Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Echoes
AUTHOR: L.A. Ashton
PUBLISHER: Ninestar Press
LENGTH: 293 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 25, 2019
BLURB:
After one thousand years of listless eternity, Oskar is used to his particular brand of loneliness. But a long walk through middle America and a few chance encounters will lead him straight to a man he’d known to be long since dead―his childhood best friend, Aranck. Being undead hasn’t stopped Aran from living life to the fullest. He has all the money and power his charm and business savvy could earn him, and plenty of friends. Lately, though, something seems to be missing. After a millennium, perhaps the world’s shine has worn off—and that’s when Oskar stumbles back into his life, reminding him of who he used to be.
Together the two vampires remember what it felt like to live, all the while navigating a conflict with the local pack of werewolves. A lot has changed in a thousand years, and only time will tell if those changes will bring Oskar and Aranck closer together, or ensure they remain apart.
REVIEW:
Shew. I don’t even know where to start. Well, it’s really good, I’ll start there. There is some major twists and turns and mindf$#kery going on, though. But vampires and werewolves and centuries of fighting going on. What could possibly go wrong?
Oskar has spent hundreds of years roaming. He hasn’t felt home in any place in a long time. But this new town may be different. On his travels in, he meets three werewolves who are miffed to say the least. One threatens him, but Oskar blows it off. When the finally pass on, he travels to a bar to find the ‘district leader’ of the vampires so respectfully let them know he was passing through. What he didn’t expect was that that vampire was his long thought dead friend, Aranck. And boy was he a sight for sore eyes. Oskar was for Aran as well. They quickly try to catch up, but a thousand years is a long time, and Aran is in the middle of a ‘case’, trying to find out who has harm his local werewolves. But what he finally finds out leaves him shocked and quickly scrambling for a way to fix. With all that is going on, things between he and Oskar may not even get off the ground, much less anything else.
This story just stomps all over you. I loved Oskar from the minute I saw him on the page. Something just drew him to me. And the more I read, the more I was convinced he and Aran would just be perfect and eventually the ‘case’ would be solved and all is hunky dory. Lol! Was I in for a surprise. The more I read of Oskar, especially of his past, of their pasts, my heart just melted for him. But there is more to Oskar than we learn at first. I can’t tell you, because duh, but holy cow what a bombshell! And now I don’t know which way to turn. I mean I still love Oskar. Things couldn’t be helped. But the way it ended….yeah, totally not cool. Manipulation at its finest. So I am totally torn.
Same with Aranck, or Aran for short. He’s so cocksure, even though he deals with a lot. He just has that cocky attitude you can’t help but like. It’s funny. At least with him, he can back that attitude up. He and Oskar finally getting to see each other after a thousand years, thinking each other dead, it was great. But he was the one that came up with the idea at the end. And while I get what he did, and how hard the sacrifice that he made, I can’t help but love him, but ughhhh. So yeah, so torn.
They were just trying to make things better all around for each species. But it’s hard when parties on both sides won’t bend or compromise. It’s also hard when something occurs that puts all that in jeopardy and you have to side with your heart. Which is against everyone else because of what occured.
But isn’t that what makes a book even better? The angst. The push and pull. The tension and mystery. You guys really need to read this. It’s good. Definitely worth a look
RATING: 
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