Blood of the Earth

Soulwood #1

by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator)

15 hrs 34 mins

Set in the same world as the New York Times bestselling Jane Yellowrock novels, an all-new series starring Nell Ingram, who wields powers as old as the earth.

When Nell Ingram met skinwalker Jane Yellowrock, she was almost alone in the world, exiled by both choice and fear from the cult she was raised in, defending herself with the magic she drew from her deep connection to the forest that surrounds her.

Now, Jane has referred Nell to PsyLED, a Homeland Security agency policing paranormals, and agent Rick LaFleur has shown up at Nell’s doorstep. His appearance forces her out of her isolated life into an investigation that leads to the vampire Blood Master of Nashville.

Nell has a team—and a mission. But to find the Master’s kidnapped vassal, Nell and the PsyLED team will be forced to go deep into the heart of the very cult Nell fears, infiltrating the cult and a humans-only terrorist group before time runs out…

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Vampires, Magic, Shapeshifters, Fiction

16 pages, Audible Audio

First published August 2, 2016

About the author

Faith Hunter's Junkyard Cats novella series is available in Audible, eBook, and "ridiculously expensive" (her words) trade paperback books at this time.

Faith's Jane Yellowrock series is a dark urban fantasy. Jane is a full blooded Cherokee skinwalker and hunter of rogue-vampires in a world of weres, witches, vampires, and other supernats. 15 books and several compilations of shorts

The Soulwood series is a dark-urban fantasy / paranormal police procedural /para-thriller series featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram, an earth magic user and Special gent of PsyLED. 6 books

Her Rogue Mage novels—Bloodring, Seraphs, Host, and the RPG Rogue Mage—feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic alternate reality.

Faith is a full time writer who finally hired a housekeeper when the dust bunnies multiplied, She bakes homemade bread and loves to cook.

Faith researches in great detail, and tries most everything her characters do. Research led to her life’s passions – jewelry making, orchids, Japanese maples, bones, travel, white-water kayaking, and writing.

Faith loves orchids. Her favorite time of year is when several are blooming. Pictures can be seen at her FaceBook page. And yes, she collects bones and skulls. She has a fox, cat, dog, cow skull, goat, a boar skull, a deer skull, (that is, unfortunately, falling apart) and the jawbone of an ass. Her prize skull is a mountain lion (legally purchased from a US tannery) hit by a car in the wild.

Her latest love is Japanese maples, and she has managed to collect over thirty.

She and her husband RV, traveling to whitewater rivers to kayak all over the Southeast. Whitewater Kayaking is her very favorite sport, discovered when she was researching her (Gwen Hunter) mystery book, Rapid Descent. She took a lesson and—after a bout of panic attacks from fear of being upside down trapped in a boat—discovered she loved the sport.

Under other pen names, notably, Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Gwen, she is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for Fresh Talent in 1995 in the UK, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2008. As Faith, her books have been on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, been nominated for various awards and won an Audie Award with Khristine Hvam, among other awards. Under all her pen names, she has more than 40 books, anthologies, and complications in print in 30 countries.

For more, including a list of her books, see www.faithhunter.net , www.gwenhunter.com . To keep up with her daily, join her fan pages at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/official.fait... and see her website blog at
www.faithhunter.net

Reviews

[Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ · Rating 4 out of 5]

2/7/18 - ON SALE for $2.99:



http://amzn.to/2yxEVmf

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

4.5 stars

I've been waiting for BLOOD OF THE EARTH, the first installment of Faith Hunter's new SOULWOOD urban fantasy series since she revealed its existence at Dragon Con 2014. It was still being written at the time, but based on the details Hunter revealed--set in Oak Ridge, TN, with a maybe Fae (or at least part Fae) heroine--I've been squeeing internally for nearly two years.

1. Fae are my supernatural creature of choice.

2. Oak Ridge is in my backyard.

For those of you not from or residing in Eastern Tennessee and/or aren't science geeks, Oak Ridge is the "Secret City," home of the Manhattan Project (better known as the making of the atomic bomb). If war ever brings foreign attacks stateside, Oak Ridge will be one of the first places to go.

Kinda cool, kinda freaky.

Y-12 is still a super sekret government facility, and nobody knows what they're doing there these days, but . . . When I was a teenager, visiting my dad one summer, a local news story about a gaggle of radioactive geese found on the grounds that had to be buried like twelve (twenty?) feet underground was circulating, AND I happen to know that civilian employees have to wear radiation detectors while clocked-in, sooooo . . . Whatever they're doing, it's not baking cookies.

And having the inside scoop (for once) on the locale also meant that I knew "Farrington" was really "Farragut," and the "Wyatt School" was really the "Webb School of Knoxville."

You don't care about tiny gov't towns doing whoknowswhat in the Smokey Mountains?

FINE.

Nell Nicholson Ingram was raised in a cult--a polygamist cult--and married to a man old enough to die of the various things that start happening when you get old, five years after she married him, when she was fifteen.

She's never cut her hair, worn makeup, or painted her toenails, but she can handle half a dozen handguns and rifles with efficiency.

And she does, regularly, out of necessity.

Whatever her deceased husband's faults, when she turned eighteen, he married Nell legally, so that when he passed, by law, all his property went to her, instead of back to the church of her upbringing.

Nell gained her independence, but with that independence came harassment by church men, who wanted her property for themselves, and her person back under their authority.

By themselves, guns might not have been enough to keep her out their clutches, but Nell isn't a one trick pony . . . She has a connection to nature, initially thought to simply be an affinity for helping things grow, the church women said she had a green thumb, but soon after her husband died, Nell was attacked on her property.

It was dark, and she couldn't see her attacker, but she fought, and in the fighting, she shed some of his blood . . . As his blood sank into the soil, her land woke up, whispering its secrets to Nell, and she knew that if she willed it, the land would claim the man trying to force himself on her, wanted his life as forfeit for attacking her . . . And so she gave it.

That was two years ago, and while the church continued to harass her, refusing to accept that Nell had left that part of her life behind, they'd been content to limit their harassment to the psychological, rather than the physical . . .

At least they had before she aided Jane Yellowrock in an investigation that led to a government raid of church property. Since then, things have escalated. They shot her dogs, leaving them for her to find on her front porch. Rotating shifts of church men have been watching her from a deer stand. And immediately after a visit from PsyLed agent Rick LaFleur, they shot up her home, causing what was probably thousands of dollars of property damage.

You: Rick LeFleur?!

Me: Yes. *flares nostrils*

You: I bloody hate Rick LaFleur.

Me: Me, TOO.

You: Why would I want to start a new series that heavily features Rick LaFleur, whom I HATE?

Me: B/c if you don't, you won't get to see the mess his life has become. *laughs maniacally*

It's not a make-you-feel-sorry-for-him kind of mess, it's a reap-what-you-sow kind of mess, and it. Is. GLORIOUS. *laughs maniacally some more*

I really, really wanted to give BLOOD OF THE EARTH 5.0 stars. After much internal debate, I settled on 4.5, b/c as much as I loved it--Nell and her new PsyLed team, her evolving, seriously kick-ass abilities, the revelations about her family, the blossoming relationship with her kid sister (who shares her affinities), and a dozen other aspects of this spinoff series, set in Jane Yellowrock's world--there was too much repetition of information for me to ignore, especially in the first 20% of the story. The many, many times something about Nell's past life was referenced in connection to her new life, or the third time the backslider Stubbins' (or whoever) short-lived tenure as a blood meal for a vampire was described, I was over it. But then again, I was reading the ARC version, so maybe it got cleaned up before it went to press.

Either way, BLOOD OF THE EARTH by Faith Hunter is the best first installment of an urban fantasy series I've read in about a decade. Highly recommended.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really good urban fantasy.

I think when many modern fantasy writers sit down to create, this is the kind of narrative they seek: intelligent, charismatic and fantastic – the kind of fantasy that draws a reader in, engages and entices hidden yearnings towards a world close to ours but something more.

I reached out to this new series because I was intrigued by Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series, but came away wanting more about Nell and her Soulwood setting.

Nell is a what?

I can’t say for sure and neither does Hunter. And that is another element of this winning formula: Hunter lets the reader in on the discovery of the magic. Frequently in fantasy writing, either the rules for magic are clear from historical and / or mythical origins OR the author lets us in on some background. Here, there are vampires and were-creatures and there are some other mythical creatures, but Nell (the Tennessee backwoods protagonist) is something different. Some kind of earth witch, or wood nymph, or something – and Nell herself does not know for sure what are her powers. Hunter lets us be a fly on the wall as Nell tests the limits and rules for her own reality. She creates a functional dynamic to Nell’s powers; we discover along with her what she can do and the sense of innovation and breakthrough is enlightening and fun.

