From Ashes - Book Review

By Elise Faber

Synopsis

Gabby has a secret.

A secret that might get her kicked out of the only true home she’s ever known.

When her powers malfunction and bring her into direct conflict with Mason — a widowed LexTal warrior who makes her heart pound and her legs weak — she scrambles to hold onto her carefully constructed world.

Mason’s wounded past keeps him from getting close to anyone but he can’t resist Gabby. There’s an essence about her his soul can’t ignore no matter how much his mind protests.

Her secret threatens to tear Gabby and Mason apart before they’ve even begun to explore the draw between them. But with the unprecedented hold she has on Mason’s heart and magic, how can he bear to let her go?

Review

FROM ASHES is book 1 in the Phoenix: A LexTal Chronicle series, which is a spin-off of Elise Faber’s Phoenix series. While I’ve been told this is technically a stand-alone, I did have trouble understanding the characters involved. I think I could have benefited from reading the Phoenix series first, assuming those books provide more information about what the characters are, their powers, their history, etc.

Gabby and Mason are both trying to deal with their tragic pasts. Gabby escaped very recently from a terrible existence that spanned several years, but Mason has been dealing with his past for over a century. While Gabby learns about Mason’s tragedy through her friends, she’s afraid to share her past with anyone, fearing they will turn their backs on her and she will be forced to leave the safest place she’s ever known. And given that she’s half in love with Mason, keeping her secret from him is more important than anything else, because having him turn away would break her.

And that’s pretty much the gist of the entire book; Gabby has a secret that she doesn’t want to share with anyone, and both Gabby and Mason try to accept and move on from their pasts. I found there was quite a bit of repetition when talking about their bond and especially about Gabby’s secret. I thought Gabby and Mason were a good couple and really liked when they finally let everything go and got together.