would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this entertaining book

the second book in this series and the fight is still on

we have demons and dragons and new things that hide in your bodies that take ownership and nobody realises

luce is still trying to figure things out with her coterie but also her job as police keeps her busy investigating the strange murders/fire and what their connections could be...

strange flowers in her garden send them all doolally but there is a theme, one she just has to figure out..
and also who is wu who has decided he wants to be her new partner regardless of her other partner, things are getting very difficult for luce

a brilliant second book in this series and its well worth a read with some interesting developments all round

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I absolutely loved the first book so I was ecstatic when I got the opportunity to review this one as well. Unfortunately, this story only was a 4 star for me because I didn’t find it as captivating and intense as it was the case with the first book, but still an awesome story.

The story continues a couple of weeks after the events of Bayou born and things are a bit tense all around Luce. Her relationship with her coterie is shaky, why they accepted her everybody has their own reservation especially due to Luce personality is nothing like they expected. Then there is the fact that she has to lie to everybody who she loves and she is not good at it. Also the threat of Luce sister is still looming in the air.
While the first book was all about discovering Luce birthright and her past this one was more of an adjustment period. You could feel it, the first 3 quarter of the story is definitely slower, there are police cases and some investigating going on but for the most part the book is about how Luce is going to handle her new life as an FBI agent. She prepares herself to let go of her current life but has a hard time of it, she doesn’t know how to break the news to her family and even if she really wants to. I liked the book but the progression of it was pretty slow and in a couple of cases I felt that Luce and her team were overlooking obvious clues because they concentrated on the wrong things.

There are a couple of new players in the game and they bound to bring some new issues in the oncoming stories. I still love Luce and she was even better around the end of the book where she started to tap into her powers more. She was a badass. Her relationships on the other hand are crumbling around her. Her family and friends are ‘disappearing’, her coterie has reservations regarding her true self, thou they like the new Luce but they don’t trust her. I especially love her tentative connection with Cole. Then there is her new partner who is the biggest mystery in this book, although at first I thought he is trouble I grown to like him.

I enjoyed reading this book, it has a completely different feel to it than the first but the connection is clear. While we get to know some more about the charum world it is still less than I would have preferred. That side of the world building is kind of patchy and considering we are at book 2 I would have loved more insight.
After how things ended in this story I expect a faster paced and action packed next book and personally can’t wait.

This is a unique, action packed series. The characters are well defined, and the worldbuilding exceptional. Assigned an arson investigation with a strange death, she realizes it may be connected to her past. Luce is nothing like her demon other self, and forces of evil are determined to bring Conquest forth. As more of her past life is revealed, she makes horrific choices of life and death. As new characters step in to her life, they embark on an unknown future where the players hold secrets close to the vest. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

Flowing from book 1, this is just a stupendous book! Do NOT read as a stand alone or you'll be helplessly lost, but getting book one is no hardship. This is among my favorite of her series!

The second book in Hailey Edwards Foundling series picks up right where the first book, Bayou Born, left readers hanging. Luce has just discovered who she is and where she comes from, and most importantly, who the mysterious men of White Horse security are to her. It’s a terrible revelation for a woman who has always felt different, but has made a comfortable home with her adoptive father and close group of friends and has a career that is quite important to her. Finding out you are literally a demon come to conquer the world is a bit messy, but Luce is determined to hold on to herself and not let her alter ego, Conquest, take over. Cleaning up the mess her sister, War, made of her home and her life will take some time. She also has to figure out a way to let her partner Rixton in on the fact that she is leaving the police force, and him, behind. In the midst of all this she and Rixton are called out to investigate a series of fires at several different locations. There seem to be some similarities and Luce is determined to find out if her murderous family members are responsible.

