(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Selah Kilbrid may descend from the goddess Brigid, but her heart beats—and breaks—the same as any human. Yet enduring the scorn of London’s most noble lords and ladies is a small price to pay for a chance at true happiness. Selah would endure much more for love, and her betrothed, Lord Henry Fitzalan, is prepared to challenge anyone foolish enough to stand in their way—even another goddess born.

But when a captivating young gentleman draws Selah into a world shadowed by secrets, she is forced to confront her darkest fears. What if some differences are too great to overcome and a future with Henry is doomed from the start?

With these doubts threatening her impending marriage and the very last of Brigid’s fire draining from her soul, a violent attack on an innocent child pushes Selah to the very edge of her power. She must find a way to cross into the Otherworld and regain her strength—or forfeit the streets of London to death and disease.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

After having read Goddess Born, the first book in Kari Edgren’s trilogy, I was very, very excited to get my hands on A Grave Inheritance.  The first book had been so great that it would be hard to top, but I had faith that she would be up to the challenge.  And of course she was.

Selah is a much different character now.  She’s more sure of herself and of Henry, but there are still little doubts lingering beneath the surface.  Those doubts aren’t helped when Henry seems to all but ignore her for a while and chastises her for using her gift when he knows she can’t help it.  Will they be able to overcome their differences?  Or will the pressure from pretty much everyone in King George’s court undo the love they found back in the colonies?  Especially when Julian, another descendant of Brigid starts showing an interest in Selah.

Yes, some people will probably get frustrated with Selah doubting Henry all of the time, but you have to remember that although they’re in love, they haven’t exactly known each other for a long time.  It’s natural that Selah fears Henry will leave her once he goes back to his life as the King’s favourite courtier.  And Henry doesn’t exactly alleviate those doubts early on.  Both of them grow so much as characters throughout this book that you can hardly recognize them from how they were at the beginning of Goddess Born.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but I do have to say that they both change for the better.

I kind of saw some of the plot twists coming, but there were others that completely blindsided me.  Especially the revelation about Selah’s family and the fact that Brigid wasn’t the only deity to have mortal descendants with powerful gifts.  For a largely character-driven novel, the plot is fairly fast-paced so I really can’t complain about that.  The only real criticism I have is that I wish a little more had happened in the middle of the book; it wasn’t boring, but it wasn’t exactly super interesting at times.  Since that’s really my only complaint (and it’s pretty minor), I’d have to say that the plot was pretty darn good overall.

One of the things that made me fall in love with Goddess Born, aside from the characters, was Kari Edgren’s writing.  It’s just as good, if not better, in the sequel.  She has this beautiful way of describing things that makes you feel like you really are there with the characters; that’s rare enough in authors.  What makes her writing great as opposed to good, however, is the fact that she can give a very authentic historical atmosphere.  Edgren makes you really feel like you’re in England in the 1700s.  I know almost nothing about the period but she puts in these little details of everyday life that it makes the story ring true.  It’s quite amazing, really.

It’s not often that second books are just as good if not better than the first book.  Yet here we have A Grave Inheritance, a wonderful tale of love, magic, intrigue, gods and goddesses.  It’s an emotional roller coaster at times and Kari Edgren really makes you feel all of her characters’ hardships.  You can’t help but get emotionally invested in her characters and that’s part of the reason why I’m so anxious for the third book.  Selah’s story is far from over.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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