Welcome to the first edition of Linda Lou’s Library! I’m an avid reader and I have a blog, so where better to talk about the books I enjoy? I primarily read fiction; science fiction, urban fantasy, and paranormal are my favorite genres. (The primary difference between urban fantasy and paranormal is that urban fantasy includes magic, paranormal does not.) My plan is not to review books as such, I’m just going to write about the books I enjoy and why I enjoy them. The books I don’t enjoy… well, you’ll never see them here.

Faith Hunter’s Soulwood series is one of my favorites. The series is a spin-off of her Jane Yellowrock series. (Jane is a Cherokee skinwalker working as a vampire hunter in New Orleans.) Nell Nicholson Ingram is the main character in the Soulwood books and makes her first appearance in Off the Grid in the Black Water anthology of Jane Yellowrock stories.

Nell Nicholson Ingram was raised in a polygamous religious cult (God’s Cloud of Glory Church) and became a sister wife at age twelve. At the beginning of Blood of the Earth, the first Soulwood novel, “widder woman” Nell is dealing with the consequences of having assisted Jane Yellowrock during the events of Off the Grid. Those consequences include being hunted (literally) by the leaders of God’s Cloud of Glory Church; they want Nell’s land and to take her back to the church where she can be punished (aka raped) for her “sins.” (Her so-called sins include such things as being a woman owning land and daring to live on her own with no husband to keep her properly in line.) Nell has also realized that she is non-human, although she doesn’t know what exactly she is. She knows if the churchmen discover the truth, they will want to burn her at the stake. She finds herself working with the Psychometry Law Enforcement Division of Homeland Security or PsyLED for short. PsyLED is the arm of law enforcement responsible for investigating incidents involving witchcraft and/or paranormal beings. Working with other paranormals helps Nell to see that, whatever she is, she isn’t evil, she just is.

In addition to Nell, the primary recurring characters are the members of Unit Eighteen of PsyLED. The members of the team include:

• Paka, an African black wereleopard shifter. Paka first appears in the Jane Yellowrock series.
• Rick LaFleur, also an African black wereleopard shifter. Rick makes his first appearance in the Jane Yellowrock books. I do not like Rick due to his actions in the Yellowrock books. We’ll see if he can redeem himself in my eyes. So far, six Soulwood books in, he has not.
• Occam, wereleopard shifter.
• Tammie Laine Kent (T. Laine), moon witch.
• Josephine Anna Jones (JoJo), human hacker.
• Thom Andrew Dyson (Tandy), empath.
• Soul, arcenial. Soul first appears in the Jane Yellowrock books.
• Ayatas Firewind, Cherokee skinwalker. Ayatas first appears in the Jane Yellowrock series and is Jane’s brother. Ayatas definitely suffers from a superiority complex, but there is hope for him. By the events of book five, he is starting to work the stick out of his butt and may actually be in danger of developing a sense of humor. The changes are in large part due to Nell who has no problems telling others the things they need to hear – even, or maybe especially, when they don’t want to hear them.

Soulwood is an ongoing series. At the time of this writing there are six books available.

• Blood of the Earth, published August 2, 2016
• Curse on the Land, published November 1, 2016
• Flame in the Dark, published December 5, 2017
• Circle of the Moon, published February 26, 2019
• Spells for the Dead, published July 28, 2020
• Rift in the Soul, published March 5, 2024

Nell is one of my favorite characters ever. I have loved watching Nell grow from a woman living alone, traumatized by her upbringing, afraid of what she is, into an increasingly confident woman with a career and friends; a woman rebuilding her faith and her relationship with her family on her own terms. I also appreciate the fact that it is set in the Southern US. As a native Southerner, I always love a story in a familiar setting. Though, it isn’t just the setting that draws me in; the dialects and turns of phrase speak to me as well. Having someone referred to as “looking a mite peaked” brought a smile to my face; I haven’t heard that phrase in a while. (If you aren’t familiar with the meaning, it can be translated as “You’re looking a little rough… bless your heart.”) More importantly, I guess one of the biggest draws for me is that I see a lot of myself in Nell. Even though the Soulwood books are a spinoff, you do NOT need to read the Jane Yellowrock series first; the author does a wonderful job of providing the salient information without it being an information overload.

If you decide to read the Soulwood books, please stop by and let me know what you think. If you have already read the Jane Yellowrock series, the Soulwood books, or both, let me know what you think of Rick LeFleur – maybe a different perspective can change my mind about him. Maybe.

Until next installment, happy reading!