The Rise of Fortune and Fury

4.5 stars--THE RISE OF FORTUNE AND FURY is the fifth and final instalment in Sawyer Bennett’s contemporary, adult CHRONICLES OF THE STONE VEIL paranormal/fantasy romance series focusing on twenty-eight year old Finley Porter, and Carrick Byrne. THE RISE OF FORTUNE AND FURY should not be read as a stand alone as it picks up after the events and cliff hanger of book four A BATTLE OF BLOOD AND STONE. NOTE: If you have not read the previous instalments, there may be spoilers in my review. SOME BACKGROUND: All of her life Finley Porter has been treated for hallucinations but days before her twenty-eighth birthday Finley is pulled into a world of the Light and Dark Fae by a man who stirs something deep within our story line heroine. An end of the world prophecy declares our heroine the savior, and in this Finley struggles with her fated destiny. As the gods watch the prophecy play out, some take it upon themselves to interfere where they do not belong. Told from first person perspective (Finley) and third person (Carrick) THE RISE OF FORTUNE AND FURY sees the prophecy come to fruition as Finley must accept her fate as the savior of the world. Kymaris, Dark Fae and self-proclaimed Queen of the Underworld, wants to take control of everything and everyone, and to do so, must tear a hole in the Veil between worlds. With everything at her disposal to win the war, a sacrifice of another sort will be what takes Kymaris down but our hero Carrick Byrne, a demi-god who has loved Finley Porter for most of his life, knows that our heroine’s death is imminent, and only then, will the Game of the Gods come to an end. The ‘Scooby gang’ has come prepared but they will quickly discover that Kymaris’ power is stronger than they could have ever imagined, and it is only with the sacrifice of a human life that Finley is able to protect the people she loves. THE RISE OF FORTUNE AND FURY is a story of power and obsession, family and friendships, sacrifice and loss, betrayal and vengeance, forgiveness and love. Sawyer Bennett pulls the reader into an intriguing, detailed, character driven and stunning story of good vs evil, and love vs hate. The gods are bored, and need a war to entertain them, a war where the loss of life is high for Finley and her friends. The premise is imaginary and original; the romance is intimate and passionate; the characters are energetic, colorful, spirited and inspiring. Here’s hoping the author has plans for a continuing story for some of the secondary characters we have met along the way. My only complaint, the final fight scene was eerily familiar, I was wondering when the vampires and werewolves were going to take the field. ;)

Rating: 4.5 Stars Carrick knows that the time is getting closer. Finley is getting answers. This is the book you do not want to miss. If you have been following the series, you have to find out what all the other books have been leading up to. I have to say that this was the book where I really slowed down my reading. Knowing that this was the last in the series was part of that. In my mind, if I slowed things down then the story wouldn’t come to an end. But the other side wanted to know what was going to happen. This is the book where you start to think about heroes and heroines. You think about good versus evil and will what we’ve been lead to believe is true. Can our adventure truly be coming to an end? Who will come out on top once the dust has settled? How will the secondary characters fare? I could see why this tale took five books. Book one was our beginning, book three was our middle, and now book five is the culmination of everything that came before. I’ve always been in favor of having a physical copy of a book but you can teach an old dog new tricks. You come to realize that if you’re going to read a series again, that’s a lot of books to carry around. Having an e-reader makes things so much easier. If you like to cheat when you’re reading, there’s no difference but think of all that you miss when you do that. Plus, with this series think of all the visuals you would miss out on. That was one thing I loved. The author made it so easy for me to picture every scene as described. This was a story that was bittersweet from beginning to end. I won’t tell you if the ending was happy or sad – I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself. I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

We have finally arrived at the conclusion of the Chronicles of the Stone Veil series and what a conclusion it was! It's important to read this series in order so that you meet all the players and are able to follow the saga from start to finish. Finley knows that she has to find a way to stop the prophecy, but how in the world will she ever do it? With the help of Carrick and all of their friends, they set out to figure out exactly how to bring Kymaris down and make sure that she doesn't have the opportunity to bring down the Earth realm. With the battle bearing down on them, Finley and Carrick try to spend time with those that mean the most knowing this could all go very wrong while preparing for the biggest battle of their lives. This story kept me on the edge of my seat and there was plenty of action, twists and turns and at the heart a great love story. It was wonderful to see the bonds that had been created throughout the saga between Finley and Zaid, Boral, Titus and the others, not to mention the love story between she and Carrick. I was pulling for this crew throughout the entire book and throughout the battle. This was such a great collection of books and even if you aren't a huge paranormal reader, I definitely am not, you should give these a try. You'll be drawn into the story and will fall in love with Finley and Carrick just as I did.