ARC Review--Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson

A year ago Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction — and taking the life of Dovey's best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her.

But recently she's started to believe she's seeing things that can't be real ... including Carly at their favorite cafe. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined.

As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah — where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk — she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.

Dovey's running out of time and torn between two paths. Will she trust her childhood friend Baker, who can't see the threatening darkness but promises to never give up on Dovey and Carly? Or will she plot with the sexy stranger, Isaac, who offers all the answers — for a price? Soon Dovey realizes that the danger closing in has little to do with Carly ... and everything to do with Dovey herself.

I received this ARC from the publishers via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Servants of the Storm is Delilah S. Dawson's foray into the YA world, and as a fan of her Blud series, I knew this was one I had to read! I was quite surprised by the book overall. The description definitely leaves you wondering just what on earth is going on here and I can say that you will not be disappointed!

Dovey's best friend Carly was killed during the Josephine, the hurricane that devastated Savannah last year. The aftermath left Dovey shaken and disturbed, so she was put on anti-psychotics. The  medication leaves her a hollow shell of her former self. She doesn't see things, she barely lives. Now Dovey has decided to take herself off the medication because while at the coffee shop, she sees Carly quickly fleeing around a corner.

Now off her medication, Dovey is determined to find Carly, if it's even really Carly. Then she meets Isaac, a very mysterious boy who works in a bar. He seems to know more than he tells. Dovey is determined to get information out of him, but he ends up being a very hard guy to find.

The pacing to Servants of the Storm was just amazing! I wasn't expecting to get answers so soon. Before we're even halfway through, we've gotten quite a bit of answers, but still no resolution, so there's still lots of story to tell! I won't get into the details, but this was a spin I definitely was expecting. It was shocking, yet still delightful. In that, it wasn't a totally out there revelation. Delilah backs it all up with the proof and other story background that it just easily becomes believable. 

All too soon, Dovey finds herself deep in the thick of things and she's going to need all the help she can get in order to save the day.

There was a bit of romance in this one, for Dovey has two guys that both may or may not want to be with her. I was a little unclear if we had a love triangle. At times it seemed like there was, but then other times, you're wondering if one of the guys really wants to be with her or not. It's a given that Isaac is one of them, the other is one of her best friends, Baker. Baker does help Dovey out with her mission, so he is there and is a great friend to her. But he's looking for more than friendship these days. Whatever will Dovey do?

The ending of this one just amazed me! I was left with my jaw hanging and of course, now wondering if this is going to be a series or not. Goodreads shows it (at the time of this review) as a standalone. Delilah's website as well. But it's one of those endings that definitely have you reeling. Truly, I am still reeling as I write this review! It's not quite, "what just happened?!" because obviously, you know. But more like "OMG! What's going to happen next?!" and an emphasis on there needing to be more! While the storyline gets fairly resolved, it's that last chapter that was the clincher. There's a feeling of unsettleness for our heroine and I personally am left dying to know what will happen to her next!

Servants of the Storm is a chillingly, dark read that will keep you up at night. A read so mysterious and suspenseful, it leaves readers to wonder if they can trust a narrator who is known to hallucinate. Happy Reading!



Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars--really the .5 comes off from me wondering if there's more to come or not, plus a few other minor hangups I might have had, but it was still a freaking awesome read!


Servants of the Storm releases August 5, 2014