WOW! What an amazing debut by newcomer Chelsea Mueller! Borrowed Souls was every single thing I love about urban fantasy and more! Mueller has created a world unlike anything I have read. It's fresh, it's new and it's original. Sheer perfection.

Callie is used to taking care of her family. If she didn't, no one else would. Her wayward brother has landed himself in yet another mess, this time with a drug lord and his very life hinges on Callie's ability to steal some priceless information. In order to do that she needs to "borrow" a soul from the local Soul Charmer, a greasy man who barters every deal with desperate people. In order to get the soul she needs, she agrees to work for him for free. But his agreement comes with hidden strings and soon Callie finds herself shackled with a very hot partner and in search of the Soul Charmers competition, a woman who seems intent to steals the souls, literally right out of people's bodies.

There is a religious undercurrent to Borrowed Souls that piqued my interest. The citizens of this world seem to follow one central religion that focuses mainly on the purity of ones soul. Allowing your soul to become tainted is frowned upon but as always, there seems to be a few loopholes. One can simply "borrow" a soul from the Soul Charmer in order to do all the dirty deeds they've fantasized about. Two souls in one body and the extra one taking all the heat for your sins. As with everything though, there is a price, like having bits of your soul and bits of the borrowed soul mingling in ways that don't quite leave you the same after the experience. Like any drug, people chase that high, that release from their mundane lives and quickly become addicted.

From beginning to end I was enraptured with Borrowed Souls and the magic it presented. Callie and Derek were perfect together and I found their personalities to be unique. These characters got shit done and they didn't screw around. Both are capable on their own, but together they created a formidable foe. Even though Callie was unwittingly drawn into this line of work in an effort to save her ungrateful lowlife of a brother, she stood tall and faced her issues head on. I loved Derek's protectiveness from the get go and even though we don't really find out his story in this one, the groundwork is laid for future books and hopefully more of why he's so indebted to the Soul Charmer. Callie's fierce loyalty to her family was awesome even if a little questionable. Those people do not deserve her at all and it hurt my heart every time their stupidity cut her a little more. Derek, however, proved his worth time and again and I just adore them together.

I am so excited for another book from this world! I have high hopes for this series and this author. PLEASE GIVE ME MORE!!!

I give Borrowed Souls by Chelsea Mueller 5 stars!

Review originally posted at http://fictionvixen.com/review-borrowed-souls-chelsea-mueller/

I’m always on the look out for fresh ideas in the Urban Fantasy genre, especially since its my preferred genre when I want to completely lose myself in a book. In her debut, Borrowed Souls, Chelsea Mueller gave me exactly what I was craving.  A gritty, compelling read that kept me glued to the page.

Our heroine, Callie Delgado, was raised with the belief that family always comes first, even if that means handing over all her savings to her brother or putting up with her narcissistic, needy mother. She’s used to it, and she’ll do whatever she has to in order to protect them. But this time her brother’s addictions have gotten him in a world of trouble with the local mob and the only way to keep him in one piece is for Callie to preform a task for his captors that will firmly put her on the wrong side of the law. It also means that she must visit a soul dealer for the first time and barter for use of a soul.

Soul rental is the thing to do in Gem City when you want to sin, but don’t want that sin to stain your soul for eternity. Even some members of the church advocate it as a way to keep yourself free from transgressions so you can enter the afterlife pure. Callie has always shied away from this practice, but now she has no choice. The only problem is she doesn’t have the funds needed for a soul rental. The Soul Charmer, who frankly creeps Callie the fuck out, comes up with a deal, she will work for him as a soul collector for the next two weeks and he’ll give her a one day rental on an average soul. He’ll even give her a partner.

I keep seeing comparisons to Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series, which honestly never occurred to me while I was reading. Maybe because I was excited to branch out from the usual vampires, weres, etc. to something new or maybe because Borrowed Souls stands completely on its own. Callie is a wonderful heroine, with her loyalty to family and desire to better herself and circumstances. As a reader I wanted her to see how terribly awful her family was for continually neglecting her and putting her in dangerous situations, but I also liked her desire to protect them. She’s not an in your face badass, like so many UF heroines are right off the bat, but chapter after chapter I watched as she came into her own and by the end embraced that side of herself. Despite her fear and misgivings.

