After being forced away for seventeen years, Alice is finally home. But home isn’t what she thought it would be, and every day the secrets she holds from her parents grow with weight. But how do you tell your mother and father that you’re not normal? That the world is a far more dangerous place than they have ever known and you are anything but the small, innocent child who was torn from their arms all those years ago?
Owen can’t say goodbye, and Alice can’t hold on to him tightly enough as the pressures of danger and obligation grow stronger and stronger. With a broken heart, Owen is headed to San Francisco with his crew of musicians. But the Golden City is filled with history and secrets, and brutal deaths are just lying in wait for Owen and his people. To survive these trials and this city, Owen will need everything he has—even the broken parts he gave to Alice—to have any hope of doing the impossible one more time.
It's back to Brian Feehan's intriguing world of magic for Harmony of Lies. This is the second book in the Alice & Owen series, and I do feel the best reader experience is from starting at the beginning. The author does give us what we need to get the gist of the characters and everything going on, but it's still a better experience, in my opinion.
As far as this book goes, it's as exciting as I expected, and Feehan gives us a good mix of humor with the heavy, so it's a well-rounded, engaging story. I just love the originality of this series and its characters, and Owen and Alice are so easy to root for.
As with any urban fantasy, world-building is essential, and while the introduction to this world was in book one, this one still has plenty of world-building. It's very well done, which is another area I expected greatness and got it. From scene setting to dialogue, Brian Feehan is showing just how talented he is. This second Alixe & Owen book is a solid addition to this new series, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
An old wooden ladder led up toward the space Owen had
claimed for himself. More importantly, it was private.
“We aren’t going up there tonight.” Owen smiled, and in
that smile it was easy to see he had been looking forward to this moment.
“We aren’t going up to your bed? That’s a first. Where are
you taking me?”
“This way,” he said, leading beneath the loft and deeper
within. They moved past a trove of shovels and tools until she spotted a door
she hadn’t used before. Owen pressed hard, and hay and dust fell off the frame
as another wave of the night air broke over them both.
“So what’s out here?”
“It’s a surprise. It took a little work, but Max and I
finished it this morning.”
Alice’s eyesight adjusted to the low light as Owen shut the
barn door behind them. She took a glance around. She had thought this side of
the barn was just where the farmer parked his rusted tractor and broken-down
truck. Toss in a couple of old oil barrels and some leftover parts, and there
wasn’t much to look at, particularly at night. She couldn’t fathom why Owen had
brought her out here.
“You know I’m not really a tractor kind of girl. If you’re
thinking we are getting kinky on that old thing, you’re far better off taking
me back up to the loft.”
Owen laughed, and she felt it down deep.
It was nice spending time with the others, but every time
they found a chance to be alone she saw it was easier for Owen to be himself.
“Back here. I set this up for us,” Owen said.
They weaved around an old rusted oil barrel and some empty
propane canisters until she spotted a large something covered up by a sheet of
old gray plywood and blue tarp.
“It’s not jewelry or a gun. For the record, I like both
those things. What is it?” she asked.
“Patience,” he said, letting go of her hand and moving
around the side. With practiced ease, Owen spread his long arms and grabbed
both the old plywood and tarp beneath. A gentle pull and lift and a large,
curved wooden hot tub was uncovered.
“How in the world did you find this? We are in the middle
of nowhere.”
“We found it right off. It took some heavy lifting and more
than one hour of cleaning. But the real problem was the pump and heater. You
like it?” he asked.
“It’s clean?” she asked.
“Of course.” Owen used his foot to flip the metal switch
that started the pump. Already there was steam rising into the air.
“And bubbles. Owen, I feel you’re giving me the full
treatment.”
Owen didn’t answer.
There was something about the night sky mixed with the
back-glow of the barn that framed Owen. He stood there watching her but was
lost under the weight of leaving, leaving her. She could see it as clearly as
his deep green eyes and strong face.
Owen reached over toward an instant propane heater and
clicked it on. She heard the whoosh as gas met spark.
“Owen?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I have never met someone like you.”
And I don’t want to say goodbye.
It was his thoughts that drifted in the air between them,
but she thought she could hear him and understood his view. For the last couple
of weeks, he had made a point of talking about the chaos of his life. How every
road traveled twisted and turned, and those devoted to living as a musician
changed with every trip. In short, he was saying that now that it was time to
leave, this could be the end of their relationship. That he didn’t know where
he going, but he was sure he couldn’t come back.
Excerpted from Harmony of Lies by Brian Feehan Copyright © 2023 by Brian Feehan. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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| photo credit to Michelle Greene Photography |
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