Fractured Souls

Fallen Messengers, Book 1

By: Ava Marie Salinger

Narrated by: Alex Kydd

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

When Cassius Black moves to San Francisco for a fresh start, the angel's hopes of staying below the radar of the supernatural organizations that oversee the otherworldly and magic users in the city are dashed when he stumbles across a dead body in the sewers. His grim discovery soon puts him in the sights of the Argonaut Agency and Francis Strickland, the bureau director who knows his darkest secrets.

Morgan King and his team of Argonaut agents have been on the hunt all summer for the culprits behind a series of gruesome killings that have rocked the city. Killings that bear sinister hallmarks of human sacrificial rituals where the victims' souls have been stolen. When Fate puts Cassius in Morgan's path, he realizes the angel everyone likes to call The Devil may very well be the only person who can help them track down the murderers.

Morgan and Cassius soon find themselves crossing paths with a mysterious warlock whose actions evoke disturbing echoes of an incident from Cassius's past. Cassius and Morgan must work together to defeat their common enemy and save the city from destruction, all while fighting their growing attraction.

Contains mature themes.

©2021 Ava Marie Salinger (P)2022 Tantor

Holy Crap, How didn’t I find this sooner???

It never ceases to amaze me, even after scrolling through goodreads or on various groups that recommend books - that books that are this good get overlooked!

After being in a book slump after catching up on another series I was desperately looking for another series to listen to on audio and I am SO glad this was recommended! How I never came across it sooner since it is exactly the kind of book I love, is beyond me!

I’ve read many books that put their own twists on the urban fantasy and supernatural world, but this really does feel unique in its approach! (I don’t think I’ve felt this excited about an urban fantasy universe since the Soulbound series by Hailey Turner if I’m being honest.)

I love that we are experiencing this mystery almost backwards, in figuring out what happened hundreds of years ago only through fractured memories, while still experiencing a thrilling present day plot!

Morgan and Cassius are also such great characters, and the chemistry and sex is freaking steamy af… and the AUDIO… omg. I’ve listened to enough audiobooks that I usually don’t feel too hot under the collar during sex scenes - but Alex kydd’s narration 100% made me flush SEVERAL times! So stoked to keep going with this exciting series!

Angels, Demons, Witches and Wizards

Fractured Souls is the first book of this new urban fantasy series that I’m starting to love.

Cassius, the lone wolf, misunderstood & ostracized angel moved to San Francisco to start over. His latest gig lead him to the start of a new chapter of his life.

This book, I’d say, is a great introduction to the world of this new series, where “other beings” be it magical, demonic, angelic coexist with humans. They also have bureaucratic structures. Quite fascinating. I can’t wait for more of this series.

Great series

Cassius is such a darling. I loved that he considered this bad boy angel all because of his wings. Him being super powerful is icing on the cake for me. He carries himself so well. He knows that the world hates him, but he doesn't try to change their opinion of him or cower. He is an angel with a heart of gold, who befriends the creatures others don't.
Morgan is a hoot! I was happy with the misdirect we were given when it came to him character. He seemed like he was gonna be a douchbag, but he isn't. He tries hard to give everyone a fair shot. His instant attraction/connection with Cassius was hot.
This story is great in showing a different side to the whole angels and demons coming to Earth. It was interesting to read how their appearance on Earth caused quite a stir and how they weren't welcomed at first. I consider this vol to be more of an intro to the world and to main plot and master villain. We get little hints at who our main players are but not the full picture. It is set up nicely that you can't wait for vol 2 to see what more we can learn.

good story. on to the next one

Only problem was the unexpected and sudden changes in volume. one minute normal conversing, next eardrum shattering eyeball popping loudeness.

Absolutely amazing

When I first read this book, it absolutely blew me away. Cassius and Morgan are two of my favorite supernatural characters now. I love the whole world the author has created and the way they have written this series has made it one of my new favorites. Alex Kidd did a great job of bringing these guys to life. I can’t recommend this enough!

still was worth it

So there was a few minor issues for me in the early chapters dance, dancing, frowned, was repeated mercilessly and to the point as I was reading along I was coming up with better words to describe what was happening in that moment. Like I said my experience might not have been for others but I loved the story overall and Alex Kydd narration was wonderfully suited no one two characters sounded the same it was enjoyable listening to him do this narration.

Enjoyable!!!

I really enjoyed the constructs of this story and how it was presented. I am looking forward to the next installment of this series and where the protagonists go next!

Great book.

Can’t wait to finish the series. I am going to listen to this book again. Great author.

great read

This book has everything. Romance, dark humor, heroes and villainsThe characters blended together so well. I enjoyed the narration as well. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

Phew

This one was hard to finish. In theory, the plot is decent and I think it could’ve been developed better. There were so many redundancies and explanations that kept being repeated, I found myself skipping through a lot of this book. The same words repeated themselves consistently throughout that they lost their meaning and it was more of an eye roll every time I heard them.
The characters themselves were okay but it was hard to resist annoyance when they would ask stupid questions when the answers were given two seconds ago.

The reader was okay for the side character but Morgan and Cassius’ voices were painful. Cassius sounded like the surfer kid that Drake Bell acted as on the Amanda Show, very frat boyish. Idk how else to describe that. Think of the Debby Ryan hair tuck meme was a voice mixed with frat boy. “Like, Morgan, dude, no, I can’t believe it, dude.” Maybe that helps? And Morgan’s voice was mostly just laughably deep? Picture if a boulder could speak and had emotions.

The saving grace was that it was interesting enough to finish with lots of breaks in between.