She is paired with Derek, who IS a badass. He’s big and tough, and not afraid to use his size and strength to get what he wants. He’s also protective of Callie and is determined to help her with her mob/brother problem. The move past partners into the partners in lust and falling into bed came faster than I expected, which is something that thrilled my romantic heart. I adored these two together. Callie was the magic in the relationship, and Derek the muscle and it worked for me in every way.

I’m so intrigued by this world!  As the first book in a series there was a lot of set up and introduction, and I feel like this author has only scratched the surface. I can’t wait to learn more and finally get answers to some of my questions. I’m excited to see where Ms. Mueller takes this series and these characters. Book two can’t come soon enough. Final grade- B+

Favorite Quote:

He pressed a light kiss to her lips. “It’s hot to have a woman protecting me.”
“You think everything is hot.”
“Only on you, doll.”

It was good. A solid 3.5 on the Star Scale.

The writing was good. I'd probably stick this in a semi-dark-urban-fantasy category since Callie (Main character) has to deal with drugs and shitty family and shitty life. This is definitely not a book for someone that wants to read about a Strong Heroine or positive... anything.

I'm not sure if it was just me or maybe my bad mood affected my reading, but I had trouble getting attached to any of the Characters.

Callie seemed to be delusional at times. I didn't understand the fact that she KNEW her brother was using her, yet still insisted that after this ordeal he was going to change and she was going to help him out again.

Derek was a blessing. I wish I knew more of his backstory. His history and how he came to know the Soul Charmer is a mystery left unsolved.

Another unsolved mystery is how Soul Magic started and how certain people learned it in the first place. I would have liked a cool mythological story.

I liked Callie and Derek's banter and the slowly evolving romance between the two.

Spoiler

Look out for a very nice XXX scene. ;)

I'm so disappointed, to be honest. Mostly because I was expecting a different kind of book than I got. Although, the more I think about this book and try to think of what I disliked besides what I thought it would include.... there really isn't much. There is SO Much Good here.

Let me clear up my expectations:
There is a quote from the author of the Charley Davidson series stating the book was snarky and sexy.... which I definitely did not think it was. ESPECIALLY since I was then thinking it would be funny-- like the Charley Davidson series!
I don't think I laughed at all reading this--it is gritty with hard topics. No witty comebacks or kickass-ery. I don't mean this to say all novels need it, but because that was what I was expecting, I feel like it should be mentioned for the next person. The cover is deceptive too because she looks so confident...

Besides my misguided expectations, what did I dislike?
>I wanted more information-- more things to be fleshed out. There is a lot going on here and while the world-building is great, I wanted to know more about how soul magic came about, how else is it used, is there really no other magic?
>There is a lot of religion mentioned. Which is difficult when you aren't sure it matters (proof within story that condition of soul determines where you go after death) because if there is no afterlife then what does it matter? I really bring this up too because Callie cares about her soul, but doesn't care about church or religion as much. So.... why not have an impure soul?

I didn't completely dislike the book though, I feel like I should state that. This is one I would definitely rec. to other lovers of UF fiction. The concept is new and interesting. Soul magic? Having another soul within you and it somehow changes your DNA and fingerprints??? (Yeah, I don't believe a soul can change the physical but I went with it....) But it is something new I haven't read before.

Romance? hmm.... they fit together, I like them together-- I LOVE Derek, I thought it was built up slightly so not insta-love. I thought it was done quite well for a UF novel. I love how conflict was handled between them as well. They acted like mature adults!!! They admitted when they messed up, apologized, and moved on. It was so refreshing. A REAL RELATIONSHIP!!!

At the end of the book I felt more like the adventure was just beginning than had already started-- like we just went through the tutorial or learning process of a game and now we will get into the story and learn the big stuff. PREQUEL! That is the word I'm looking for. It read like a prequel to me.

Will I read the sequel??? Probably... maybe. Thinking about the book more while writing this has made me like it more than I did reading it. So, I might have to do a re-read later before considering moving on.