Like Atticus O’Sullivan from Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid series, Nell’s powers are connected to the earth and her powers lie closely connected to her land and like the druids (there is a Celtic reference) Nell is able to commune with and draw power from nature. But the true extent of her powers are deliciously left as a mystery.

In the Jane Yellowrock universe, Nell is one of the many paranormals who have only just recently come out of hiding. Vampires and witches and were-creatures (Oh my!) and lots of others are popping up in amongst us boring humans. The federal government does what it does best and creates a new bureaucracy, an agency set up to police these – others. Jane Yellowrock supporting character Rick LaFleur comes in leading a team of paranormals only just recently graduated from Spook School. Apparently, Nell was mentioned in a Jane Yellowrock book (but I have not gotten that far in my Yellowrock reading).

Nell was raised and lives in East Tennessee (near Knoxville) and has been a part of a church / cult with polygamist and radical conservative Christian leanings. And apparently some involvement with the supernatural.

To her great credit (and making this a much stronger narrative), Hunter has made the church / cult situation much more complex than would at first seem apparent. The family dynamics between Nell and her family are rich with hidden meanings, misunderstood priorities and conflicting loyalties. This kind of complicated characterization is usually not seen in SF/F, perhaps reserved for more uptight literature, but Hunter has eschewed a B film simplicity for a far more multifaceted and entertaining social structure.

The scene in the church is Urban fantasy GOLD and if this is ever produced into a film (I hope so) then this scene at least should be directed by Quentin Tarantino (himself a native of East Tennessee – ROCKY TOP!!!)

I must admit that part of my reason for reading this was that it was set in my home state of Tennessee. While Hunter’s description of a religious cult in the hills of the eastern part of our state may be plausible, let me assure my gentle readers that we do not all live in trailers with no cell coverage and without indoor plumbing.

Most of us, but not all.

True story: I arrived at Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May, New Jersey in 1992. Shortly thereafter I was issued an M16 and we all marched down to the range for target practice. One of the range NCOs made a comment that I would do well - since I was from Tennessee.

What the hell? Had I arrived barefoot and in a coonskin cap? Was I going to spit on the iron sights to check for Kentucky windage? Did I need to go out and fetch up some critters for suppertime? I played on the high school tennis team and was raised in the suburbs; my thumbs were still calloused from the joystick of my Atari.

But I digress.

Ms. Hunter’s description of Nell’s land could have been in any rural area, but what was key was her uncanny ability to convey a sense of paranormal activity while not departing too far from reality. Like in her Yellowrock stories, Hunter demonstrates an exceptional ability to convey a sense of supernatural and occult.

Fantastically entertaining and I will be back to read more.

*** A free copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.35 ***

A buddy read with the Wednesday UF fanatics!!!

Well this was very different from what I was expecting! Having read 10 books of Jane Yellowrock, I kind of thought that this will be in the same mold. After all, it is a spin-off of JY, it is happening in the same universe, and Ricky Bo is one of the leading characters. Actually, if I had known that he was so prominent in this book I probably would have passed on reading it at all. I hate the dude! He has been on my shit list for ever and I didn't wish anything good upon him. But I was surprised that despite him still being an ass, he fit well with the PsyLED unit 18 as the lead agent for this paranormal division of the FBI. He, his African Panther mate Paca, another home grown were-cat from Texas, an empath, a which and a human make up this unit, which is searching for a hate group who has been kidnapping young girls... They think the group is staying on a cult owned church property and since it is a very closed community they are looking for a way in.

This is where Nell comes in. At 23 years old she has been a widow for more than 5 years already... Her much older husband and one of his wives had taken her on as a sister wife, according to the church's laws, when she was 12 in order to protect her from the perverted preacher who wanted her at the time. She was very grateful for that and his waiting to initiate her to her wifely duties until she became 15, like it was proper. !!!! Unfortunately, first her sister wife and soon after her husband die and she has lived in Soulwood by herself ever since. But the sick preacher, his son and their cronies want to claim her, since a woman should always belong to a man, so she can fulfill the role G-d assigned for her - pretty much to be a man's slave *GAG ME*

Nell doesn't agree with the cult and has tried to repel them as much as she could, but they have become more aggressively arrogant and threatening. On the day she gets attacked, Nell meets the weird hang of Unit 18. They want her to infiltrate the compound and find any information she can if the hate group is with the church. Nell is intrigued and finds it hard to say no.

Nell is one of the most voulnarable, prickly, lonely, magical, wounded, damaged creatures I have encountered! She is so screwed up by her upbringing, so deeply hurt by the men in her life, so distrustful of anything new or strange, and so unaware of how regular people communicate, that she breaks your heart!!! She is human, but has an unconventional type of magic connected with the land and woods around her. She can commune with nature, but has no idea of the scope, strength, or form of her powers. It is fascinating to see her discovering her abilities with such wonder, but also fear, since she has been told all of her life that anything like that is against G-D and an abomination. She is also so inept at socializing, it is sad and painful, but hopeful as well, to watch her feel for her new place in life. I give big kudos to Faith Hunter for creating this multilayered, rich and relatable character, and even more for weaving a world as light and as dark as real life itself in which she can intertwine the utterly spellbinding tales she is so gifted with creating. I love Jane because she is a tough cookie, but I ache for Nell, because she is so real!!! I am not sure I can correctly explain what I mean, but with Jane I always know I am reading a book. A very entertaining book, but I am just the reader. With Nell, I felt like I am part of her experience, of her world, with the aches and joys and the simple things of daily life... It feels real. I am in the book, not a reader, but a part of the tale... The prose is lyrical and melodic, as if you could feel the pulse of the woods, the smell of the grass and wet cats, even the texture of the soil under your fingertips... I was very pleased with this new beginning ❤.

I have a feeling that this would not be an easy read for my more impatient friends, since the story unrolls very slowly and the cadence is even and steady until the end, when there is a rush of action. I don't think it would be best for those who love action and expect similar pace to the Jane Yellowrock books. It just isn't the same. However, I would still recommend it, because it is a story worth reading and you can judge for yourself:-)

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always find what you need in the pages of a Good book!!!!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my squeal of excitement; I got my hands on Blood of the Earth a Jane Yellowrock world spin off.

We were first introduced to Nell Ingram in Black Water as a side characters to a Jane Yellowrock tale. When Jane goes off to find a missing Mithran she discovers Nell, a woman who has an unusual ability to feel and connect with nature and ALL its power. Jane was taken with Nell and mentions her abilities to PsyLED, a paranormal Homeland Security group that Rick LaFleur now works for.

PsyLED and Rick show up on Nell’s doorstep asking for her help. They want to access her property to investigate the very cult Nell grew up in. Nell has broken from the cult and has become a recluse, but Rick and the PsyLED team push her out of her comfort zone and into the thick of a very nasty operation involving home grown terrorist.

I loved Nell, she is an amazing character. Smart, sassy and innocent all wrapped up with a power that could possibly rival the best urban fantasy females out there. You can just see possibilities oozing out of this new series and find yourself yearning for more.

But Nell, she is just the start to the amazing characters coming your way! I fell in insta-love with the eccentric PsyLED team! They were flat out awesome! Leaving my head spinning with the what ifs and maybes to come; in other words, Urban Fantasy reading at its best.

Faith Hunter, once again, proves she’s got the magic pen. Whatever she writes turns to gold; case and point Blood of the Earth and the Soulwood Series…another series to add to my must read shelf.

I received this ARC copy of Blood of The Earth from Berkley Publishing Group - ROC in exchange for a honest review. This book is set for publication August 2, 2016.

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sale Alert: Yes that's right I liked this one way more than Jane Yellowrock and it is the audible daily deal today for $5.95 here

4.25 Nell What Are You Stars

Jane Yellowrock is one of those UF series that I can completely take or leave. I like it, it’s okay but if I wasn’t reading it with other people it isn’t one I’d run out to buy the newest book in on release day. That said I LOVED Nell and her Soulwood.

Nell is completely a character I mostly get and can relate to for the most part. She is so incredibly broken because of the way she was brought up but she is a fighter through and through and has just gotten to a place in her life where she is asserting her independence and really learning how to spread her wings and fly so to speak. It made her very easy to root for.

Nell’s past is a bit harsh. She grew up in a religious cult, she was married off to someone when she was twelve and he wasn’t mean or anything but he definitely had very specific ideas of what the roll of a woman in his household would be and do and Nell fit into that tiny little space until his death. No finally free and on her own she is fighting to keep the land he left to her and that she is in some magical way a part of. Nell is special and different and even she isn’t sure what she is.

