The Quickening (The Sisters of Spirits Trilogy, #2) By Yvonne Heidt
Great second book
This was a very good second book to the series. I enjoyed reading about the past lives and how they connected. It was also nice to see how the old influenced the current events in life. 1602829756 I was so absorbed by the flow and was completely carried away and read all three book in one gulp so I have a bit of hard time differencing them. The serie felt written as one book in three parts.
Beware spoiler because I can't review this one without sharing
In the second part, the paranormal angle is reincarnation and that part was really good in 80% of the book. Dealing with one part of the equation knowing the other while the other don't, trying to juggle between past memory and current life, all that was really interesting.
It when downhill at the end which felt like a very cheap fairy tale.
What felt wrong is one of the main character is a single mother.
We are told how much she loves her but we never ever see her mothering. I really hate it when kid character are a tool or an afterthought. Children are people, characters in there own way. arg.
The child itself is non child with godlike power and it's more creepy than sweet.
And there are shame over being abused. So, once again unhealed trauma. It's way too dark for me.
1602829756 This commentary applies to all 3 books in the “Sisters of Spirits” trilogy – “The Awakening” (Book 1), “The Quickening” (Book 2) and “The Deadening” Book 3).
I lucked out again! Yup, recently stumbled upon yet another lesfic author I knew nothing about before! This time, it’s Yvonne Heidt. And she writes the kind of paranormal stories that I’ve been looking for in lesbian fiction! Yup, the ghost stories, haunting, spiritual, supernatural abilities, kind, that make the hair on the back of your neck stand erect with cold chills as you read the words on the pages! Honestly, being a huge fan of the paranormal genre, I hadn’t been lucky in finding one in lesfic that would grab me interest (perhaps I wasn’t looking at the right place). So I gave up looking for it in lesfic very early on. Until I stumbled upon Heidt’s Sisters of Spirits Trilogy, that is! What got me sold on Heidt’s paranormal trilogy was finding out that she, the author, is actually a real-life empath!!! Now THAT, I never encountered. So, I knew reading her stories would give me a whole different perspective, taking into consideration her own experience and exposure to the subject matter. Totally fascinating!
Anyway….
The Sisters of Spirits trilogy is told around 3 psychic sisters (not blood-related), each one of them featured in each book: Sunny (the Empath) in Book 1 “The Awakening,” Tiffany (the Psychometric) in Book 2 “The Quickening,” and Shade (the Necromancer) in Book 3 “The Deadening.” They form a paranormal society called Sister of Spirits (S.O.S.), with Sunny as the head investigator. These three, with their unique psychic abilities, dedicate their lives to helping people investigate and understand the paranormal world and solve all things spiritual and metaphysical.
“The Awakening,” Book 1 was the FIRST ever book I read by Heidt, obviously. Oh. My God. I honestly wasn’t expecting it. See, the last time a paranormal book gave me the absolutely unforgettable cold chill, hair-raising experience (I STILL shudder when I think about it!) happened eons ago, and that was Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw” AND Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” Yup. Never thought I’d get that similar feeling again…until THIS book. Thank YOU, Ms. Heidt!!
In the 1st installment, we find out Sunny and how she, Tiffany and Shade became friends and later spiritual sisters and co-workers. Sunny’s parents – her father, a parapsychologist, and her mum, a psychic herself, who first formed a paranormal business before Sunny and her sisters took over. Sunny’s folks really reminded me of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators (made famous by their true investigative cases that inspired the famous Amityville Horror and Conjuring movies). If you know who they are, then you’ll know what I mean when you read this book! This book focuses on Sunny and her team’s work when she meets Jordan, the book’s initial antagonist, a jaded sceptic copper, whom Sunny immediately is drawn to, and vice versa. We see how Jordan’s steadfast refusal to believe in anything unseen slowly but surely turn into a believer herself as unexplained events start occurring around and inside of her! Truly a brilliantly written ghost story that Heidt crafted. I absolutely LOVED it!
