If you missed my last KU review on Broken King by Josie Max, you can find it here.
Ok, I am back and my reading break is over. I had to catch up on a bunch of book reviews for you guys. Today I have Death Is Easy by Letty Frame and it is the first book in the Second Chances trilogy. This book’s focus is mental illness so there are trigger warnings for this book because of that which I will get into later on. It is an interesting mix of fantasy and sensitive topics that so far works very well. Let me tell you about it. It is also a reverse harem book with no spice.
We meet Nora when she turns eighteen. She is a wolf shifter living in a wolf pack in a small town without humans. Nora has been dreaming of this day her whole life because it is the day it becomes possible to find her mate. She finds her mate quickly in the Alpha’s son Kennedy. Kennedy rejects her right away and tells Nora that he is choosing her sister, Neve, over her. Why did he reject her? Because in his opinion she is weak because she has compassion and a desire to help. Worse of all? She is kind and Kennedy doesn’t feel Nora can run a pack with those qualities. She is also kicked out of her pack and cut off by her parents and siblings at the same time. Her younger brother David was not being old enough to make any kind of decision for himself. She lost her whole life in an instant.
Next, we see Nora six years later as a paralegal in a human law firm. She got her law degree and is content where she is. She isn’t happy and she cries a lot when she is alone but she enjoys her job. Nora has cut off her wolf and the wolf isn’t quite dead but close. One day at work the big boss was coming in but it shouldn’t affect her day-to-day because she works in a different department on a different floor. While walking a client out she finds a little girl crying because she is scared. Nora drops the little girl at the front desk then goes to find the girl’s dad and discovers one of her co-workers having sex with a client, the dad. Atticus sees all this, he’s the big boss who was supposed to come in but Nora doesn’t know who he is when she tries to ask questions. Nora ends up asking for his ID which Atticus finds endearing because he owns the company. He is entranced and recognizes her as his mate. Unfortunately, neither Nora nor her wolf recognizes her as their mate.
Atticus offers Nora a job doing the same thing on a larger scale in his office, then essentially makes it so she has to take the job. Once she gets there and starts work, two more men, Malachi (Kai or Mal depending on who is talking) and Micah, recognize her as their mate too. Later, at a gala, Devoss and Orson recognize her as their mate too. Even later, she figures out that another man, Griffin, is also her mate. She went from being rejected by one mate (good riddance) to having six new ones.
As I said earlier, this book deals with mental illness. Nora is diagnosed as depressed and having PTSD. She can understand the depression, that’s evident, but bristles against the PTSD. She was never abused, physically, mentally, or sexually, so she can’t see it. Nora isn’t the only one who is “damaged.” No, I don’t find her damaged, she feels that way. Each of her mates has had some sort of event that caused harm to them in some way. Nora does try to commit suicide and there are mentions of a completed suicide in the past. Letty did a wonderful job of portraying depression, PTSD, and all the problems that come with it. Aside from the PTSD, Nora’s diagnosis is different than mine but we share symptoms which is why I know she did well. In some parts, I was sniffling with watery eyes and in others I just wanted to hug Nora. At one point Nora says she wished she had a depressed friend so she would have someone to talk to who went through it and understands it that way as opposed to her therapist, who rocks by the way, and I just wanted to offer myself to be that.
There is also a bit of blood but aside from one scene, you really don’t see it on camera, it is just talked about. Mainly because Devoss comes home wearing blood sometimes. The guys are very possessive and have the “touch her and you die” mentality but are completely in love with Nora. What surprised me were two things, One, there was no spice. How can there be six men and one woman and no spicy or even steamy scenes? Honestly, I think if there was spice there would be too much going on but I kind of missed it anyway. What can I say? I like smut. I was fine without it though, the story was great without it. The second is the mix of shifters. This book has shifters of all kinds but just with the main characters we have: Nora- wolf, Atticus- lion, Micah and Malachi- tigers, Orson- bear, Devoss- fox, and Griffin- griffin (yeah, I thought that was funny too). In this world, there are obviously more than the normal shifters, but it has mythical creatures more than just Griffin the griffin, and all can live in one pack though this one is called a pride rather than a pack because Atticus is the alpha of this city and a lion, it is called a pride.
I love this book and am reading the second, Survival Is Hard, so I will have that review for you next week. I barely missed the spice. The suicide scene was good without being too graphic. I love that therapy is part of this book too. It is a fantastic everything. I wasn’t paying attention to any writing mistakes, I was too wrapped up in the story. I read it in one day. I have only started the second book because life called so I had to cut my reading time way down.
Have you read Death Is Easy or anything else by Letty Frame? If so, what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
