Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Saviours of Oestend
SERIES: Oestend #2
AUTHOR: Marie Sexton
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
LENGTH: 266 pages
BLURB:
Life on the prairie has never been easy, but now Oestend itself seems bent on destruction.
Banished from the BarChi by the man he loves, Dante Pane must find a way to rebuild his life and heal his broken heart. Unable to love women, afraid to love men, Dante wants only to find some peace.
But peace is hard to come by in Oestend. Dante’s new home reeks of death, he can’t keep his ranch hands in line, and his new cook is taking over his house. As if that’s not enough, strange occurrences plague the prairie—dead animals, unnatural weather, and voices riding wind. Dante is determined to persevere, but it soon becomes clear there’s more at stake than his ranch. All of Oestend is at risk, unless somebody can set things right.
With the help of his faithful ranch hands, Frances and Simon, and the combined strength of friends, both old and new, Dante will fight for his life, his home, and the heart of the one he loves.
REVIEW:
How to write a review that is basically all spoilers…without actually spoiling anything: drink tea, type, delete, pet cat, delete, type, drink more tea, cross fingers…make cat type. (I’m just saying that a lot of the meat of this book happens to be spoiler worthy. I will try and dodge most of it, but my god, there are so many!)
Also, read Songs of Oestend before you read this one. I loved that book, so I have no problems basically forcing you to read it…but you will also not really appreciate a lot of the plot/characters fully if you haven’t read it. Just go read it. Now.
…
You done? Good. Now, onto the review!
Making a home in Oestend, is never an easy thing. Life on the ranches is not easy, safe, or gentle. And there are several days travel between you and your closest neighbor, if anything does go wrong. And it will. Then their are the wraiths–the vengeful spirits of the Ainuai–that come in the night to kill any not protected by closed doors and the generators that protect the homes of the settlers.
So, no, life in Oestend was never easy…and that was all before Dante got kicked off his father’s land to take over a neighboring ranch. And if having the man you love marry another, and being shipped off to take over a ranch still drenched in the death of the former occupants, isn’t bad enough, something on the ranch is hell-bent of destroying every animal, mineral, and vegetable on the land. Ranch-hands and owner, included. But it is not just Dante’s ranch that is suffering, the whole of the Oestend prairie is being tossed and shaken and beaten down by the Ainuai spirits.
And if someone doesn’t do something soon, there may not be much of an Oestend to live in. Easy or otherwise.
I did not really care for Dante in Songs of Oestend. He was a bit of a homicidal hothead jackass who messed with Aren, and that was not cool. Not cool at all. But I get he had reasons. The man he loved was in love with someone else (not that Dante really had the balls, then, to do anything if Deacon had been free and clear), and the life he was leading, with his wife, with his family, was smothering just about every good thing about him. So maybe being sent off the BarChi–even if it was to a place that still fairly reeked with death (literally)–was good for him. Because I really really loved him in this book.
Dante still has a temper (and what a lovely temper it is!), but I think it is more focused in this book. Focused less on anyone and everyone who crosses his path, and more on fucking jackass would-be rapists that deserve to have their skulls crushed in. So, that is good. He seems, if not less violent, more intent on using his anger issues to protect rather than to tear down. And in a place like Oestend that is probably as good as you are going to get.
And when Cami comes along, when he finds someone that is worth every ounce of his protection, than it was just so damn hot. Because he loves her so damn much that he would face the wraiths for her. And so damn stubborn that he would probably win. Cami may not be who he was expecting to fall for, but I loved that he did. I love love love Cami, and her role in this story. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say that I have a real love for her kind of character. She is strong, and beautiful, and brave, and smart, and she balances out Dante. Makes it so that Dante’s rough edges doesn’t tear everyone and everything apart.
The world built up here is one of my favorites. It has all the dirt and cowboys that I adore, but it also has all the magic and danger that I crave–but rarely find in a form that feels so real, so believable. There is so much you can recognize as familiar in this book, but Sexton crafted it into a world of wraiths and magic and vengeance in such a way as to make that familiarity new and stunningly captivating. These characters are rough and not all that nice, but they are good. They are strong and stubborn, but they are also willing to learn, to bend. And the fact that no one gets exactly what they are looking for, but probably exactly what they need, was just awesome. Even love is not simple in Oestend.
I totally and absolutely recommend this book (and this series). And if Marie Sexton does ever write a third book to go along with Songs and Saviours, I will be one of the first in line to buy.
RATING: 
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