Book 2 “The Quickening” is all about…..Reincarnation!! Yup! Another fascinating paranormal/metaphysical/spiritual subject matter that Heidt so cleverly crafted into a truly engaging and captivating love story between Tiffany and Kat. You have to read just how these two are connected in their past lives. Utterly absorbing. Their past lives remind me of Xena and Gabriela! Read how Tiffany finally comes to terms with her past life connection with Kat, her daughter and her ex. So addictive is their story I couldn’t put the book down! Engrossing from start to finish! Murder, violence that kept looping throughout the ages of continued reincarnations threatening Kat and Tiffany’s union was weaved with such depth and emotion it’s one reincarnation story that truly resonates.
And then in Book 3 “The Deadening,” we finally get to the bottom of Shade’s life, her back story, her traumatic, horrifying past. Shade’s me favourite character of the trilogy. Absolutely love her complex, utterly misunderstood character, filled with pain, suffering, darkness that engulf her. Shade is a damaged soul. Being a necromancer (sees the dead people!), Shade’s not afraid to walk in-between dark and light, get in front of whatever dark forces that threaten her and her loved ones, fight evil spirits and demons, but fears the one thing that she dares not believe she deserves – LOVE. After a painful rejection, she’s wary of falling in love and letting herself feel so much again. But Raven, the feisty witch, who’s been attracted to Shade since the start as she joins the S.O.S. team, won’t let Shade off easy. I love how Heidt writes their story that’s full of darkness, violence, trauma, grief and it’s actually through these negative forces that have been holding Shade under capture all her life that Raven rises up to neutralise them with her loyal, steadfast, unceasing and unwavering love for Shade that ultimately saves her.
Book 3, obviously, is me favourite of the trilogy because the journey of Shade’s is deeply complex, dark, psychologically traumatic and emotionally exhausting, with a tremendous weight of grief that she’s been hauling since childhood that’s manifested into a powerful negative force personified into a physical entity, but oh-so rewarding in the end as she climbs her way back up to the light, step by step, tumbling over, falling repeatedly on the way but no retreat, as she strives hard to grab hold of hope, the chance of living in the present with love and happiness and a possibility of a future, with the help of Raven, whom she discovers has always been her soul mate and kindred spirit. Oh, their love story is brilliantly told with a lot of heart and emotionally resonating as their journey toward each other’s heart and soul almost robs them of their own lives! It’s takes an epic level of commitment, dedication, desire, passion and true love between these two souls for Shade to eventually break free of her lifelong demons, with Raven by her side the whole entire time. In essence, their soul-deep emotional attachment and love that they built together is absolutely memorable.
I absolutely love this trilogy which is richly filled with not just the glorious paranormal and supernatural flavour that I adore (yes, I’m a fan of the horror/paranormal/supernatural genre, so there!), but is also splendidly lush with deeply heartfelt and emotion-filled stories about love, friendship and camaraderie, spirituality, desire, commitment and a passion for life filled with positive energy, joy and peace. Sunny and Jordan, Kat and Tiffany, Shade and Raven – three powerful couples with their own unique love story to discover, explore and enjoy as they journey their lives into the future.
All in all, The S.O.S. trilogy is brilliantly crafted and all 3 books must be read as Heidt guides the reader to different parts of the fascinating world of paranormal, parapsychological, spiritual, metaphysical realms. The BEST thing? LESBIANS!! Lesbian Action & Romance! Highly recommended!
I have since read all of Heidt’s books and am very looking forward to her upcoming book, “Paradigm,” that returns to pure paranormal/horror/eerie flavour that I love so much!!!
In Bugs' Own Words 1602829756 Great read. I love the characters. The writer immerses the reader right into the story. 1602829756 I liked this read and thought it was a good continuation of the series.
In this second book, we focus on Tiffany, the sister that can see the dead as they want to be seen and can also psychically read objects, and Kat, a woman who has her own gift having seen her past life.
