Forevermore by Kristen Callihan

Narrated by Moira Quirk

Forevermore is the seventh and final book in Kristen Callihan’s Darkest London series of paranormal historical romances, and provides an exciting and fitting end to what has been one of my favourite series in both print and audio over the past few years. Even though most of the books can – just about – work as standalones, there are many plot threads and characters that are common across all the stories, and this is especially true of Forevermore; so anyone coming to it without any experience or knowledge of the other titles in the series is going to be at a disadvantage. The multiple common threads and characters also mean there are going to be spoilers for other books in the series in this review.

St. John (pronounced “Sinjun”) Evernight is the younger brother of the three Ellis sisters, Miranda, Daisy and Poppy (whose stories were told in Firelight, Moonglow and Winterblaze) and like them, is a powerful supernatural being. When he was a child, Sin was hidden away from his father, a crazed demon, and it wasn’t until very recently that he discovered that he had siblings and the truth about his parentage. While his sisters can control Fire, Earth and Water respectively, Sin is the most powerful of all of them, able to control all the elements and do much more besides.

Sin grew up in Ireland where he was fast friends with Layla Starling, who lived with her guardian, Augustus. The two were inseparable until suddenly, when Sin was sixteen and Layla fifteen, she was whisked away by Augustus without even being able to say a proper goodbye. Furious at the loss of his friend and curious about himself – knowing his abilities weren’t normal – Sin was determined to find out the truth, but his youthful resentments and anger were open to exploitation, and he ended up enslaved by the beautiful but evil queen of the Fae, Mab. She told Sin the truth about himself, but only once he was bound to her and completely under her power. She used and abused him, forcing him to spy on his sisters and to do her dirty work. As a result, the family he had only just discovered turned their backs on him, and it was only with the help of Augustus – the most powerful Judgement angel in existence – that Sin was able to break free of his bond and destroy Mab. In doing so, Sin has become Judgement also, an all-powerful being who is tasked with delivering the souls of evil-doers for final judgment.

Layla Starling is now a famous singer and has performed at prestigious venues all over the world. But she has recently returned to England following the loss of her voice and is intent on hiding out at her guardian’s home. Increasingly over the past year, she has woken up at night naked, covered in blood and with no memory of who she is or what she has been doing – and she is terrified that she has become some sort of monster. She doesn’t know that she is coming into full maturity as a supernatural, but Augustus knows it’s time to tell her truth about her origins and about the terrible danger she is about to face.

There’s a lot going on in this story as the author gradually draws together many of the seeds sown in the earlier novels and brings them to a satisfying climax with Good battling Evil in a dramatic showdown in the middle of London. There’s plenty of action, steamy love scenes, a complex, fast-moving plot, heartbreak, angst … in short, Forevermore delivers all the things that have made all the books in this series such compelling listens. And amid all that action and drama, Ms. Callihan has penned not one, but two wonderful romances. It’s clear from the outset that Sin and Layla have never forgotten or fallen out of love with each other and it’s true that they have some way to go in order to find their way back to one another; but I found the more compelling of the two love stories to be that between Augustus and Lena, Layla’s mother. It’s apparent that they have history, and listeners of previous books will no doubt recall that Lena has been someone whose motives have never been clear and whose loyalties seem only to have been to herself. She was ultimately responsible for the capture and torture of Jack Talent in Winterblaze, a heinous act which has earned her the enmity of her former allies and friends. Even so, Lena’s relationship with Augustus is a bitter-sweet and heart-breaking story that packs a real emotional punch, and which delivers some of the most beautiful and poignant moments in the book.

I enjoyed Forevermore very much and loved the way everything was wrapped up (and can’t help hoping that the way things have been left – with “real” London now aware of “darkest” London – means there might be a continuation of the story at some point), but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few quibbles. Sin suffered years of sexual abuse in his time with Mab, and his reactions – his self-loathing and disgust – feel very real. But he gets over those feelings and his aversion to being touched very quickly and conveniently. I also found it hard to believe that Miranda, Poppy and Daisy didn’t once stop to think that Sin might not be acting of his own volition when he was with Mab. But when all’s said and done, those niggles aren’t enough to outweigh the things Ms. Callihan gets right in the story and didn’t spoil my enjoyment of it.

Moira Quirk returns to narrate this final instalment in the series, and once again does an outstanding job. Her pacing is superb in both dialogue and narrative, she differentiates expertly between a fairly large number of characters and her delivery is expressive but naturalistic, never going over the top or underplaying, but getting the emotional nuances just right. Her range of timbre and accent is impressive; each of the female characters is distinct from the others, and she adopts a slightly lower pitch and adds a little edge to her tone to portray the men, all of whom sound attractively masculine. She juggles several different accents here, too – Layla is American, Jack is a cockney, Sin speaks with an Irish lilt, and Ian Ranulf is a Scot, and she switches smoothly between them – often three or four in any given scene – without breaking a sweat. I can’t say with absolute certainty that her portrayals of all the recurring characters are consistent with the way they sounded in the previous books, but they are all voiced appropriately according to their characters; Daisy is no-nonsense and motherly, Poppy is cool and collected, Lena is sultry and Augustus is quietly authoritative.

My most recent visit to Darkest London was an enjoyable one, tempered by the knowledge that it was also the last one. It’s always hard to say goodbye to worlds, stories and characters that have provided many hours of entertainment and made such a strong impression, but all good things must come to an end, as they say, and we do at least have seven terrific stories and performances to revisit over time. In fact, I’m already feeling nostalgic and foresee a re-listen to Firelight in the not too distant future.

Caz

Narration: A

Book Content: A-

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: Fighting

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Forevermore was provided to AudioGals by Hachette Audio for a review.