and it is all to the good.
Overall, it's an enjoyable book and would be a decent summer read. It's quick and fun and steamy!