Where the first book focused more on active spirits, the second book focuses on reincarnation (AND spirits). I will say that the second book went into the woo-woo realm for me but...hey, I'm reading a book about three psychics so some things are to be expected. For those that believe in reincarnation anyway the woo-woo affect won't be there but for those that don't...eh, just go with it for the story's sake.
Tiffany is a really relatable character. Though she has remarkable gifts, on a practical every day level, she's a single mother several years into recovering from an abusive marriage and a woman finding her backbone. She has fears and stresses and is protected in ways by the other sisters. Kat is a really strong, warrior-like woman and the story focuses on these two coming together...you know, when not chasing evil.
I appreciated that Tiffany is a sexually fluid character and it isn't a big deal for her to have an attraction to Kat.
The story is a mix of romance and mystery/thriller but there's some good humor in this, as well. The tone of this book felt more sinister than the first and there are dark themes but if you can make it through a crime documentary you should be good.
There is a big cliff-hanger at the end that will make a reader immediately start the third book but all of the plot lines from this book are wrapped up.
Really good read. Recommend.
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Not exactly sure that the synopsis really captures this book. Kat has been tasked by the police as a middle man between themselves and the Sisters of Spirit in order to help solve crime. Tiffany has been tasked with helping Kat to see these crimes and help the police. What she didn't think would happen is that she would find herself drawn to Kat in ways that she didn't expect. Along with the help of Shade, Sunny, and Jordan they need to find this killer soon, one of their lives depends on it.
Kat feels Tiffany's attraction and mirrors it only she has been dreaming of Tiffany for years. She remembers their past life together and wants to rekindle that but how she can do this without freaking Tiffany out she isn't sure.
In my opinion this book was better than the first. There was a bit more drama, a lot more insight into the characters, and some things I saw coming but didn't know how they would fit and others that totally blindsided me. I like when a book can keep me on my toes. It doesn't hurt that the book features 3 kick butt women. I was heartbroken to see that there isn't yet a 3rd book in this series but I'm hoping that Yvonne doesn't keep us hanging for too long! 1602829756 In The Awakening, we had an interesting and delightfull read about three women with psychic abilities, who managed to use those abilities to built up a succesfull business dealing withing hauntings, poltergeists, helping people with negative energies, and solving a cold case file along the way. Oh, it had romance too.
While the Awakening revolved around Sunny, the owner of the company, Sisters of Spirits, and her budding relationship with Jordan, the cop, all the sisters got equal screen time, and it was fun to read how they each complemented eachother, using each of their strengths.
I really liked the teamwork, and sadly, that was missing in The Quickening.
This time, the story revolves around Tiffany, the shy and timid member of the group, who had a very bad marriage and spent 4 years trying to come out of it and rebuilding her life, both as a single mom and respected collegue.
The story is set a year later, and immediately follows up on the events in the epilogue of the Awakening. Tiffany is confused after the rather strange meeting with Kat, the reporter, and the story kicks off from there.
At least, I thought it would. The book constantly changes PoV between Tiff and Kat, who both have strange dreams, and haven't got a clue how the other fits in. To be fair, only Kat is convinced they are connected and Tiff doesn't have that feeling. So a great part of the book is dedicated to how they finally make sense of it. In the mean time, SoS is asked to do some cold case files, to see if they can be an asset to future police work. Also, strange things start to happen to everyone.
Sounds good so far, doesn't it?
Well, no. Was the Awakening centered around a good ghost story, this one is centered around reincarnation. And not a good one at that. We are treated with the usual Xena flash backs, which are boring. Also, everything related to SoS somehow feels like put in as an afterthought. Sunny and Shade barely play any significant role, other then come to the rescue when things with Tiff and Kat go really bad.
Well, things chug along, a villain is identified ( it was painfully obvious who it was), and after Tiff finally has enough and takes things into her own hands, we get to the finale, that turned out to be some ridiculous story about reincarnation. It was a serious wtf moment for me. Oh, and don't get me started about Tiff's daughter. LOL.
This novel lacked the ghost hunting, the teamwork, and to be honest, the romance (Kat isn't as nearly as interesting as Jordan was) that the Awakening had. Or maybe it's just that I'm not into reincarnation. I dont know.
