A review by toastymay
A Soul to Touch by Opal Reyne

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️  

All Mayumi ever wanted was to hunt Demons.

After being discharged from the Demonslayer guild, Mayumi chose to isolate herself within the forest. The best place to hunt and kill Demons. But, one night, she’s surprised when a different monster is lured by her baits.

Just before she unleashes an arrow that’s aimed to kill, Mayumi pauses. She realises she’s seen that skulled, feline face before and that it had once saved her life. 

All Faunus ever wanted was her.

After the Demon King cracked his skull, Faunus returns to watch over the only human he has ever cared for. He knows what his future holds, she would never become his bride, but he wants to spend what remains of his life protecting her.

He never expected that she would ever befriend him, or that she would openly desire him. She’s as fiery as her burning passion, and he’s desperate to let her consume him.

But his time in this world grows short, and Faunus doesn’t know how he can be with Mayumi when he knows nothing will save him. 

----

2023 is the year of discovering new 5* comfort reads. This book tops all of the books I have read, even within the series. I am truly in awe. I loved the story, the characters, the atmosphere, the metal music references, the series' references, everything. I am also dying to learn more about the Elves and the Priests/Priestesses. I am also of course anxiously waiting to meet the other Duskwalkers.

This dangerous woman would be quicker to stab me in the seam than let me touch her. 

I fell in love with Kitty in the book previous, and I did not believe that I could love him even more. I was proven very wrong. The first read for me was very emotional, and I thought about it for weeks. It really stuck with me. Rereading it only confirmed how much I love Kitty and Mayumi's relationship and journey. I felt all their love and all their sadness.

I also got light Beauty and the Beast vibes which made me happy. I will think about the snowball scene for the rest of my days.

I love this book too much, so let me rant about these characters classic toastyreads fashion.

<Spoiler>

Kitty, Faunus. I knew how sad Kitty's story would be. I tried to prepare myself for it. But feeling Faunus' pain and acceptance of his eventual death broke me. My first read had me sobbing for a solid 70% of the book. I trust Opal and I knew he would have a happy ending, but it did not change how I felt or stop the tears. Even my second read where I knew how it would end, I sobbed. Faunus' fierce protectiveness made me soft, and I loved how he always put Mayumi first. Mayumi did not always let him, which made a beautiful balance between the couple. On another note, I swear Faunus has a sex switch. One moment he is the saddest boy, and the next he is spouting some of the dirtiest talk. Faunus has quite possibly the dirtiest mouth of all the Duskwalkers. He apparently learned it from listening to humans … and just goddamn. Faunus made me like kinks I would never be into. 
 
I’d let them kill me so as not to harm her myself. Part of him hoped it would be Mayumi that ended his life. She was the only human he deemed worthy to do so.
 
Also, Faunus ate the boar whole, and it was kinda sexy, and it made me think of vore and I blame C.M Nascosta <3.

Mayumi. Mayumi is always naked and angry, and I fucking love her for it. She is a true monsterfucker at heart and it is magnificent. She was truly made to be a Duskwalkers Bride. On my first read I heavily associated her with Sango from InuYasha and Boo from Monsters Inc. It just made me more attached. Then it was revealed she was a bisexual or pansexual icon and I want to be her, marry her, protect her. I am now Faunus apparently. Most of my notes on this book was me just fangirling over Mayumi and referring to her as a queen or an icon. It is obvious right from the jump that Mayumi may not be perfect, but she loves deeply and fiercely. As soon as she sees Faunus, she wants him, and does everything she can to have him. She deliberately loses a game she is good at and literally exposes her whole ass naked body to him. That is Queen shit. She is also such a good partner to Faunus. The time Mayumi and Faunus spent together when his skull was severely cracked, tore at my heart and proved how good they were and how much they love each other. 

“Don’t do that,” she quietly grumbled. “Don’t invalidate your own thoughts and feelings just because they’re unpleasant. They aren’t unwanted, Faunus.”

I found it very sweet that Mayumi's soul kept calling out to Faunus. It broke my heart that Faunus felt as if he cannot accept it, but it just made me so soft and I had to mention it. I also found it beautiful that the solve to Faunus' cracked skull was mending with gold and collaborating with his birth father. I did guess that it would happen, but it did not make it any less sweet. I additionally appreciated that some of the friendships that Mayumi cautiously kept proved to be true and trust worthy. I hope we see at least a little bit more of them. 

Things can be broken, Mayumi, the memory of her father echoed. You can’t apologise to a cup and have it fix itself, but you can work hard and pour value into it, making it better, stronger. It depends on what you’ve broken is worth to you.

There is so much more of note that I love about this book, but I feel like if I do not stop now, my review will be 3x longer than it is right now. I love this series so much, and this book is by far my favourite so far.
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