He was feeling some inexplicable kind of ache, like a throbbing in his red-lined flesh. “I beg your forgiveness for overstepping my bounds. But I find you . . .” He shook his head as if searching for a word he couldn’t find. He settled on, “. . . fascinating.”
I took another step back at that, surprise slipping through me like a cold rain down my collar, knowing my posture was still defensive.
“We all do,” Occam said, “the ones of us who aren’t human. You smell like . . . like home, sugar. Like safety, perched in the trees with fresh kill before us.”
“You smell of jungle and tall trees,” Paka said. “Of deep water and rich earth. And death. Much death, the earth wet with the blood of prey, an offering, a gift, that I might eat and live.”

If you have read the Jane Yellowrock books then you know who Rick and Paca are and like me maybe you were not excited to see Rick again. I almost…almost felt a little sorry for Rick. But then I remembered how he treated Jane and thought again he is getting his just desserts in a way and turnabout is pretty much fair play. Still the relationship between him and Paca wasn’t really what I was expecting to be.

He seemed entranced by her, but not like a normal man in the presence of a beautiful, wild woman. More as if he was pulled to her, like the moon to the Earth, held in her orbit, but always separate. I couldn’t guess at the nature of their relationship, but whatever their bond was, peace wasn’t part of it.

Still he is there and he can still be a huge ass at times but he didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this story. That could have been because I really liked Nell so much and she did get to teach him a very gratifying lesson at one point in this. But also the reason that it didn’t get in the way of my liking the story was because he came with a team of other people with various powers/conditions that were almost as equally interesting as Nell. My favorite was probably Tandy, a man hit by lightning who gain empathic insight. His new superpower seemed like a curse as much as a blessing. Then there is Occum who I think might have a bit of chemisty going with Nell. But I don’t think anything will happen on that front for awhile, because like I mentioned before Nell is a bit broken.

The plot had some different and interesting lore used in it and I always appreciate when that happens and the villains aren’t just your run of the mill monsters. Plus I liked where Faith took Nell’s storyline with the cult and her family. I don’t really want to give too much away on that since I liked that development that it gave to the plot. But let’s just say that no matter what culture you live in there are good people and bad people in it and no matter what when you are on the outside looking in sometimes you can’t tell who is who.

This was a fantastic start to a new UF series and I liked it so much more than the early Jane Yellowrock books. Even if you aren’t a fan of Jane I think this series is one worth taking a look at.

Great buddy read with the peeps at

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blown away. You can really tell when an author has grown (plant pun!!!) when she can take characters you don't really like and make them likeable. When she can set up a spinoff in the same world as her amazing other series and make it not only stand extremely well on its own, but make it so incredible that you beg for more.

Blood of the Earth literally has me begging for book two. I am so glad that Curse on the Land comes out in November, because I am in desperate need for more of this creatively original Urban Fantasy. Nell finds out some of the things she's known as truth her whole life are really lies. She finds out that the solitude she's chosen might not be the best life for her. She discovers family in so many senses of the word. She learns more about her strange powers even as they teeter vicariously on the edge of being out of control.

But mostly, Nell just wows me. She's got depth, strength, courage, passion, empathy, and in just this one book, I feel like I know her. Like I want to know her. Like I'm missing out on something amazing by not really knowing her outside the pages of a book.

You don't have to read Jane Yellowrock to enjoy this book. Reading this book will spoil some of the Jane Yellowrock series for you, but it's not required reading. There's enough backstory here to get you through, just enough to tempt you to read the Jane series without being so much information that you feel like you can skip them altogether. I would recommend it, as there's 10 books and a handful of short stories that help establish this world, but honestly, this is just as good a place to start as Skinwalker if you're okay with Rick's story being spoiled a little. Because honestly, Jane is kickass, Nell is kickass, and you need to read THEM ALL.

This is book #101 for me for the year, and it's probably my favorite that I've read so far, and I've read some awesome books.

Pick this one up. You won't be disappointed. :)

[Mogsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/09/20/...

I have a feeling I’m going to be the sole voice of dissent on this one. It’s not that thought Blood of the Earth was a bad book, but quite honestly I was expecting a lot more. However, it should be made known that this was the first time I’ve ever read Faith Hunter; I’ve never read any of the books in the Jane Yellowrock series, and maybe that was part of the problem. A spinoff can be a tricky beast, and though this can be read separately from the main series, I’m guessing that not having the benefit of a previous connection to this world likely had an impact on my overall enjoyment—or lack thereof.

The story stars Nell Nicholson Ingram, who was, as I discovered later, a character first introduced in a Jane Yellowrock short story called “Off the Grid”. She grew up in a cult called the God’s Cloud of Glory Church, and was only a young girl when she was made to marry one of its other members, a much older man named John Ingram. For all his faults though, John had wanted to do right by Nell. So, when she turned eighteen, he also married her legally in the eyes of Tennessee law, which is why when he passed away, ownership of his entire estate was rightfully transferred to her. This, however, did not sit right with the Church. Even after Nell left the cult, its members still kept coming, harassing her about her property, which they considered as theirs no matter what the law says.

The attacks have made Nell nervous, which is why when a group of agents from PsyLED show up at her door one day, she isn’t sure whether or not she can trust them. Turns out though, Jane Yellowrock had referred Nell to the paranormal investigation agency after finding out about Nell’s earth magic and special connection to nature, so now Agent Rick LaFleur and his team of were-cat operatives are here hoping she can help out on a case. There has been a string of disappearances involving young women lately, and one of the missing victims is a member of a very important vampire house. PsyLED suspects Nell’s old cult might have something to do with it, and they believe access to her past and property could be a very useful resource.

As I mentioned previously, I didn’t think this was a bad book. That said, I also found nothing terribly exciting about it. First of all, a “missing girls” story? Urban fantasy isn’t exactly suffering from a dearth of missing-or-kidnapped-kids plots lately, so that ho-hum was one of the bigger disappointments. Second, the first third of the novel with its slow pacing almost did me in. What made it even more frustrating was the constant repetition, what with Nell finding about fifty thousand ways to beat it over the readers’ heads that the God’s Cloud Church wants her land because they didn’t agree with her late husband’s decision, or how some of their men came over and killed her dogs. Yes, Nell, cult goons bad. I got it the first time, and really could have done without the image of the poor dead pups over and over in my mind. The rough pacing continues in the later parts of the book, like when we’re introduced to the vampire family of the missing girl, and for the next hundred or so pages she is barely mentioned again. The story just feels like it’s all over the place.

I also didn’t think there was anything too special about the world. Again, I know I’m at a disadvantage because I haven’t read the Jane Yellowrock series, so I’m probably missing years and years’ worth of relevant world-building which would have helped me gain a better appreciation for it. Still, at this moment I don’t know if I’m jumping up and down to start another series about vampires and shapeshifters, since I’m already following a bunch of them that scratch that itch, though I did find Nell’s nature-based magic fascinating.

The main character’s background is also one of the most intriguing aspects of this book, since a life of growing up in a cult definitely shaped her into a very interesting person. However, I wasn’t entirely convinced of her random Sherlock Holmes moments. The story spends a lot of time painting Nell to be this country bumpkin, but every so often she will get these flashes of genius (all at the most convenient times, I might add) where she will surprise all her PsyLED team members and then proceed to lecture them all about how a lifetime spent hunting and trapping in the woods somehow taught her to become a whiz at deductive reasoning. And then when they all feel bad about judging her, Nell gets to pat herself on the back, all the while ignoring the fact she can be pretty judgmental herself, of course.

So yeah, this one didn’t exactly blow me away me due to a multitude of smaller issues that simply added up, hence the middling, uncertain rating. In spite of this, I haven’t entirely ruled out picking up the next book yet, especially since I still plan on starting the Jane Yellowrock series one of these days. I think there’s potential for Nell and Soulwood to be a lot more, so here’s hoping the sequel will help them grow on me.

[Douglas Meeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well let me start off by saying that this is a spin-off from the Jane Yellowrock series and while it might help a small bit to read that series it is really not required to enjoy this one, especially since a lot of things we thought we knew prove to be false.

OK, this story revolves around Nell Ingram who is a bit magical, a bit homespun botanist, and a lot hermit who really does not care for people when this book starts. Nell is an incredibly complex character and so there is a lot of pages required to try to reveal to us (and to Nell) who Nell really is and some questions are not answered easily and some will be revealed as we go down the road in this series. We get enough information fed to us along to keep the reader interest high and it gets more intense as the book progresses.

Nell after being approached by the PsyLED team starts to reveal a natural ability for investigative thinking in addition to whatever magical powers she might possess (which are kind of murky and get a bit clearer as we go along but still very mysterious). She hopes it will also give her some measure of safety on her own land from the cult that watches her.

For the first book of a series this has a very complex multifaceted plot in addition to the plotline of just trying to figure out who/what Nell is and what she can actually do, something she does not have the answer for when this story starts.

