Banger of a second book!

I had the immense honour of receiving Soulless as an ARC from publisher Hamley Books. This book is the sequel to Laura Dirkx's 'Soulmate', so if you haven't read that one yet, pick up the first book before starting this one!

After reading 'Soulmate' last month, I did need a bit of time to get back into the world Laura Dirkx has written. But as soon as I fell in line with the story again, I have to say it became super intense again. The feelings our main character Noé experiences are expressed really well by the author. I also brings unexpected situations with the people around Noé, and especially Arthur. Noé was relatable at times: girl, getting up to pee at night in winter is the truest struggle known to man. Sadly an obviously, this struggle was one of the rare mundane ones our main character got to have, since she keeps getting thrown around by the life she currently lives.

We reconnect with our side characters as well. We get a new setting with them in it too. I went from liking certain characters to hating them a little too, and the other way around. Next to that, we also get a mysterious point of view of a stranger we have yet to meet. This also kept me curious as to who they were (although I guessed right) and what their end goal might be.

There were funny beats in between all the seriousness too. A scene that was reminiscent of the dinner scene from Shrek 2, in which they call out each other's names and Donkey just says 'Donkey' to be included. As well as a song played in chapter 5 that I wondered if it was 'Nights in White Satin' by The Moody Blues. At the author: am I right? At the readers: anyone else any guesses which song it might be?

In the end this story was quite a ride again. It was emotional, dark and compelling with cool and interesting world building. It builds a ramp so we can jump up to the grand finale that book three will, hopefully, bring. I am curious to see where Noé's story is going, so I cannot wait until I get to read the conclusion to the series!

Of course I need to give a shoutout and thanks to publisher Hamley Books and Laura Dirkx for the opportunity to ARC read for them. I hope to read some more in the future. As always this review is my honest opinion and left willingly. I hope the release for this sequel goes swimmingly.