Bone Driven is exactly what I expected in some ways, and completely fresh in others. While the first book set up the world-building and introduced readers to Luce and all the secondary characters that surround her, it wasn’t until the very end that the many, many loose plot threads started to weave together and reveal Luce’s background and identity. I was surprised and excited and couldn’t wait to find out more. The second book feels like more a of bridge between Luce’s life before and the one she is about to embark upon with her Coterie and the NSB. She is still processing the information of who she was before, and trying to rationalize that with who she knows herself to be. She’s loving, and feels deeply for her chosen family and friends. She is a loyal and protective. Luce struggles with connecting with the men who have come over with her as Conquest, but who also hope she will stay Luce. She is just starting to understand what her relationship with Thom, Santiago, Miller, and even Cole, means to each man. There is a lot of painful history between each of them, but she hopes to reestablish herself with them as a friend and protector.

All through out this book Luce has to hide her newfound identity from the members of her old life. Her dad, Rixton, Nancy and Harold can’t know that of Luce’s demon side and that, Adam Wu, the man she’s suddenly hanging around with is actually her new partner. Ms. Edwards continues to develop her characters, dropping hints of their backstory and letting their relationships change and grow. Luce slowly starts to accept that her life is changing, and that she needs to embrace her new associations in order to keep her loved ones safe.

Luce and Cole’s relationship is steadily evolving and I have hope that they will one day get to a place where they can be together. I know that Luce as Conquest was an evil being who did horrible things, but I think she is establishing that she is not the same person that she was before.

Adam Wu is an enigma, and his connection to the mysterious Ezra, revealed at the very end of the book, has me excited for what is coming up next. I’m sure that book three will jump right into the next chapter in Luce’s life and her association with what amounts to the supernatural FBI. I can’t wait. Final Grade- B

Favorite Quote:
The two halves of me kept brushing up against each other these days, and the friction was brutal.

My ARC didn’t have a ‘previously on Foundling’ introduction and I really wish it had, because sooo much happened and I had forgotten so many of the plot twists.

Anyhoo, Luce Boudreau lives in Canton Town, Mississippi. She was found in the swamp 15 years ago as a child, with no recollection of how she got there or her name. In the first book – spoiler alert – she found out that she was actually Conquest, a Charon from another dimension, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse but her breaking through the dimension somehow affected her memory. After 15 years of living in Mississippi Luce feels human, albeit she struggles to allow others to touch her and she fails to recognise her own face in the mirror. She has an old rotary phone in her bedroom and once a year, on her birthday, a mysterious man called Ezra calls her.

At the end of the first book there is an epic showdown with her sister War, who has also broken through the dimension, in which Luce’s human father witnesses more than he should and has his mind wiped, her BFF Maggie is mortally wounded and Luce makes the decision to ask a skin walker to merge with Maggie to save her life, Luce finds she ‘owns’ a coterie of Charon with various shape-shifting abilities who all loathe Conquest for enslaving them and killing their friends/ family etc but are starting to like Luce a little bit. Luce also has a soft spot for one of her coterie, Cole, a dragon-like shape shifter, unfortunately Conquest has treated him as little more than a sex slave and he is conflicted as far as Luce is concerned. Oh, and a shadowy subset of the FBI, called the NSB, has recruited Luce to hunt Charon and sterilise them.

This book opens shortly after the last book ended, Luce has two weeks before she needs to leave the Canton Town PD and join the NSB, her father is still in a zombie-like state, her BFF has gone missing to bond with the Charon who now shares her body, her coterie are still conflicted and War is on the loose. All she can do is watch and wait for Famine and Death to make an appearance and try to either neutralise them or persuade them not to colonise/ enslave the Earth.

In her dual role as Charon hunter and police officer Luce is simultaneously investigating a series of horrific murder/ suicides by fire and a Charon who is killing and mummifying small household pets, whilst also looking after her father, rebuilding their home which was destroyed in the battle with War, and looking for Famine. Oh, and she needs to break the news to her old partner and get used to her new NSB partner, Adam Wu, who is also not what he seems.

