4.5⭐️ – Why have I not read Brey Willows’ Afterlife books? Song of Serenity is the first book in a new series – Memory’s Muses – set in that same world, with gods walking among humans.

The muse of Justice and Serenity, Calliope Ardalides needs a break from her new job as an arbitrator, a job that leaves her no time to do what she really loves: inspire people, through music whenever possible. With Themis, the goddess of Justice, filling in for her, Calli flies to her cottage in Scotland, where she enjoys a quiet life and gets back in touch with who she is. A project to open an amusement park in the tiny village threatens her safe place, even more so when she realises she’s attracted to Jordan James who, for her own reasons, very much wants the park to happen.

This is only my second book by this author and while I remember liking Changing Course, I enjoyed Song of Serenity a lot more. First of all, it’s funny. Not laugh-aloud funny, but I felt a smile on my lips many many times as I was reading. I love Calli, everything about her. And I love Jordan’s flawed humanity. She’s determined and exciting and her heart is in the right place, even when she’s acting stubborn. She’s also open to learning and that makes her very likeable.

The main obstacle to their love is that Calli is immortal and Jordan is human. Calli is wary of falling for someone she’ll have to let go of once again, and Jordan isn’t a big fan of gods. Navigating their differences, on religion in particular, learning to love the other as they are, wholly, accepting that couples don’t have to hold similar views on everything and can agree to disagree… I guess it’s a journey that feels familiar to anyone who’s ever tried to make a relationship work. How comforting is it to think that gods and goddesses face the same questions?

I look forward to reading the next books in this series. Will there be one for each muse? I certainly hope so. The next one, Vision of Virtue, is Clio’s story and I can’t wait, she’s such a drama queen, it should be a lot of fun. The third one, Lines of Love, will be about Eris, the muse of Love. In the meantime, I’ll try and catch up with the previous Afterlife stories.

Song of Serenity @ Bookshop.org / IndieBound / amazon

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