Review of Avenge –The Patronus Book 2

**Warning! –Contains spoilers if you haven’t read Awaken – The Patronus Book 1**

Avenge is the second book in the Patronus series by Sarah Ross. It picks up a short time after the end of Awaken. Lucy Donovan and her soul mate Max are now part of an elite team of Patroni who are actively hunting vampires, rather than just defending the souls of the newly dead as they transition from Earth to Heaven. Lucy and Max are living together, but Lucy can’t completely enjoy the domestic bliss. Her sister Jessica’s soul is still lost, and Lucy fears that by the time they find her the vampires may have corrupted it beyond redemption.

Lucy is much more seasoned as a Patronus in this book. We see her taking an active role in hunting for the vampires who took her sister’s soul, and looking for a traitor within the Patronus ranks who is leaking information to the enemy. She’s been granted a new power that helps her defend herself against vampires and werewolves, a coating of silver armor she can summon at will.

The romance between Max and Lucy is demonstrated beautifully throughout the book. Sarah Ross does a great job of showing an intimate adult relationship without going into details that would make the book inappropriate for a YA audience. Max demonstrates the depth of his love for Lucy not just with words, but with caring and thoughtful actions. When it really counts, Max and Lucy are both willing to sacrifice anything to guarantee each other’s safety.

The pacing of the story is fast and suspenseful. There’s plenty of action and drama as Lucy, Max and their friends confront vampires in New Orleans. Lucy and Max are separated and suffer, but ultimately are reunited, the bond that has joined them from the beginning of time stronger than ever.

I stayed up until 1:30 AM to finish this book on mu Kindle. The action is non-stop and I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend the Patronus books to anyone who is a fan of the supernatural genre.

Awaken (The Patronus #1) by Sarah M. Ross - Kindle Edition
Avenge (The Patronus #2) by Sarah M. Ross - Kindle Edition

"We are what we repeatedly do -

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." ~ Aristotle.

I sat down at my computer tonight and played around on Facebook for a bit. I remembered I had several ideas for a blog throughout the day, but never actually started one. I have a headache and couldn’t come up with anything original, but I opened a Word doc and started typing anyway.

It is better to do something than nothing. I never want to be paralyzed by the idea of perfection. Picture a painter sitting in front of a canvas with a brush in hand all day long, never putting a drop of paint on it, because he fears the first stroke will not be perfect and so the entire painting will be worthless. I joined a writers networking group on LinkedIn back in November when I was doing NaNoWriMo. I get daily updates on what’s popular on their message boards. Someone posted the topic, “Step 1 is taken, I have made up my mind to write a book. What do you suggest as Step 2?” When I read this I thought, that the first step isn’t making up your mind to write a book. It’s writing the book. Steps 2-5 are editing the book. It’s not just thinking about doing it, it’s the doing it. A step is an action. It is a thing you do.

I have had this experience with writing. A brand new journal or notebook is intimidating. What if I write something silly or foolish, that I will be embarrassed to read later? I’ve had that happen too. “How did I ever think that, I can’t believe I was so foolish?” But I try not to feel that way, and forgive my past self, because what I captured there was honestly how I felt and thought at the time. And I can learn something about myself by going back and re-reading it. So it still has value and meaning.

So let's paint. Write. Dance. Sing. We should never be afraid to express ourselves because it is through self-expression that we learn who we are. We are what we do, not what we think about doing. I'm a writer. I am not a writer because I say I am, but because I write.