The main story revolves around the religious cult that Nell escaped from many years ago and to solve this crime she will have to revisit her previous life and a lot of things will be revealed along the way. The story is amazing.

Bottom line: First books in a series are usually much lighter than this one because the author usually wants to hook you in quickly. This one starts slow and continues to build throughout the story and you are indeed hooked long term by the end of this book. The characters are good, the ones on the team that are not fleshed out here will be in subsequent books I am sure since Nell seems to be the central character, this is a team story and we only get depth from 2-3 of them for this story. So 5 Stars for a excellent first book in the series and an exceptional story that just grabs you a bit tighter the farther in you go. I am glad I don't have to wait too long for the next one Curse on the Land in Nov 2016 .

[Marta Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Nells book yes I repeat Nell. Why do I say that you ask? Well there are lots of people who adore this authors Jane Yellowrock series who detest, loathe and absolutely despise a certain character who is featured here. Well don't look away, don't sigh but do enjoy the fact that that character does kind of get what's coming but to say more would spoil the fun, just ouch!!!!
So remember Nell the woman who escaped a cult but ended up living next door to it? There's just something magical about Nell and she finds herself being asked to help PsyLED with a case involving kidnapping and the guy in charge Rick has good reason to believe the 'Church ' might somehow be involved. Nell has an affinity for nature that ties her to her land but as the story progresses Nell discovers so much more about herself and her abilities. Yet Nell is in very real danger as she struggles not only with her own indoctrination and beliefs but finds herself facing the very thing PsyLED are hunting!
Nell dominates this book and rightly so. She may not be rough, tough and quick on the draw like other heroines but she is so bright she shines. Underestimated by many and even distrusted by some yet this brave soul will fight for those she loves. I have no wish to ruin this for other readers so will be careful what I put but it's a good lengthy read with a plot that is far more complex then many other urban fantasy stories. Yes it's the same universe as the Jane Yellowrock books but actually it does work as a standalone. Plus it was a delight seeing Nell interact with the supporting characters who helped enrich the story. I defy anyone to pick up this book and not like Nell because she is an awesome character with depths and I can't wait to see how she blossoms as this series continues
I was gifted a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

19/04/2017 UF Wednesday buddy reading with my awesome friends over at BB&B!! You girls and boy are the best!

Real life was always a lot more bloody and had a lot fewer happy endings than movies.

Nell Ingram grew up in a church cult, but luckily found a way out when they tried to force her to marry at twelve. For the last decade she has learned to defend herself from those who wish to harm her and take her land. For Nell is different than others, her magic allowed her to form a deep bond with the woods around her, with her land Soulwood Farm.

When skinwalker Jane Yellowrock came into her life, everything got more dangerous for Nell. And even when Jane left, she still managed lead trouble to Nell’s doorstep by referring PsyLED to Nell for help. PsyLED agent Rick LaFleur requires Nell’s assistance in helping find a human-only terrorist group. But the clock starts ticking when girls are suddenly kidnapped and the vampire Blood Master of Nashville gets involved when her vassal is one of the girls. In order to find the missing girls in time and stop the kidnappers Nell together with the PsyLED team will need to find out whether her old cult is involved, which means Nell might have to return to the very place she fears….

Something was coming. Something that reminded me of Jane, but subtly different. Something was coming that might hurt me. Again. My woods knew.

I loved Nell and how brave she was. Even when she was scared, she still stood strong and fought for herself. She still has a lot to learn about the outside world, the way city people speak and interact, but she understands human nature very well and I loved seeing how astute and smart she was, how she was able to find clues that none of the others agents were able to. And I especially loved how straightforward and feisty she was. My favorite part of this book was when she kicked Rick in the balls, and it just made me love her even more!! :-D I found her magic extremely fascinating, her connection to Soulwood and the forest and the things she could do was scary and amazing. I can’t wait to see her find out the full potential of what her magic does.

Once again Faith Hunter has written a very captivating world, and although this series is set in the same world as that of the Jane Yellowrock novels, I must say I liked this one a lot more. I really liked the idea of PsyLED, a law enforcement unit that investigated and solved paranormal crimes. This team was made up of some very interesting characters, most of whom I really liked: Occam who is a werecat, who is so sexy with his Texan drawl and how protective he was over Nell; empath Tandy who is such a sweetheart; Jo-Jo with her piercings and tattoos; T. Laine who is a witch; Paca a born werecat, who seems a little bit crazy and Pea the little green cat. I liked how all of them saw Nell and their reaction to being near her. Lastly there’s asshole Rick LaFleur. I REALLY hate him, and I wish he wasn’t part of this series :-(.

I must say I struggled with the beginning of the book. There was a lot of world building, detailed descriptions of the setting and of Nell and I tend to get lost in so much detail. Luckily the pace of the book picked up soon after, and I really got into the story. With Nell’s abilities, the dark things she was able to do and with the suspense surrounding the kidnapped girls and finding out who the bad people were, I found the book very intriguing and once I got into the story I had a hard time putting it down.

This was a great first addition to a new series and I love that we still don’t know a lot about Nell and her magic. I can’t wait to read the next book and see what’s in store for Nell and her PsyLED team. A definite must read for all UF fans.

[Jennifer (Bad Bird Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

At A Glance
Holy Carnivorous Trees Batman!
The Good
Hands down, you have never read a story like this. What a concept! Okay, before I go squeeing all over, let me just say Blood of the Earth is the first book from a spin-off series (Soulwood) from the Jane Yellowrock series that I love. Though the style is similar, this is a whole other playground. I can't even really describe what the book is about without going off on a tangent, so here is a glimpse: crazy cult people, blood, carnivorous forests, missing vampires, deadly shapeshifters, creepy magic, and Rick Freaking LaFleur. Yeah, pretty much perfection.

Nell was all sorts of awesome. She was raised in a strict cult most her life but now that she left the church, she is trying to assimilate to her new life. Nell is immersed into an even dark world as she is tantalized into helping the PsyLED, a Homeland Security agency policing paranormals, find a very important missing vampire that may have been taken by Nell's old cult. Nell ever so slowly comes out of her shell as her new ragtag team investigates a string of kidnappings and murders. I found it so interesting how Nell was a little bit of a void in the beginning. She doesn't have much of a personality but that's the point. The new personalities around her bring out her real feelings. She lives isolated for the most part so having people invade her space is challenging for her but that's how she learns about normal social interaction and how to handle different supernaturals. She really is a unique heroine. She's not physically strong or good with weapons. But she does have this certain ability that will make you shit your pants!!! Freaking creepy and frick. Even Nell is a little creeped out my herself. I won't reveal anything else about it though.

For those of you who read the Jane Yellowrock series, you might be a little pissed that Rick is in this series. But let me tell you, he is not a happy man. He's made his mistakes and he is paying for them. And, the best part, Nell tells him off so good I literally stood up and cheered. Okay, enough Rick bashing. He is a good leader of the PsyLED so you have to give him a some props.

The story flowed well. The mystery was multilayered and captivating the whole time. The characters really made this book though. Every character was awesome, but if you want to know why, you have to read this book. You can even read it and understand it without reading the Jane Yellowrock series first. Some things might go over your head, but it's not that big of a deal. I am soooo excited to continue this series.
The Bad
Nada damn thing.
The Snuggly
No snuggly in this one, though I did see a possible romance brewing for the future. Very subdued though.
Final Thoughts
Read Blood of the Earth!!!!!! Like, now! Or when it comes out. ;) That is all.


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[Lynn Latimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent new series, Blood of the Earth, is part of the Jane Yellowrock world. When Jane came blasting into Nell Ingram’s domain in the short story, Off the Grid, she set Nell’s life on a new course by referring her to Rick LaFleur and PsyLED. Nell has some special magical talent that even she does not fully understand. She has lived very alone, after her much older husband passed, and in fear of the religious cult she grew up in. Nell reluctantly joins up with Rick’s team composed of an unusual group with their own special talents.

Nell’s special abilities tie her emotionally and physically to her land and the earth. It speaks to her as almost a living entity. She has the unusual powers to control the flora and fauna around her which of course is very useful to PsyLED. Nell is accustomed to being quite alone having broken from her large and complicated family while maintaining a hostile relationship with the past and current church leaders. With the invasion of Rick and his team, Nell has a big learning curve to understand not only her own powers, but how to work with other supernatural and magically talented folks. Nell’s upbringing was so subjugated that she has to constantly fight against the instinct that men will always try to dominate her.

