ARC Review--Wicked Embers by Keri Arthur

Keri Arthur, New York Times bestselling author of Fireborn, presents the thrilling new Souls of Fire Novel featuring Emberly Pearson, a phoenix that can transform into a human—and is haunted by the ability to foresee death....

Crimson Death, the plague like virus spawned from a failed government experiment to isolate the enzymes that make vampires immortal, continues to spread. Emberly and her partner, Jackson Miller, are desperately seeking the stolen research for a cure before the virus becomes a pandemic.

But their mission is jeopardized by another threat uncovered in Emberly’s prophetic dreams. A creature of ash and shadow has been unleashed on a murdering spree. Now Emberly must summon all her gifts and investigative knowledge to put an end to this entity’s brutal rampage—even if it means placing herself in harm’s way....

I received this eARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Keri Arthur's Wicked Embers was as incredible as its predecessor! I have been a fan of Keri's since the early days of my paranormal reading adult life! (That's a mouthful! LOL!) Her newest series, Souls of Fire, is shaping up to be as incredible as her previous ones! Emberly is a phoenix, which is kind of rare to see as the main character these days, and her life is anything but simple.

Since the last mystery and go around, Emberly has found herself teaming up with Jackson in his PI business. Being as her last boss was murdered, a new job was necessary. Especially due to all the danger that came from it. And there's still danger as the evil vampire group is still after her since she gave them the notes to the regarding the vampire virus to them, on a virus infected laptop. This I feel like, will be an issue that carries out through the series or at least a few more books worth!

Besides dealing with that, Emberly also has been having dreams regarding a monster like creature that can shift into multiple shapes. It's devouring the organs of dead bodies, but it slowly moves from dead ones to killing people and devouring their organs. While an issue in this particular story, it didn't feel overly large. Or its because this took me two and half days to read. Darn Twitter! But regardless, it did make for an interesting side story to the big one, which naturally involves the red cloaks.

I guess what's confusing me a bit is all these vampires. I can't figure out which ones are pseudo good. As so far, I don't think we've met any good ones in this particular world. The red cloaks are definitely evil but then there seems to be more and more groups and I can't figure out which sides they're on. We get told in ways, I suppose, perhaps I was just a bit distracted. It's been a trying week so far!

Once again, I enjoyed what little romance we had here. Emberly is still with Jackson, though I just can't totally get behind their relationship. It's hot for sure, but they both seem to know, that they will never be a true couple. And I guess that bothers me. Especially since there's never going to be anything with her and her lifemate, Rory. They have to be together due to circumstance. And then there's Sam, the one that got away. He's still a fixture in Emberly's life and while nothing ever happens between these two, I still hold out hope. Perhaps because Emberly does, in small ways. She knows  it's over, but she dubs him as this lifetime's love. The one that got away. It will be interesting to see how things develop in Emberly's love life for this series as for the moment, things are definitely complicated!

I really enjoyed this one! Though I enjoy pretty much all Keri's books! She weaves together the right amount of action, romance, and comedy together into a fitting story! The pacing is always delved out just right too. Hardly ever a dull moment and what with two mysteries on Emberly's plate, she always seems to be on the move! I'm curious to see how her next adventure will pan out!

If you're an Urban Fantasy lover, then I highly recommend Keri Arthur! She was among my first authors I read and has since remained a favorite! And since this series of hers just started last year, you have plenty of time to catch up! Now I really need to read the last book of her Dark Angels series!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars