Soul of Shadow

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Synopsis

Love, magic, gods, and monster collide in this thrilling Norse mythology inspired romantic fantasy for fans of The Vampire Diaries and Atlas Six.

Charlie Hudson is just trying to survive junior year, navigating the halls of school and the chaos of parties like a ghost. But her world is about to become seriously transformed?like world shifting altered?when a classmate mysteriously disappears into the forest, leaving only a pair of shoes and strange symbols carved into a tree.

Drawn to the disappearances by forces she can’t explain, she finds herself investigating the mysterious, alluring newcomer in town, Elias Everhart. With piercing eyes and sharp wit, he dances around her questions, only intriguing her further. Elias has a secret. More than one.
But what Charlie doesn’t know is that those secrets will lead her to a place she never imagined: a world hiding in plain sight, filled with enchantments, mythic beings, hidden dangers?and a first love fated to fall apart.

In Emma Noyes’s Soul of Shadow, truths and temptations lurk in the darkness, and for Charlie, the only thing more dangerous than facing her past, is the boy with the power to change her future.

Synopsis source: StoryGraph

Review

Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
HB&W Rating: 4 stars
View on StoryGraph | Goodreads
Buy on Barnes & Noble, Amazon
Release Date: July 29, 2025

Wow! This book isn’t even published yet and already I can’t wait for the sequel. I need more, stat! I love different mythologies and I feel like Norse mythology is overlooked a lot in the fantasy genre as the foundation for a magical system, so when I saw the description for this, I knew I had to read it for that alone and I was not disappointed.

If I were to summarize this book in three songs, they would be Bring Me to Life by Evanescence, Decode by Paramore, and I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace. Noyes doesn’t pull any punches and the ending is going to leave me with a major book hangover.

Yes, we’ve got another shadow daddy on the scene, but the entire magical world is structured so differently than a lot of what I’ve seen in other YA Romantasy that I’m letting it slide. Elias is the epitome of morally gray, leaning heavier on the darker charcoal side of the spectrum. It took a little bit for Charlie to come off the page for me, but we got there in the end.

The twists are twisty, the burn is slow, the characters are fun and loveable, especially the vatte. There’s tension, mystery, magic, and adventure. Such a fun ride!

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

Until next time,

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