Nell has a lot of emotional issues with the way she was brought up which, in several ways, is the antithesis of the way she is living now. She stays on her land despite the problems with God’s Cloud of Glory Church for two major reasons: her supernatural connection to Soulwood and in hopes of providing a place of sanctuary for her sisters should they leave the cult. Nell reminds me of the term organic intellectual. She is mostly self-taught from books and has a fine mind that continually surprises and intrigues her new PsyLED associates. Her personal combination of supernatural powers and well thought out reasoning makes Nell a formidable force to be reckoned with even among seemingly more powerful supernaturals such as the vampires and weres.

Now, I am going to say something about Rick and the less than pleasing Paka, who broke up his relationship with Jane. Readers are angry with him and so may find forgiveness difficult, but it’s important to understand that he is not happy with Paka as Nell notices: “But oddly, I did not see love as I understood it… It wasn’t a happy love. It was addled.” I have to say that boy is a mess and though he is very good at his job leading the PsyLED team, Rick’s personal life is in ruins. There are lots of arguments to be made for most of this being his own dang fault. He was a player who made some poor choices in the past, consequently, he is suffering for it so although Rick has a mate, he is far from happy: “He didn’t love Paka. But he was tied to her. Magic, I thought.” Believe me when I say my feelings for Rick’s behavior in the Jane Yellowrock books are both strident and intense. Here we get a look at the man he might have been”…before he was bitten by a wereleopard and all the joy was bled out of him.” And Nell does something to Rick that will have a lot of people standing up cheering and doing the wave. So give ol’ Ricky Bo a chance because Nell’s story is quite well done and deserves to be heard. And there is much satisfaction in Karma doing her thing to Rick La Fleur. For all his faults, he appears to be a good team leader caring about Nell and her feelings.

Nell has much to learn about herself as well as the larger world. For too long she has been held captive by a very isolated, restricted life, but now she is stepping way out of her comfort zone and realizing the potential to live her best life unfettered by perceived enemies and helped by new friends. Her magical connection to the Soulwood land is quite intriguing and serves, in part, as a reminder that we are all more deeply connected to this earth than we often realize. I am so pleased that Nell is a part of the Jane Yellowrock world. We will all be better for having met her.

ARC provided by author and Penguin Random House

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child growing up in a polygamous cult, Nell escaped the constrictions of cult life and marriage to the evil cult leader by agreeing to become the second wife of John Ingram. After his first wife died and then later he died, she found herself alone on a parcel of land that borders the land owned by the church.

She has lived on her own, with shotguns at every window always fearing the day the men from the church came for her. But she has more than just shotguns. It's her land, through the earth and the trees she knows every inch of it. She controls who comes and goes and with just a drop of blood, she even has the power of life and death.

Now after many years things are changing. Some young women, town people have been kidnapped and PsyLED and the FBI are nosing around. They enlist her help to infiltrate the church and what she discovers is a creature so evil even the experts from PsyLED don't know what it is.


Blood of the Earth is incredible. Nell Ingram is a heroine you'll instantly love. The book is set in the world of Jane Yellowrock with a few crossover characters, though thankfully only a few. Nell's world, her gifts, her background, her land...there is so much fertile ground for great stories and if I'm totally honest, the part of it I find least interesting is the PsyLED aspect.

Book 2, Curse of the Land follows in a few short months and I'm champing at the bit to get it. I can't wait.

[RachelW (BamaGal) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently running for .99 at Amazon...

Regular readers of the “Jane Yellowrock” series will remember Nell Ingram as the woman who let Jane use her land to access the property of Nell’s former ‘Church’ to rescue a missing vampire. Jane saw something in Nell, and referred PsyLED to her. There’s really not much of Nell’s background that is not explained in the summary, so I’ll skip all that; but there really is a lot to Nell. As the book begins, Rick LaFluer has come to recruit Nell as a ‘consultant’ for his new group, PsyLED Unit 18. They are investigating the kidnappings of several young women; and the suspects for the action, the cult ‘Human Speakers for Truth’, seemingly have ties to God’s Cloud, Nell’s former church/cult. They need Nell’s expertise and experience on how cults operate; and also for her to make contact with her family still with God’s Cloud to find out what they know about the kidnappings and HST.

Nell begins to work with PsyLED, and she begins to change and become more worldly. As Jane Yellowrock suspected, Nell is not quite human; and her affinity for nature and powers, while not fully explained here, become more apparent as she begins to use them more. The storyline is convoluted and often dense. The vampire who was being held at the compound is only the tip of the iceberg of the evil being perpetrated; and what begins as a kidnapping case soon evolves into a darker tale, one of an unknown type of paranormal terrorizing the populace. I enjoyed the story; especially Nell’s interactions with her new coworkers in Unit 18. It will be a lot of fun to read about this group as the series goes on. These characters all had quite individual and distinct personalities.

Blood of the Earth got off to a nice start, and I think “Soulwood” is going to be a very good series. I greatly enjoyed it with a couple of caveats. I didn’t always enjoy reading all of Nell’s background and interactions with her family. I understand that she had to resolve her past before she could move on; but I really thought it took up too much book time for my tastes. Also, a few times, especially in the beginning, it was almost painfully slow reading. My other issue was that I felt that the story rambled in places. Lots of description, and a simple question often led to a page or more of a character just talking about whatever before they finally answered. I felt the story could have been tightened up more. I remember having this problem with the first book of the “Jane Yellowrock” series, so maybe this is just a first book/setting the stage of the series kind of thing.

Overall, though; I really liked Blood of the Earth, and found it to be a quite satisfying read. I particularly liked Nell…a lot. Faith Hunter does a good job on her heroines. Nell is no badass Jane; but she has intelligence and her own strengths. She has great potential to grow as a character as the series moves on. I’m looking forward to the next book, which will hopefully leave her former church/cult background in a much lesser role, and her future as a PsyLED agent as the core of the storyline. Obviously, Nell needs her ties to her land, Soulwood, to sustain her powers; but I do hope to see her work and things in her life branch out more.

This is UF at its finest, and while recognizable as being set in the JY universe, a really quite a different take on UF. I’ve honestly never read anything quite like it. I do recommend Blood of the Earth, and you don’t have to have read the Jane Yellowrock series to follow this. It stands quite well on its own. Not a perfect read; but very, very good. Hunter is a talented author, no doubt about that; and always brings a good story to the reader.

[Sheyla ✎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faith Hunter's UF books are a must for me. They have the perfect combination of action and romance I have come to expect from this genre. It helps that I love her other characters in this world: Beast, Jane, and Bruiser.

I was looking forward to reading this new series which is set in the same world as Jane Yellowrock. Even more important, Jane has met Nell and she is the catalyst to Nell's life becoming even more interesting.

Nell Ingram was part of a cult as a child. She left God’s Cloud of Glory when she was twelve and she was told she needed to marry the colonel. Her exile came with the help of a married couple who were leaving it for good. They took her in to help take care of the dying wife. After her passing, Nell married the male who became sick and died too. However, the "church" wants Nell back into their fold and they want to take her land too. Help comes in the form of Rick LaFleur and his PsyLED team. They are offering to make her a consultant in exchange for information regarding the cult and their ties to a recent series of kidnapped young women. At first, Nell is reluctant to let all these people into her life. She has been a loner for the most part. She's not sure if she's ready to share with them her powers and her connection to her land/ earth/soulwood. Little by little she starts trusting them and soon she becomes indispensable to their investigation.

Nell was a great heroine. She's smart, strong and she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. She also has a sense of family despite how dysfunctional and crazy hers is.

One thing that made me love her, even more, was that she was able to put Rick in his place, not once but three times!! A certain scene gave me so much pleasure. Rick deserves that and much more after what he did to Jane. Yes, I'm not over his betrayal and I don't care if he's not happy with Paka.
I sure hope Mrs. Hunter never brings him back into Jane's love life. Goodbye and good riddance!

“If you want to wallow in guilt and misery, by all means have at it. But wallow later. Right now you have a job to do. So do it.”

In regards to the rest of the team, I can say I liked them all except I'm not crazy about Paka. I do like Occam, the other wereleopard. I'm guessing he's going to be one of Nell's romantics liaisons in books to come. Tandy brought feelings of protection, just like it happened to Nell in the book.

