The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston

This was a hard one to grade because it was a good story, just not as good as the first. I enjoyed the addition to the world building. 

Jace Berisha used to be married to the leader of a cult, a cult her mother still belongs to. Jace was subservient, meek, and never spoke back. All that changed when he killed her. She was granted special powers by a goddess and became a part of the Crows. Now she's part of a group of women that work to serve the goddess. And they're going up against a Big Bad. One they thought they had defeated. And one that they'll have to get their traditional enemies to buy in and work together in order to defeat for real.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 29th, 2016

Follows the Unleashing
Followed by The Undoing
Opinions are my own

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston

 There is a reason I have heard more than one person on the Smart Podcast, Trashy Books talk about their love for this book. The world building is amazing. The sisterhood of the women warriors in this book. Also amazing. There were some rough spots in the story but overall I tore through this book as fast as I could. 
The book opens with the startling realization that our heroine, Kera, is dead. Or... she was. She was killed by the pimp she confronted in an alley while he was shaking down his girlfriend. But somehow, she's still alive(?) in a place she doesn't recognize and surrounded by people who seem to want to kill her. When she starts to fight back (being former Marine and all), she suddenly realizes that she's much, much stronger than she used to be. But what the heck is going on? And who are these women claiming to be Crows, saying she's now one of them?
Vig knows what's going on. After all, he's the one who prayed to Skuld (a Norse goddess) to save Kera by making her a Crow. See, he knows about the Crows because he's from the Ravens, another of the nine Norse clans. And, while we're told that the Ravens and Crows are enemies from way back, we usually see them cooperating with each other. Which is good since Vig and Kera are setting up for a fine romance. Too bad there are some people trying to bring the Big Bad into this dimension and the Crows and Ravens are on point to help bring her down.

Three and a half stars
Followed by the Undoing
This book came out March 31st, 2015
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby August 2023

The Unyielding by Shelly Laurenston

Erin Amsel has been described as infuriating. Somehow, this resurrected-from-the-dead Crow has managed to piss off both gods and man alike. And she actually seems to enjoy doing it. Pretty much no one enjoys spending time with her, even Stieg Engstrom so he's not especially happy to have been assigned to following her around to the hottest clubs in town.
It's not as if Stieg is a happy guy on a regular day anyway. He's often described as the angriest viking ever. But the more time that he spends with her, the more he is attracted to her. And he wants to have her back when it turns out she's the only one who can help save the world from the coming apocalypse.  It's going to be up to both of them to dive into hell and be able to still come up swinging.

I honestly couldn't see why Erin would be pissing people off. I also wanted to know more about both her and Stieg's backgrounds. We got a gloss but no further explanations. And the same for their eventual trip to retrieve and object that would help stop the end of the world. It was supposed to be an epic journey but went REALLY fast. And I couldn't decide if I was amused or not how much Nidhogg was modeled on movie-Smaug. But I did like their romance, even with the danger boner and I especially liked the fighting with the crazy She-Elf. I would suggest new readers start at the beginning of the series but I think regular readers will quite enjoy this books.

Three and a half stars

Follows The Undoing
This book comes out March 28