Review: Tortures Souls (The Orion Circle #1) by Kimber Leigh Wheaton

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Publisher: Sea Dragon Press

Publication:  June 29th, 2014
Formats: eBook, Paperback, Kindle Edition

Pages: 229 (eBook, Kindle Edition), 366 (Peperback)

Rating: 2.5

Add to Goodreads
Get your copy: Amazon

YA Paranormal Romance by Amazon Bestselling Author Kimber Leigh Wheaton
Sometimes Rest in Peace isn't an option
Kacie Ramsey sees ghosts—and it's ruining her life. Her mother left, her father blames her, and no matter how hard she tries, she can't keep the ghosts away. Now a new power has emerged. Nightly visions of grisly murders and a relentless predator draw her to the brink of insanity.


When the phantom appears at a party, Kacie's longtime crush, Logan, saves her. He invites her to join the Orion Circle, a group of supernatural hunters with chapters in schools all over the country. Through the Circle, Kacie learns to embrace her spiritual powers, and for the first time in her life she feels in control rather than a victim.


But the Foxblood Demon will not give up so easily. A demented serial killer in life who trapped the souls of the thirteen children he murdered, imprisoning them within the walls of his mansion. Now in death, he plots his return while drawing power from the pure souls of the children. He recognizes something in Kacie he's never seen before—a medium powerful enough to provide a vessel for his tainted soul.


Kacie can't ignore the tortured souls of the children crying out to her every night. With Logan at her side, she will fight the Foxblood Demon. But can they banish this powerful phantom, or will Kacie lose not only her body, but her eternal soul to the monster.

A free copy was provided by the publisher via YA Bound Book Tours. Thank you! 

I expected so much more from Torture Souls! The concept seemed so awesome and dark, I never would have guessed how much of a typical YA paranormal romance it would turn out to be. I hate generalizing, but I discovered the same joy-drainers in at least the last six YA paranormals I read.

I'll sum up my problems in a list:

1. Cheesy-meesy, mushy insta-love. 

Did she really need to end up in her loved-to-death boyfriend's arms?

2. Respected and loved by everybody without earning it protagonist

Kacie was a very, very weak character. Why, that's okay, she was quite a bit annoying, but not everybody must be an all-defeating, dauntless hero(ine). However, she should be treated as she is. And even if she deserved respect, it would be very unlikely that all of a sudden everybody would love her and be overly protective of her.

3. Other inconsequentialities

Admittedly, Kacie knew Logan long before the book's beginning. Theoretically, they were friends. But how come they knew nothing of each other and abruptly Logan owns up to his deep, deep love towards her? 

4. Uneven pacing

In the first half of the book nearly nothing happened apart from the constant bawling and overdramatizing and I was bored out of my mind. In the second half of the book, always everybody was in danger and/or hurt.

I considered just putting the book down several times for the aforementioned reasons, but the story was sufficient and the mystery was kind of interesting. That's why I give it two and a half stars. I doubt I'll continue with the series nevertheless.