Blood of the Earth has excellent worldbuilding. At times, the details were a little too much for me but I know it's only going to help make the series stronger. I hope we get many more books.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whew! Finally finished with this one! It had a slow start and though it did pick up a little bit in the last third of the book, it was too little, too late. By then I had mentally checked out and was mostly skimming by reading only the dialogue lines. The repetitiveness of the references to the main character's upbringing in a religious cult and her little understood connection to the woods wore thin fast. I got it the first 20 times, I swear. But I can still enjoy an imperfect book - I do it all the time - if the characters make me love them and want to be friends with them. That didn't happen here. I never warmed up to any of the characters and the MC's use of "church speak" made me cringe, what with all the "iffen yous" and "I be a woman grown". It also didn't help that this book sat for a week without me touching it. Every time I would consider picking it back up I'd find other things to do instead. Now a few years ago, when I first found my way back to reading, I would have given this series another few books to grow on me. I just don't have that kind of time anymore. Time is precious so while I'm sure there are many who will love this book, this series is one and done for me.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Source* Publisher/Blog Tour
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 4.0

*MY Thoughts*

Blood of the Earth is the first installment in Faith Hunter's new series called Soulwood. This is a spin-off series that features 23-year old Nell Nicholson Ingram. Readers first met Nell in Jane Yellowrock's short story called Black Water. Nell is totally off the grid and that's exactly the way she likes it. The only identification she has, is a library card which she uses several times a week. When Jane first met her, she smelled like Earth-magic and home which would explain why everything Nell touches, seems to grow faster than other means.

*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews* Part of Blog Tour

http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...

Expected publication: August 2nd 2016 by Roc

[Bj · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I gave this audiobook an A for the narration and A- for the story at AudioGals*

Narration by Khristine Hvam

This audiobook defies convention. Jam-packed with a number of different themes, from a polygamist cult to vampires, shapeshifters, witches, and everything in between, Blood of the Earth is sure to keep the listener entertained with its highly unique and well thought out, complex urban fantasy world. Add to that Khristine Hvam’s narration, which is simply divine and adds a whole other level of authenticity and feeling to this already must listen to title. In fact, the whole audiobook package is so well put together that it just earned Faith Hunter and Khristine Hvam a 2017 Paranormal Audie Finalist nomination which was just announced earlier this month!
Before running out and buying this audiobook, however, a few words of caution are worth noting. First of all, this book is romance light. Like most UF series, the debut novel is based on the UF world building, not the romance. All that said, there are a few potential love interests for the heroine, Nell Ingram (the main character of this series) that this book teases the listener with, though almost no romance is actually contained within this book.

Second, it’s worth pointing out that Blood of the Earth is the debut book in a spin-off series (Soulwood) to the long-running Jane Yellowrock series (10 books have been published so far, with the 11th expected in May of this year) by the same author and narrator. Although it is the first book in this series, some knowledge of the Jane Yellowrock UF world is helpful to more quickly and better understand this series, including background knowledge on several of the main characters that appear in this series. Plus, the Jane Yellowrock series is fantastic and for PNR/UF lovers a must listen to series in and of its own right (I’d put it right up there with Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series and Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series). However, I do caution that if you are listening to both series, you should do so in the order that the books have been released so far. I had only listened to the first few books in the Jane Yellowrock series and as a result this book had spoilers for some of the books that I have not yet listened to. I still plan to listen to the entire Jane Yellowrock series, but I would have waited to listen to this book until I was further along in that series. As it stands, now I’m hooked on not just one but two series by this fabulous author/narrator combo!

Nell has had a tough life. Born into a polygamist, religious cult where women are subservient to men, and having a fiery and dominant personality, Nell has been at odds with this culture her whole life. So much so, that today she lives outside of the cult in a rural area where she is pretty much off the grid. Before getting to this place in her life, however, she had to suffer the harsh realities that included her arranged marriage to a polygamist couple before she even reached the age of majority (to escape becoming the youngest wife of the cult’s leader). She is finally free now and even inherited her husband’s land after he passed away shortly after his first wife’s submission to a terminal illness. Now she hopes she can free her sisters from the polygamist life, even while the cult’s leader that she spurned still has his eyes set on bringing her back to the cult and taking his revenge on her for spurning him so many years ago.

It is against this backdrop that PsyLED, a Homeland Security agency in charge of paranormals, comes calling. Led by Agent Rick LaFleur, one of the major characters of the Jane Yellowrock series, the PsyLED team, which includes a whole cast of supernatural beings with various powers, comes to Nell hoping to recruit her, based on a tip from Jane Yellowrock. Jane met Nell in a prior book during a mission to track down a rogue vampire. During that trip, Jane took note of Nell’s unusual supernatural abilities, which include an affinity with, and powers over, nature and connection to the woods she lives in.

See the full review at AudioGals

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series and this is an offshoot of that one. It is, however, a very mild offshoot (meaning that you really don't need to know anything about the other to enjoy this one). And this was a great story and a lot of fun.

I really liked Nell, even if I have a hard time with her background for technical reasons. I liked how strong and independent Nell is right from the start. And that she has obviously taken time and no small amount of effort to become educated beyond her upbringing, though mainly through judicious use of her local library. She has echoes of Jane's problem distinguishing culpability from guilt, but milder if only because she has fewer reasons to need to kill folk.

Over the course of the novel, I really came to appreciate Hunter's even-handedness with Nell's family. They're setup initially as part of a cult and have some troubled relationship issues with Nell. But over time, we see them gain depth as interactions with them humanize them and show that they aren't the villains Nell has come to believe. Indeed, their faith community has an enjoyable mix of good and bad guys and I love how at least part of the conflict was the inevitable schism erupting in a community where the power-hungry must overcome those who actually believe what is being taught.

And the interactions with the PsyLED team was full of win as well. I loved the different characters and have to admit to losing my heart, just a little bit, to Oakham. I liked how they accepted who (and what) Nell is and made her feel part of the team (because she was part of the team). I particularly liked their appreciation for her smarts as well as what she could do for them as, well, whatever-the-heck she is.

I admit to having a hard time with "the cult". You can maybe get away with calling it one (the definition of the word is broad enough that you can technically call any faith-based community a cult) but this one has lasted some 150+ years and seems much more stable than what you'd normally associate with the word. Which is actually at the heart of my problem, really. The stability, I mean. See, God's Cloud has polygamy as a core practice. Since I'm Mormon, and of a studious bent, I've spent more than a little time considering polygamy as a system (both historical and theoretical). And that means I'll almost inevitably have a hard time with fictional representations of the practice and that's the case here. And I was going to go into some of the things Hunter gets wrong, but decided it'd be kind of boring for anyone not me. So I'll just say that while the interpersonal and individual aspects were outstanding, some of the details wouldn't have worked, at least not long-term and certainly not for some 150 years.

Anyway, the plot was good, the characters outstanding, and I enjoyed the deep background and slower pace that may hang up some readers. Oh, there's plenty of action and Nell has lots to do, but Nell is a contemplative kind of woman and Hunter takes the time to give readers a view into her mental processes in ways that I appreciated even as I acknowledge that others may find slow. I enjoyed the ride and can't wait to spend more time with Nell as this series progresses. I particularly want to see how Hunter handles a character whose supernatural ability is rather actively tied to a lone stretch of mountain woodlands.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Blood of the Earth is a fantastic start to the Soulwood series."

Read this review in its entirety at Fresh Fiction

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock world. I've been meaning to try this series offshoot since 2017 and I'm so glad that I finally picked it up.

I really liked Nell Ingram as a main character. She is self sufficient in so many ways, an escapee from the abusive cult that she grew up a part of. She may be out, but her land is right next door and the men of the cult still try to make her life miserable. But Nell has talents that her former community isn't aware of and they didn't manage to squash her will during childhood. Then Jane Yellowrock appeared in her life and re.cognized her abilities. Now Rick LaFleur and the paranormal law enforcement agency PsyLED showed up on her doorstep and Nell must choose: is she still a church lady or is she independent Nell?

No points for guessing which choice stubborn Nell chooses. Exactly the same one that I would in her place. It's fun watching Nell grow, expand her abilities, to flourish and bloom. Just what I want for all women. I'm very impatient to read the next book and part of me wants to reread the Jane Yellowrock novels too. Perhaps I'll use them as treats to keep me on track in other areas of my life. If you are interested in a nonfiction version of escape from an abusive religion, try Tara Westover's Educated.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much to say about this book. But first things first. When I saw the book was at NetGalley, I only saw Faith Hunter and New Series before hitting the request button. Only AFTER being approved did I realized that 1)It was a spin-off and 2)There was a character development I would miss and being spoiled about if I read it before being up to date.

Sadly, I only managed to read Skinwalker before diving in into this one – yep, Steven is still disappointed with me – but, I must confess that after three or four pages all my guilty thoughts vanished. Why?

Because I TOTALLY LOVED THE BOOK. Omigosh Nell is such a great character. She has layers and layers, and is the living proof that we CAN LEARN THINGS BY READING FICTION BOOKS.

The support cast is also great. I loved how different they where and how well they mesh together. Even Rick. I don’t know how his story developed to make him how he is (and now I’m dyyying to know more) but his distance and distrust felt real and I totally ate everything the author sent my way.

Plus it has a cult. And someone breaking free of it. We don’t have those around here in Portugal – at least to my knowledge – and I’m always sucked in by those stories. Not the cult mentality, that is a cultural shock I can’t see past it, but, what does it take to brainwash people to accept that kind of mentality.