Great for fans of urban fantasy. The concept was really cool and I would like to see it expanded, since there was less magic than I anticipated and more focus on personal relationships and family. That said, I actually really liked the emotional element. It was great to watch Callie struggle to do her best for a family that clearly didn't appreciate her (I cringed more than once over their actions), and loved her interactions with dreamboat Derek. There were a lot of unanswered questions, but this book was clearly written to be the opening of a brand new, fun, urban fantasy series that has so, so much potential. I really liked it and want nothing more than to see Callie and Derek's journey continue into this cool, interesting world.

*I received this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

Borrowed Souls was a solid debut novel. It’s definitely an interesting premise, people borrow souls in order to keep their own clean from sin. I won’t lie the philosophical repercussions have kept me thinking, because if you’re taking a different soul to keep your soul clean then doesn’t that put a mark on your own soul? I digress from the point of this which is a review of the book.

Callie seems kind of like a Mary-Sue, she’s just too perfectly imperfect. She’s “very special” and manages to snag the bad boy. She’s also unfailingly unselfish when it comes to her family, when they don’t deserve it, and she knows it but she does it because they are family. What a load of horse-doody. Anyone in their right mind would escape from that family immediately. She’s also selfless when it comes to her friends, and that was just annoying. It’s one of those weirdly self-absorbed unselfish things. The character feels responsible for everything, so therefore they try to be unselfish. That trope drives me crazy.

However, despite these things that I don’t love the story was pretty solid. The world was interesting, and the writing was well-done. Even Callie for all her Mary Sue tendencies was fun to read about for the majority of the book. I’d say my biggest hang up with the paragraph above is how the story ended, and that’s what aggravated me so much. But it is something that does happen in real life where people get caught in cycles of helping people who shouldn’t be helped so maybe I’m just overly critical.

I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars, and say that this series has vast potential, and I am interested in the second book if only to see if Callie manages to grow out of her need to help everyone around her. Oh and also what’s going to happen now that she’s in serious cahoots with the Soul Charmer!

*This review was first posted to Moonlight Gleam Reviews http://moonlightgleam.com/2017/05/borrowed-souls-by-chelsea-muller-review.html*

This was a good story with an interesting premise, I've never seen soul rental in a story before. The characters and their dynamics were interesting. The editing needed a bit more work(grammar not story). I will most likely continue this series.

I really wanted to like this one more. I wasn't sure if it was the storyline that I didn't get along with or if it was actually the characters. The more I read, the more I realized there was just something about the characters that I couldn't connect with.

full review to come

Its not often I get involved in a series with only the first book out, but "Borrowed Souls" by Chelsea Mueller is a breath of fresh air when it comes to Urban Fantasy plots. The whole idea of selling/borrowing souls so that yours isn't tainted when you sin is a unique idea that hasn't been done before (to my knowledge). I only rated this book 3 stars because the world building wasn't as complete as it could be, but it has potential. I also didn't like the way Callie's family treated her, but I do understand that it was what was driving the plot forward. Hopefully in the next book she tells her mom and brother to get out of her life. I eagerly await the next book in the series

Also, I met Chelsea at NolaStorycon this year in New Orleans and she is awesome.

Read for Review (Edelwiess)
Overall Rating: 4.25
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.50

First Thought when Finished: Borrowed Souls delivered on damaged characters that handle their sh*t in adult a** ways! We need more of this in Urban Fantasy! Oh the action, drama, and magic were all there too!

Quick Thoughts: How much do I love when adults act like adults even when they are screwed up or in screwy situations? TONS! Callie and Derek are those kind of characters that I can totally get behind. Do they disagree? You betcha! Do they sometimes not communicate? Sure but eventually (and I am not talking half a book later) do. Do they have chemistry? OFF THE WALLS! Do they handle their sh*t even when they don't want too? YES! From the beginning, you know this about Callie! She just steps up to the plate every dang time. She doesn't whine about it. She doesn't shirk her duty (even when maybe she should *side eye to brother*). She just does it even though she is dealing with her own crap (you know bills, being broke, ect). There is something really real about Callie that I think most people can identify with and Derek ---well he is just a hunk of "OMG you can come stay in my house anytime" AWESOME! He has his own stuff to deal with. I HIGHLY recommend this to Urban Fantasy readers who love Charles/Anna from Alpha/Omega by Patricia Briggs (my favorite handle their sh*t adult couple in UF) or anyone else who loves Urban Fantasy.

Part of my Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE! Reviews