Calor By J.J. Fischer

Calor

by J.J. Fischer

Publisher: Enclave

Series: The Nightingale Trilogy

ASIN: B0B48QKM26

I wasn't actually planning on reading this ARC I received from Enclave publishing, but when I decided to do a reading challenge, I figured this one would be a good fit. As part of the street team, they sent me the paperback ARC for review.

Summary:

What if you could edit memories with a single touch?

The world-that-was is gone, lost to everything except living memory . . . but remembering comes at a terrible price. Sixty-two years after the apocalypse, a new society has emerged from the ashes of the old world where highly valued memories are traded and nostalgia is worth dying—and even killing—for.

Enslaved by a cruel master, Sephone Winter is forced to use her rare ability to manipulate memories to numb the darkest secrets of the ruling aristocracy.

Then Lord Adamo appears, speaking of a powerful relic capable of permanently erasing memories and recovering Sephone’s own lost childhood. But not everything about the young lord is as it seems, and soon Sephone must choose between helping Lord Adamo forget his past or journeying deep into the land of Lethe, where the truth about who she really is might finally be revealed . . . and a long desired future restored.

The Nightingale Trilogy is a fantasy transformation of Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved 1843 tale The Nightingale, with echoes of the myths of Hades and Persephone.

My Review:

Calor was such a spectacular story! I went into it without having a clue as to what it was about simply because the cover drew me in.

We learn from the prologue that Sephone and Dorian (Lord Adamo) meet when she's a wee girl drowning in a canal and he saves her. Then we meet her again when she's older and ready to escape being held by Cutter. 

Sephone can see & experience things from other people's minds. It was such a fascinating idea to be able to do that, but then immediately realized how awful it would be. As we get to know Sephone more and the world in which she lives, this apocalyptic world comes to life through the author. 

We meet Dorian again when he arrives at Cutter's tavern. We also meet one of my favorite characters Lady Jewel. He is man devastated from his past and is trying to get away from the pain. Sephone begins to have feelings for him and is willing to help ease the hurt in his mind, but he refuses. They end up setting out to find the relic that can help them both, but it's nowhere close to easy.

We also meet Cass, who, on the surface is superficial and only cares about one thing, the next woman who he can conquer. I think this may have been the one piece to this story I wasn't a fan of because it alludes to his one night stands and womanizing. His story unfolds at the same time as we learn more about Dorian and Sephone. He actually endears himself to me as time went on.

And for real, let's talk about Bear and Bas. These two fellas might be the bodyguards, but I just loved them. Brooding, protective, and loyal. How could anyone not love them as characters?

This world that the author creates came alive for me as the story progressed and with the cliffhanger of an ending, I was kicking myself for reading it before book two was already out. This is the type of book that will have you clamoring for more immediately!!

About the Author:

J. J. Fischer

J. J. Fischer’s writing dream began with the anthology of zoo animals she painstakingly wrote and illustrated at age five, to rather limited acclaim. Thankfully, her writing (but not her drawing) has improved since then. She is a clinically-trained psychologist but no, she cannot read your mind. When she isn’t killing defenseless house plants, pretending she can play the piano, eating peanut butter out of the jar, or memorizing funny film quotes, she and her husband David are attempting to prevent their warring pet chickens from forming factions and re-enacting Divergent. Honestly, it’s a miracle she finds the time to write any books.