My favorite thing on the book? Nell’s magic. If my childhood wishes of being a witch came through I’d be something like Nell. Earth Magic Rocks. And it has darkness too and it craves blood and it can turn alive. Seriously, a vampire tree? All kinds of awesome.

There isn’t a single negative thing I can thing about this book. It was borderline perfect. The villains are complex and twisted and the story revolves in a way that keeps the reader unable to set it down till the very end.

I always complain about how Sookie’s tasks were depicted on her books but Nell’s are refreshing, not over the top and have always little details we enjoy learning. And her sense of humor rocks. Her catnip use is even better than Kate Daniel’s and that’s something I never thought I’d be saying.

In a nutshell: I LOVED IT! It has layers and layers and delicious moments. It has sass. It has funny moments. It has surprises. It even has a hint of a love interest. Sweet and deserved. And I want the next one like no tomorrow.

See more @ The Book Wielding Harpie

[Maria Dimitrova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buddy read with the UF freaks of BB&B

Blood of the Earth is the first book in a spin-off series set in the Jane Yellowrock universe. At first I was a bit apprehensive because I was warned that one of my least favourite characters from the JY series will have a major role here. If you've read some of my reviews of the other series you know that I mostly hate Rick - I've bitched about him a lot! So it came as a surprise that I not only didn't mind his presence here but I actually felt a bit sorry for him. Weird. There must be something wrong with me, I should schedule an appointment with a good shrink.

The MC, Nell, is a fascinating character! I loved her from the very beginning. She's had a really tough time growing up and it's truly amazing that she's managed to get so far and remain so independent. I hated the cult she grew up in, I hated her family for most of the book and even when it was revealed that they weren't as bad as Nell thought they were I still can't accept a lot of what they do. I know I should be open minded and accepting of other people's lifestyles but child marriage and abuse are not among the things I can ever accept as normal.

The new characters that form the core group of this book are diverse - an empath, a witch, a human and two and a half werecats. At first Paka rubbed me the wrong way but as the book progressed I started liking her more and more. She provides a much needed fierceness and her penchant for violence satisfies my bloodthirst. There are two potential love interest for Nell and I hope that this won't turn into another love triangle that spans 3-4 books. The humour was great and it was nice to experience the world away from Jane, who tends to have a rather narrow worldview. This was a strong start and while I would recommend reading the JY books first, it can be treated as a separate series.

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 5 out of 5]

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When Nell Ingram met skinwalker Jane Yellowrock, she was almost alone in the world, exiled by both choice and fear from the cult she was raised in, defending herself with the magic she drew from her deep connection to the forest that surrounds her. Jane referred Nell to PsyLED, a Homeland Security agency policing paranormals, and agent Rick LaFleur has shown up at Nell’s doorstep. Now, Nell has a team—and a mission. But to find the vampire Blood Master’s kidnapped vassal, Nell will be forced into the heart of the very cult she fled, infiltrating a humans-only terrorist group before time runs out…


The short review...

In October I dared myself to participate in an urban fantasy reading challenge... and I did it! This was one of the books I chose and am I sooooo glad as I adored Nell and the entire concept of the Soulwood.

I have a friend who loves reading Faith Hunter, she started with Jane Yellowrock and then found this spin-off series. It was quite different from the more fast-paced, story centered Jane stories, and that was all due to Nell! Nell has just the type of background and personality mix that I love and she totally drove the story. It's a plot that is quite particular to her dragging in her back history growing up with a cult and dealing with men who believes she should be under their thumb. It doesn't help she's a legal heiress to land they want.

I don't want you thinking that Nell is the type to roll over... she isn't at all... She will fight til her dying breathe and actually has to a couple times in Blood of the Earth alone! I found the setting in a countrified Nashville suburb to be quite fascinating. There is this sense of the area being home to a backwoods county life that imbues the entire atmosphere of the book with a unique flavor. The story seems to be a simple missing girls case and yet it takes you on this bizarre tour of the area and the cult that totally makes the story.

So what did I think about the mystery?! Sooooooo good! Like soooooo good! But all due to Nell... She takes what is a rather routine investigation despite in being about supernatural creatures and switched things up as they went along and revealed clues because she doesn't approach things with her team's methods. Her relationships with Occam and Tandy are ones I look forward to exploring more further in the series.


Cover & Title grade -> A-

I actually really like this cover. I think for such an unusual ability and what happens in Blood of the Earth this art really embodies those things. It also has the feel of an urban fantasy without having to even read the premise!! Sure it still features a regular old human model but I actually don't mind it at all, it gives the cover this odd magical but realistic vibe since the woods is just as big a part of the art as the human.


Why did Nell make Blood of the Earth such a great read?

-Born into a religious cult, but got out!
From a deeply religious family, Nell has always felt like an outsider due to her ability and their belief that it's from the devil. Growing up in a house with multiple mothers and with the men wielding the power this isn't your typical hard life story. This unusual lifestyle though makes how she interacts with the world quite different from most women... she's still feisty but also oh so vulnerable and truly different.

-23 years old but a widow for 5 years!
She left her family so young (12) to marry an old man who had another older wife. She was a lucky one... escaping a man who wanted to do oh so worse to her. At least her husband John waited until she was 15 to climb into her bed and he did right by her by legally marrying her at 18. While he still believed along the lines of the church he left her with a way to survive after his passing.

-Owner of and connected to a large parcel of woods!
The Soulwood is like another character, having a living presence that is quite unique. This particular woods are connected to Nell and she can feel and learn all that goes on in them. It has a magic that I've never read about before and that I can't wait to learn more about... the events that happen in the Soulwood are some of the neatest in Blood of the Earth.

-Ability to commune with nature!
GAHHHH! I really don't even want to share what this means but needlesstosay it helps her to help her team to investigate. It's another aspect that is useful outside of the Soulwood and I was amazed at all the creative ways that Nell was able to use this ability. One scene of healing was so incredible... I urge you to read Blood of the Earth just to read this scene...

-Lacking in social skills yet a deductive reasoner!
Nell is so badass in my eyes despite her imperfections, she's prickly, distrustful, and resistant... I love how she had to learn to get along with the members of the PsyLED team (due to how socially crippled she is how she was raised) and how smart she was at the same time due to having to rely on herself all the time. It's this perfect melding of uneducated yet clever that makes her stand out.


As a Writer...

Sure the pacing of Blood of the Earth is not the swiftest. First we need to meet Nell and get a gander at her difficulties. She shares a bit of her history and we meet the head of the PsyLED team. Then we need to give her time to figure out if she is willing to risk to help our their investigation. It's all very needful setup... I found it quite good but it still took some time to get to the actual case/mystery.

What really made this story work despite the front-heavy setup is Nell. She kept everything moving forward and she made what is normally pretty basic mystery setup fun and different. You haven't read about this kind of woman before, yet she is really relatable. You really want her to get out of the clutches of these men, you want her to fit in and find a life for herself.

Blood of the Earth is just the sort of urban fantasy I want to read in a genre that is overly saturated with badass women that are hard as nails. We have a nature connection that is quite unique and is what everyone who has ever wanted to write about a plant ability has wanted to write themselves. Nell is compelling and I'm dying to take another journey with her in the Soulwood.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Writing Style
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot & Pacing
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ World Building

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.

______________________
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[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at Heroes and Heartbreakers-http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com...

Faith Hunter’s powerful voice and exceptional skills comes through crystal clear in her latest urban fantasy series that expands upon her very popular Jane Yellowrock world. Blood of the Earth stars Nell Ingram, a young woman who wields a dark and potentially deadly elemental power rooted deep in the earth itself.

“I am not a witch. I am something far more dangerous. "

Readers first met Nell in the short story, Off The Grid, from the Jane Yellowrock anthology, Blood In Her Veins. Jane was tasked with helping a vampire clan find a missing member who they believed had been kidnapped by an ultra-religious cult, the God’s Cloud of Glory Church. This led her to North Carolina and introduced her to Nell. Nell has strong ties to the church having been raised in it. Nell left the church and her family when the lecherous church leader demanded her hand in marriage at age 12. Nell refused, causing dissension within the church. She is rescued by two older members of the church, Leah and John Ingram. Nell goes to live with John and Leah until she became of age and John married her to protect her. When John and Leah passed away, Nell became the sole beneficiary of their home, Soulwood, and the surrounding acreage. From that day forward, Nell has been locked in battle with the church, determined to save her land, her home, and herself from their clutches.

“From that day over a decade ago, Brother Ephraim wanted me in the punishment house, my punishment in his hands. I’d die first.”

