Whoever said love is a battlefield, never had to fight demons at the same time

Song for the Dead by Karina Halle is now live! 

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Blurb

My name is Ada Palomino.

By day, I’m studying my ass off at design school in Portland, Oregon.

By night, I’m slaying demons and ghosts who have dared to slip through the Veil.

Or at least, that’s what I should be doing.

The problem is Jay, who also happened to be my immortal guardian and now ex-boyfriend, was banished from being with me.

And now my new trainer is a previously dead friend of mine that I helped bring back to life.

With both of us nursing broken hearts, we embark on a road trip to New Orleans to help him win back his long lost love.

As if that’s not tricky enough, we’re also being hunted by a demon with a grudge, and I’m not sure if all the training in the world is going to help me.

One things for sure, the more complicated our relationship gets, the scarier things become.

Whoever said love is a battlefield, never had to fight demons at the same time.

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Review

4.5 stars!

This is the second book in the Ada Palomino series, which spins off from (and is very closely tied to) the Experiment in Terror (EIT) series. I loved the first book in this series, Veiled, which gave us the story of Perry’s little sister, Ada, and it’s been a while since that book came out, but I was still right there with Ada and all of her badass smartassery as her journey continues.

The events of this book take place after the newest EIT book, Came Back Haunted, and contains huge spoilers for the entire EIT series. There is enough background to get you by if you haven’t read that book – or the rest of EIT – but just be aware that huge plot points will be revealed when you read this one. If you’re an EIT fan, make sure you’ve read Ghosted and Came Back Haunted before diving into this one.

Also, just note that this review contains some spoilers for the EIT series, because OMG, this storyline came out of nowhere, and it’s a shocker!

Firstly, after falling in love with her supernatural guardian/trainer/mentor Jay in the first book, he has now chosen duty over her and has left, breaking Ada’s heart and leaving them both devastated. So in this book, she has a brand new love interest, and…

OK, now that my freakout is somewhat abated… just wow.

This book overlaps briefly with events from Come Back Haunted and carries forward one of the big surprises from that book – Max is back from the dead, and because Ava used her supernatural badassery to save him from the veil, the two of them share a special connection. And with Ava all broken-hearted and without a guardian/trainer to help her with her demon slaying, who could be better to step in to help her? Of course, a newly-resurrected Max.

Max has unfinished business, and given that he and Ava can’t be too far apart at any time, she accompanies him on a cross-country road trip from Portland to New Orleans, and here is where the fun begins.

Karina Halle writes the best banter – especially in this series which is chock-full of smartasses – and the conversation flies free and easy between Ada and Max. They were friends before, but she was only 15 when they first met, and now she’s all grown up which makes things even more entertaining. They’re also both nursing somewhat broken hearts, dealing with the changes to Max and what that means for him and for Ada, and they’ve got a bunch of demons chasing them down. It’s all happening, and it’s a wildly exciting ride.

And in the middle of it all, there is this unfolding romance, which hasn’t even been hinted at before now, until we start to see little glimmers of… something.

“Everyone always leaves me … I’m always left behind.”
He exhales hard, his breath moving my hair.
“I have to admit, you’re breaking my heart here, Ada,” he says after a moment. “I’m not going to leave you.”
“Because you can’t?”
“I wouldn’t even if I could.”

I honestly didn’t know what to make of it, because it was something I had never considered, but the longer they roadtrip, the more time they spend together, the more they open up to each other, I started to feel it. They have a great friendship, with a wonderful sense of playfulness, and slowly the chemistry starts to build.

“Sweetheart,” he says to me, his voice causing a cascade of shivers down my spine, “you’re all I fucking think about, all the damn time. I’m thinking about you even when you’re right here in front of me.” He pauses. “To say I want you is a fucking understatement.”
I open my eyes.
“Then find your balls and do something about it.”

Ada is such a sensational character. She’s always been a scene-stealer, and she shines in her own story. She’s bold, brave and confident, she has a wicked sense of humour and holds nothing back, and she’s so much fun. I loved being back with her, and the way she handles Max and their situation is just gold. And Max has been such an enigma throughout the entire EIT series. You love him, you hate him, you have no idea how to really feel about him, but in this book we see a whole new Max, and damn, I was impressed!

“What do you want?” I ask, …
“I have what I want.” He kisses me deeply, pulls back to look intently in my eyes. “You.”
“And what am I?”
His gaze drops to my mouth, to my cheek, to my nose, back to my eyes. “You’re everything and the only thing.”

He’s funny, he’s sweet, he’s swoony, and damn, he’s filthy (and apparently quite skilled in the bedroom… and elsewhere). He is everything that I love in my romantic heroes, and I was happily swept up in everything that was happening between them. Is it fast moving? Sure. But their connection is strong, their situation is extreme, and when there is supernaturalness at play, you can get away with a quickly developing, super sexy romance, so I was fully on board.

And when you add in the chaos that is happening around them, it creates a fantastically fun story.

Nothing could be hotter than this, watching this man expertly wield a medieval-looking sword in the middle of Royal Street, decapitating demons left and right.
Be still my fucking heart.

This was a surprising read, but I’m loving the direction of Ada’s journey. The book moves very quickly, with lots of action and excitement. The paranormal stuff is creepy but entertaining, and is wrapped up nicely, but it takes a background to the unfolding romance which is just gorgeous.

“I want you.”
“Always?” I tease.
“Always, evermore, and on and on.”

The book ends on a huge (and very unwelcome) cliffhanger. I’m desperate to see where it all goes from here, and can’t wait for the next instalment in the series.

4.5 stars!

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Ada Palomino

Experiment in Terror

Meet Karina

Karina Halle is a former travel writer, music journalist and screenwriter, and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of over 55 bestselling novels, ranging from horror and suspense to contemporary romance. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband, and her adopted pitbull Bruce, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Root Literary Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster, Hachette and Montlake. Her work has been translated and published in 20 languages.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

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