Name: Seeker
ISBN: 9781635830385

Kim Chance

Teenagers Lainey, Ty, and Maggie struggle against the Master, an evil force who could destroy the world.

Seeker

Ruth Parker 

This is Kim Chance's follow up novel to Keeper, one of my favourite reads from last year. 
Keeper introduced us to Lainey, a high schooler taking her SATs who thinks life is fairly normal until weird things start happening and she discovers she is a witch. Not only is she a witch, she is a descendant of a long line of super powerful witches who were also Keepers of the magical Grimoire which currently harnesses unbelievable magic power, which is of course desired by other power hungry Supernaturals, including the Master.

The second book picks up from where we left off, with Lainey and Maggie being held in the safety of the magic group and Ty having outed himself as a traitor.

I really loved this book, my only concern was how quickly it finished. It felt a little rushed, but so did the end of Keeper. Kim Chance's writing style has improved and I enjoyed Seeker more than Keeper. I love these books and although it seems the journey is over for Lainey and friends, I can't wait to read more from the author!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this copy from the publisher and netgalley. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Author: Kim Chance

Book Series: Keeper Duology Book 2

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: September 10, 2019

Recommended Age: 14+ (Bella makes really poor… wait different book, violence, magic, love)

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Flux Books

Synopsis: Lainey’s normal, bookworm life no longer exists. With her family murdered by the Master, she joins forces with a group of Supernatural rebels. But as she struggles to cope with her new role as Keeper and the uncontrollable power it gives her, Lainey realizes that magic does indeed leave a mark—but it’s not always physical.

Ty isn’t one of the good guys. He’s done terrible things, and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. Even if it hurts. Even if it means betraying the girl he loves…again.

For Maggie, all her comic book dreams have come true, and her new life as a Shifter is just beginning. But with war closing in, is it truly a dream or a death sentence?

In the ultimate battle for power, Lainey, Ty, and Maggie must face-off against the Master, and work together to discover the greatest weapon of all.

Seek and you will find. 

Review: For the most part the second book was enjoyable. The writing was great, the main character was much more developed, and the pacing was on point. The book was an enjoyable read and it would even be considered a guilty pleasure read.

But again, it’s another cliché romance. I can definitely tell by the cover it’s targeted to a specific audience and the book definitely hit the high points for the audience. The world building wasn’t there enough for me and I feel that the romance was too focal in the story than what it needed to be. I also felt like the comic references were a bit too much for me. There were so many. So. Many.

Verdict: It’s a decent read and if you like the paranormal romance books this is your series!

Kathryn

Non Spoilery Section:

There isn't really much I can say about this book to keep it non-spoilery but I will do my best. This is going to be a very short paragraph about why I loved this book so much, just without the detail 😂

This sequel was epic, and had so much crammed into it. I loved how Kim elaborated on a lot of the characters that we met in the first book, developing Lainey, Maggie and Ty equally. I also loved the new characters that were introduced. Teddy and Zia, Oliver and Ajay. They were such great characters and just added another dimension to the story that really drew me in. I also loved the relationships in this story. There were so many complicated relationships in the novel that grew and changed and that I fell in love with. The magic was so much deeper as well. The lore and the methodology that was written into the magic made it so much more realistic than it had been in the first book. I could go on and on about the things I loved but if the things that I have already mentioned have compelled you to read Seeker then go and do that now and come back to fangirl with me once you are done...

SPOILERY SECTION!

Lainey changed so much in this novel. It begins as Keeper ended, with a girl who has seen her family murdered, had the boy she loved turn against her and who has become a killer herself. She is conflicted and confused. Throughout the novel she grows and learns in ways that I really loved. I love that she comes to accept who she is, that she learns to stand up for herself, that she finally opens herself up to the possibility of being the Ducarmont witch, the Keeper of the grimoire. But, what I loved most was her interactions with Ty.

If I had to pick one word to describe Lainey and Ty's relationship in this book it would be... complicated. Just the way I like it. They go through so many ups and downs in this story and a lot of that has to do with Ty's character development. I loved learning so much more about his backstory. His father's murder, his reason for joining with the Master, his need for revenge and his love for Lainey. I loved how their relationship started off as a love/hate one and grew as they learned to forgive each other and themselves. Ty and Lainey, they became a force to be reckoned with in both their own rights and as a pair.

Teddy and Zia have a similarly complicated relationship with each other and with Lainey. I loved how they are introduced as two completely different characters on the same side of the war. Teddy, the pacifist, and Zia, the fighter. I also loved that their reasoning for each path was the same, the fact that they are mother and sister to the Master. My heart broke so much for Teddy when it was revealed that she was the Master's mother. She had spent so long helping Lainey to work on the spell that would kill the Master and yet she refused to fight him herself. However, when it came down to it Teddy and Zia both discovered that what they had believed in wasn't quite as it seemed when they faced the Master. The familial relationships in this novel played a huge role and it was really refreshing to read a YA fantasy novel where families existed, and where character's motivation was related to their living family members and not just their murdered ones. It was this kind of complicated familial type of relationship that made me fall in love with Oliver and Ajay. I found it incredible how much information Kim managed to pack in about these two characters pasts without it feeling like too much. For characters introduced in this book they were complex and so full of life and love that I couldn't help but love them.

Okay, the time has come to talk about who may be my favourite character in the whole series... Maggie. I think the main reason I love Maggie is not because she is the only human on the scene, but rather because she recognises that the supernatural fight that every tells her she shouldn't be a part of is as much her fight as anyone else's. Her tenacity and stubbornness are some of my favourite qualities. They play a part in her relationship with Oliver, which is one of the greatest relationships in the series, and also her relationship with Lainey. When she rejects the bite and is then saved by Lainey she doesn't let it hold her back. She gets up, forces Oliver to take him with her and then manages to bring the faction leaders to the fight. Maggie is literally the glue that holds the whole story together and without her the whole fight for supernatural freedom would have fallen apart and she does it all with stubbornness, friendship and comic book references.

Finally I want to talk about the final showdown. What a showdown it was! I loved the aspect of dark magic in the story, the idea that this grimoire which had been owned and protected by good witches for generations didn't only contain good spells. The spell needed to destroy the Master was one of these spells. The final showdown brought a lot of things to light. It really was a moment where all the threads of the two books came together and then exploded in an incredibly intricate web. The moment when Lainey tried to use Ty as the conduit for the spell to defeat the Master had my heart and stomach in knots. I honestly thought it was going to work, I thought they would beat him. But, when it looked like they were going to fail I was literally crying. But all was not lost, because suddenly Maggie turns up. Literally the moment she became the conduit for the spell I was like... duh, of course, Maggie has been through everything with Lainey of course it would be her. I really loved seeing an ending where it was the power of a friendship that saved the day.

There was so much about this book that I fell in love with, so much that made this story a wild ride and a joy to read. Of course, I couldn't round of this review without mentioning the very last chapter because let's be honest... this is one the only YA fantasy/paranormal novels where the bad guy hasn't been killed but has instead been put in an old people's home devoid of any magic. I literally couldn't stop laughing. It was a great way to end the novel.

Seeker

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