Intense world building, dynamic characterization, and an action-packedstoryline that hints at increasing darkness, Hunter creates a solid base of which to grow and nurture her newest heroine-NellIngram. Nell is an interesting protagonist. She’s is not only intelligent, self-reliant, and a loner-classic urban fantasy fodder- but she is also human. A human with a gift that she is rapidly learning can be used to create and destroy. Her youthfulness is still prevalent, you can see the line she straddles between child and adult from her mannerisms and thoughts. Born and raised in a fundamentalist polygamy sect, the ingrained lessons she learned are hard to shed yet she was strong enough to break the cycle at a young age when she began to see the injustice and violence that was rapidly becoming the norm for the women of the church.

“Women were expected to simply take whatever the churchmen dished out. Take it and cry and grieve and then accept whatever they did. No more. Not for me.”

Jane Yellowrock keeps her word and sends Rick LaFleur to see Nell. He offers her a position on the PsyLED team as a consultant though true to his usual modus operandi, there is a catch. Rick wants Nell’s help in discovering if a domestic terrorist group have joined with the Church and are once again kidnapping supernaturals for their own nefarious uses. Rick needs Nell’s connections to the church to find the missing supernaturals and Nell soon learns she needs Rick. The invasion of PsyLED unit gives Nell the push she needs to start re-evaluatingher life and the reasons for her solitude. It also gives her new insight into her growing powers. She opens her door to her home and her heart, causing her to understand that her solitude is nothing more than an attempt to avoid more pain and heartbreak. She sees the events of the past through the eyes of an adult and realizes her anger and hate has clouded her judgment on some issues.

“Perhaps there were good times among the bad, the difficult, and the compromises I had made to stay safe and alive.”

Hunter introduces us to the members of Rick’s unit; each one an interesting, personable entity who welcome Nell with open arms and show she has an army at her back and friends by her side. Hunter takes an unusual path with Rickthough, using Nell’s gift and nature to give readers insight into his and Paka’s relationship from the eyes of an outsider. The feeling that the two series will crossover is reinforced through this plotline and I for one cannot wait.

“It was a charming expression, black eyes flashing with good humor, the man he might have been once, before life, before loving Jane Yellowrock, and maybe before being tied to Paka.”

Fans of Jane Yellowrock will enjoy getting to know Hunter’s newest heroine and watch her stages of evolution. Action, suspense, dark magic,and a wisp of romance engages from the first page and left this reader more than ready for book two of the series, Curse of the Land, set to release November 2016.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2016/0...

2.5/5 stars

Blood of the Earth is the first in a new series by Faith Hunter. It is a spin-off from her Jane Yellowrock books, which I have not read, and so I confirmed this would be a good entry point before reading. I definitely never felt I was missing information, or was hindered by having not read Jane Yellowrock. That said, I did feel like my reading experience definitely lacked something. This is a hard review to write because while I can’t say I actively disliked much about this book while reading, I also can’t say there was much about it that I did like or enjoy. The trick is figuring out why that is and expand beyond just the general ‘meh’ impression this book left on me.

I guess my first roadblock was that I never felt a connection with the main character, Nell, despite feeling like I really *should* like her. Nell has been living by herself on property left to her by her late husband. She has a very unique and special connection with the land around her. Her ownership of this land is a point of contention with the church/cult she grew up in (but has since abandoned, because, you know, cults are bad). But through some unfortunate events, she is dragged out of her isolation to aid an investigation that will require her to make contact with the church again.

I wanted to like Nell. But for some reason, I just felt she came across as naive. I think this is a trait of her character and was intentional (its hard to live in isolation and not be naive), but instead of sympathizing with her, I started to feel a bit impatient instead. There was also a ton of repetition in this book. Sometimes, in big tomes of epic fantasy where you have a lot of information to remember or in books aimed at young readers, repetition can be beneficial. Here? It was extraneous page filler material that pulled me out of the story as previous information was rehashed and slightly reworded.

And as for the plot? Well, once again, I felt like I should have found it more intriguing than I actually did. I just didn’t find myself engaging with the entire cult/church threat. There are also girls who have gone missing, but as a reader I felt rather removed from them, and so I really did not feel any emotional investment in them, their capture or their recovery (gosh, that makes me sound horrible, but really, it was just like a story check point, side information for me rather than feeling like I was reading the harrowing disappearance of young women).

For the Audiobook version: I don’t feel like I would have enjoyed this book any more in print than I did in audio. But I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the narration much either only because I found the southern accent a bit hard to listen to. Although, in all fairness, it may have been spot on for how the character should sound. So, it could just be another aspect of the book that didn’t quite work for.

Overall, I can’t say I would recommend this book except maybe to people who are already huge Faith Hunter fans (that wouldn’t need my recommendation anyway). For readers new to the author, this book definitely works as a starting point, but seeing as how the Jane Yellowrock books are so popular, they may serve a better introduction to the author.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so I'm conflicted about this one. For the first 70% I was honestly pretty bored. I have this on audiobook and I only forced myself to finish it since I'd already spent an Audible credit on it. It wasn't terrible, I just didn't love it and it didn't hold my attention, I started and finished two other audiobooks while listening to this one.

That said was an hour or so around the 90-95% mark maybe that I was really enjoying it and I didn't want to turn it off. Then I got bored again by the end.

I honestly can't put my finger on why I didn't love it, but it just didn't work out for me.

There was also something that really bugged me. The church people had a room where they've take women that spoke up to them to beat, torture and rape them. Nell called it 'the punishment room'. She also worried about being taken back and 'punished' when she meant beaten and raped. It really rubbed me the wrong way, call a spade a spade! Like I get it, the cult referred to rape as punishment and they called their torture chamber the punishment room', but Nell was out of the cult, she wasn't drinking the cool-aid and yet she replicated their vernacular. This just really bothered me.

I was also frustrated that Nell was so happy the cult was finally taking a stand against Jackson and his abuse. But they didn't do it because they thought he was wrong to torture and rape those girls, they did it because he tortured and raped them without the permission of their fathers and the church elders. It's disgusting. The vernacular in that 'trial' made it very clear that girls are only allowed to be beaten and raped if their elders and the father agree to the 'punishment'. They don't get props for finally deciding he'd crossed a line.

Nell's naivety was also really irritating. It wasn't endearing and it didn't work for me. At first I thought maybe she would be like Meg from The Others by Anne Bishop. I adore meg, her cluelessness genuinely is sweet and endearing. I didn't feel the same about Nell.

Okay so when I think about it, evidently there are reasons I can express that explain why this didn't work for me!

I'm not sure I'll continue with this series.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fanbloomingtastic!

I've just finished reading Blood of the Earth and I feel momentarily speechless. Just trying to gather my thoughts enough to write a review that Blood of the Earth truly deserves.
I knew that Faith Hunter's spin off series would be good. But in truth it's so much more that good, great or even awesome.
I love Nell's character and I feel that Faith will have a lot of fun developing and growing Nell's life and story.
Occram, well I really loved this sweet were-leopard I could see the relationship between Nell and Occram grow to become something special.
Seeing Ricky's character in a different situation from Jane Yellowrock series was very interesting. I could see his unhappiness at being tied to Paka weighing heavily on him. I'm interested in seeing what else is in store for the naughty playa boy.
I would give this a much higher rating as 5 stars simply doesn't do it justice. It a brilliant piece of writing and I bet that you couldn't sit down and read this without agreeing with me. Kudos to Faith Hunter - she's only gone and done it again!

[Terri ♥ (aka Mrs. Christian Grey) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are things I liked and others I didn't. I mostly hated the repetition inside Nell's head within the same paragraphs, chapters and book as a whole.

One thing I did like is my Rickybo. I like that it seems magic may have a hold on him and can explain some of his past actions regarding Jane. Personally I wish he could somehow get rid of were taint and be with Jane whom he loves still. I don't like who she's with after what that guy did. I think it was worse than what Rick did now that we have more information.

But this is about Nell. Lots of unanswered questions. Some I thought would have come up if not answered based on events. Like her half brother. Nell didn't wonder in her head what this could mean for him. And the safety of her sibs if something happened.

I'll read the next book, but I'm not like desperate to get it.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark and sometimes grim, but nevertheless charming urban fantasy. Imaginative worldbuilding and lovable characters (well, except the bad guys).

Occam’s eyebrows went up in surprise and a slow smile spread across his face. “You look like some sweet lil’ ol’ thang,” he said his Texan twang suddenly strong, “but you got some spunk, don’tchu, Nell, sugar?”
“Nell, sugar?” Sam said, menace in his tone.
“Occam can call me anything he wants,” I said, eyeing the Texan cat. “I gave him permission, and I don’t need yours.”
Sam slanted his eyes at me but said to Occam, “She always did have a mouth on her.”

I am definitely continuing the series!