Review: Shattered Souls by B.C. Morgan

Shattered Souls by B.C. Morgan

Series: The Harkwright Trilogy #3

Publication date: January 7th, 2021

Pages: 686
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Maybe if I say it enough I'll believe that I'm ready for year three. It's nearly upon us, and I'm not even sure that will be the most worrying thing I have to face.

I may be free from one of the Harkwrights, but another is taking his place. A wildcard and mystery. Whether he's better or worse than the one he's replacing remains to be seen.

If I keep on baking I might succeed in fooling myself into believing I am safe. That everything that has happened in the past two years was just a nightmare. But really that's just wishful thinking, because there are some things even fresh bread and homemade cakes cannot fix.

I have a lot of things to consider and I don't know where to begin. From facing the way I feel, to questioning every belief I hold. I don't know who I will be when I come out of this, or where my path will finally lead.

One thing I know for sure, I'm not the same girl I was when I first entered the Academy I'm stronger, and hopefully wiser. I've come this far and I will see it through.

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Review:

Luna is buckling down and getting ready for third year. She has found some time to get to know Tucker and some of the other guys more and she starts to wonder if her love may extend past the two she had already assumed she loved. But in a cruel twist of fate Tucker is suddenly no longer her claimer and now she may in more danger than ever before. Because her biggest bully Shane has been replaced with his best friend Thallon and it seems that he has a sudden horse in the race to own her. It seems the errand boy of Sir Harkwright is determined to make Luna's life absolute hell unlike any she has ever experienced before. But that is just one obstacle for Luna to overcome. Add in a healthy dose of abuse from the other women, a sprig of her men vying for her affections, and a cup of mystery and secrets that Sir seems to have in her ulterior motives. Will Luna make it out alive with her body and heart intact?

This book was extensive. I knew there was a lot of ground to cover because I still didn't fully understand what Sir was up to. One minute he was throwing her at Emmett, the next he was forcing her into being involved with Thallon, and then he's acting as if he wants neither of them involved with her. I had thought that he was trying to beat Luna into submission by throwing a bunch of obstacles in her way while also tormenting his son with dangling her in front of him then snatching him away. But as I kept reading I started to wonder if even that was the case. What was this crazy man doing?! 

The murders on campus were tied up nicely with a bow about midway through the book before a plot twist was thrown in that some may have seen coming but others may be blindsided by. I had a feeling from book one that one of the characters that was closest to Luna when she started would turn out to be dangerous. I didn't realize that one of her men would also fall into that category though.

Luna really grew from the beginning of the series to the end. She started to live for herself and not just trying to exist long enough to get what she needed done. The poor girl never knew who to trust. One minute she could trust one person and then they'd tear her down and make her regret it the very next chapter. Even her family were not safe in this situation. Her mother and sister had their antagonist moments and that baffled even me. Was there anyone this girl could truly trust aside from her gal pal, Daria?

I felt the ending was a little... rushed. There was so much fluff and side stories to tie up throughout the book that the main mystery and climax seemed to just blaze past without much fanfare. All this build up towards some grand scheme and thoroughly fleshed out mystery over the course of three books and it wraps up that quickly. I also didn't like how Luna left it with her guys and how long it took them to find their way back to her. I kept waiting for a surprise baby to be thrown into the mix because it felt like everything but the kitchen sink was in this book. The final 100 pages kind of spoiled the book for me because it truly was so rushed that it felt like the author was just sick of writing at that point and wanted to tie it all up in a bow whether it made sense or not. But, after 500+ pages already written I could kind of understand it. Really this book could have been split and made into one more cliffhanger with a more plotted finale as the wrap-up, but perhaps the author was just ready to say goodbye to the characters.

I didn't hate the finale to this series, but I didn't find myself laying back in bed happy with how everything ended. I think there was room for improvement as well as maybe some proofreading for spelling/grammatical errors to help a reader not lose too much immersion in the read. I enjoyed the series overall and will likely pick up some more books by B.C. Morgan in the future.