I hope Shade's story will be more interesting than this one.
1602829756 I am going to draw on a quote from Shade from midway through the book... 'Cause that is freaking cool! Yup, this second book in the 'Sisters of Spirits Trilogy' is definitely freaking cool and then some! The only possible mildly dark element is that the end of this second book left me with the impression that there wouldn't be a third ergo no trilogy. I hope I wildly misinterpreted what I read, as only two of the Sisters have had their story told. In this second book, there are some extraordinary brushes with deliciously elaborate psychic interlinks and a totally delightful shakeup with several characters' family history. Given that from a spirit perspective, one's essence is the only constant and corporeal life forms are simply episodes for growth and challenge, yes, I must repeat, this is so freaking cool! I recommend this second book wholeheartedly with a strong suggestion to read the first book initially.
Tiffany Curran is rather tired of being the needy member of the S.O.S. trio. Both Sunny and Shade are and have been extra protective of her right from the start. Her being a mother now has certainly not minimized that situation. Oh, and Tiffany's baby, Angel, is just incredibly adorable. Angel also proves to be even more protective of her mom than anyone might have guessed or projected. This daughter is definitely one of the truly cool elements in this second book. Tiffany's psychic skills, loving nature, and darkly disturbing dreams make her one perfect center point for the powerful currents impacting and threatening all the sensitive spirit sisters. Tiffany wishes and pines after a hot and steamy romance. She gets more than even she could imagine!
Katerina Volchosky, Kat for short, is an accomplished journalist and a good friend to Sunny's partner, Jordan. She is also one astounding powerhouse. Additionally, she dreamt every night from her youngest years till she was twenty years of age a continuous re-living of a previous life more than a thousand years ago. She kept detailed journals of her dreams and painted a mural taking an entire wall within her bedroom to depict a classic scene from her dreams. She knows that her heart's love is once again alive and she knows who she is. The twists, turns, and entanglements that emanate from that ancient reality is definitively the coolest of all elements, and there are many, that swirl around the Kat, Tiffany, the sisters, and family. I loved Kat and I feared her, but she evolves in ways I never would have anticipated. Fantastic!
I truly hope there is a third book for the 'Sister of Spirits' trilogy. These characters, their world, and the enormity of the tasks placed before these three women is simply spellbinding. As much as I loved, laughed, and was enchanted, I found the heat, intensity, and thrilling battle with a terrifying and stupefying villain completely breathtaking. This is a winner! 1602829756 I preferred this to the first one in the series because I felt I had a better understanding of both of the main characters. Kat recognises Tiffany the moment she sees her but not from this lifetime. Tiffany has had a difficult past between an abusive mother and ex-husband. She has no memory of Kat and is very wary of anybody getting close to her or her daughter.
A policeman asks Kat, a journalist on vacation, to be the go-between in dealing with the psychic sisters and the cold case division in order to close some old cases. Kat finds herself working with Tiffany.
There is quite a bit of violence in these pages and although there is the distance of the psychic retelling some of the details are still pretty gruesome. The story however, is gripping and I couldn't put it down. 1602829756 :-) I love this authors work! This is the second book of a trilogy. If you like the paranormal in your lesfic, you'll love this book. 1602829756
Tiffany Curran has the ability to read places and people by touch, and although it’s a gift she uses to help people, it’s also a curse that prevents her from having much human contact. She tries to keep life simple, but that all changes when Katerina Volchosky calls in the Sisters of Spirits paranormal team for help.
Kat is tired of reporting about violence in the city and vows this story is her last. She is hoping that S.O.S. can connect with a serial killer’s victims to help provide clues. When she meets Tiffany, she dreams of a promise made centuries ago to a flame-haired priestess.
Ancient whispers of curses and witches haunt Tiffany’s nightmares, and the closer she and Kat get to the murderer, the louder the whispers get. Worse, Tiffany has a horrific suspicion she might know who the killer is.
The Quickening (The Sisters of Spirits Trilogy, #2)