Book: Murmur by Emily Israd
Rating: 3/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis:
Hannah Sterling can change into a bird.
Or at least, she could until this past summer. When the Sickness takes away her shapeshifting ability, Hannah finds herself grounded—maybe for good.
But there’s no time to worry about that. Life in Jessup, Oklahoma has started heading south, fast. A student is killed, a biker gang is on the prowl, and the man Hannah’s father just hired is seriously giving her the creeps.
Meanwhile, Jack Corbin is having problems of his own. Life as the local miracle healer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and Jack’s strange power seems to be drawing clients and danger in equal measure.
With the darkness closing in, Hannah and Jack need to take hold of their powers to protect the people they love.
It’s going to take every ounce of luck—and magic—to get out of this one alive.
Review:
I received a copy of the e-book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you so much Emily for sending me a copy of your book.
I liked Murmur. The characters are very likable and the plot is paced well. I actually had a hard time putting the book down. A really hard time because Emily left little hooks at just the right moments. Once you thought you’d reached a good stopping point something new would come to light.
The story starts with Hannah learning she is Sick. This means she is either going to lose her ability to shift or gain new abilities. No one really knows as this Sickness is so rare, but they’re assuming the worst. So right away we have a conflict, a conflict Hannah can do nothing about. I found that conflict a strong motivator to keep reading in order to learn more about the mysterious Sickness and how Shifters were viewed in the town.
The only issue I had with the book was that it felt like a few plot threads and details just got lost. I expected a character to have a lot more importance than they did and was wondering where they went (admittedly this is on me as the reader as the character did serve their purpose). Characters got or saw information and then one or all either completely forgot about it or it didn’t really resurface. I found one of these instances quite distracting, but it wasn’t a deterrent to continue reading.
Overall the story is interesting. The characters were fully developed and as I said likable. I enjoyed the family dynamic of the Sterlings and the Corbins. The friendships were fun and well written. Will and Finn are total show stealers and I hope to see more of them in the series.
While the story does come to a solid conclusion I still had a few questions and would like to continue the series.