This is a great book which solidifies the world building from the first book, Luce is still blundering about in the dark with regards to Conquest’s abilities which she cannot control/ use but she is starting to draw her own personal lines in the sand, her mantra, her code of ethics which sets her apart from most Charon. It’s clever, intriguing, confusing, grisly, scary, sexy and gross all at once and all the time. It was so good I want to go back and reread both books again just so I can spot the clever clues hidden in plain sight!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I read the first novel in this series and really enjoyed it, except for some overly-written areas which I mentioned in my previous review. In Bone Driven the author has tightened up the writing and it flows much better. It's a unique world in a over-crowded genre, and I really appreciate that about this series. The publisher sent me an email inviting me to read the second book in the series and it's much appreciated. My only criticism is that I felt the author should have given a synopsis of the previous novel, either in a prologue or within the text of the first part of the novel (referencing the backstory. It had been a while since I read Bayou Born, so I had forgotten a bit about the plot and was confused at first. Bone Driven picks up immediately after the first book, and doesn't really give the reader a chance to catch up. I do like these characters and the interesting world the author has created, and the writing is much more fluid. Thanks for the chance to review it.

Love the addition of Daniel Wu and am wondering where he plays out in all this. The end was a total surprise to me. Loved the continued development of Luce and her coterie. Love the tension between her and Cole especially. Can't wait to see what's in store for us in Death Knell

Hailey Edwards has crafted another unique, suspenseful Urban Fantasy story peopled so realistically and sympathetically that the end of the book comes too soon. Her writing is so addictive that holding off on reading the series until it is complete is not really an option..

Bone Driven is the second in The Foundling series. The Foundling is Luce Boudreau, found as a feral ten year old running through a Mississippi swamp fifteen years earlier and taken under the protective wing of Canton Police Officer Edward Boudreau. Completely without history and with fine, imbedded, metal bands running up her arms, she is a curiosity and a freak. She is loved, loving and loyal to her small adoptive family and at 25 she has followed in her father’s footsteps and become a CPD officer. Her adoptive family includes her bachelor father, his partner’s family, her best friend, and her own partner’s family.

The following contains spoilers for Bayou Born but not Bone Driven.

Luce has discovered that she is a conquering entity from another realm and a precursor to her cadre of apocalyptic sisters. She is Pestilence, also known as Conquest and at least one of her sisters, War has also breached this realm. Luce is more human, has not retained her memory of Conquest, and has no designs to conquer Earth and move on to the next realm; she wants to protect it.

Her own Coterie, charun obtained from previous conquered worlds, has been watching and waiting for her to call for them for fifteen years, hiding in society as a security team. About half of them abhor her and none trust her but they are bound to her and wait to serve her. They know Conquest is in there somewhere so they continue to watch in dread - partly because as they get to know Luce they don’t want to lose her to her alter ego. As Luce and the members of the coterie get to know each other the coterie are drawn into her circle of Luce, one of care and concern, and as they learn to trust each other she is supported by and supportive of them.

Because of Luce’s integrity, unshakable love and loyalty to her family and friends they are put in danger. They are potential hostages and worse. Her best friend has already been kidnapped and almost killed in Bayou Born, her father beaten and left virtually catatonic, and Luce has been given an ultimatum by a shadow agency policing her kind. She must resign from the CPD and submit to testing and service with their organization. She finds herself lying to keep the knowledge from humanity, including her family and friends. Her duality, but mostly the horrible activities of her monstrous branch of family, is ripping her relationships to shreds. She is guilt ridden, grieving, and horrified by her own hidden core.

Bone Driven is full of wonderfully crafted characters that are easy to become invested in. The fast pace, detail, suspense, and emotion make this hard to put down and I was not ready for the story to end.
I reread Bayou Born before I read Bone Driven and recommend reading BB first. Bone Driven does explain the backstory gracefully but I think should still be read in context with Bayou Born.
I did obtain an advance reader copy from NetGalley but intend to buy Bone Driven in print when it is available.

Full disclosure, I'm DEEPLY smitten with this series. Deeply. Like, I'm twitching for the next book already even though I just finished this one moments ago. There's something about Luce's messed up, complicated, dangerous world that works for me on so many levels.

Frankly, she's a bit of a mess and she has no idea how, exactly, she fits into the information she's learning about herself because the Luce everybody expects to see isn't the Luce they've found and IT'S COMPLICATED. In the best way. Finding out you were (and possibly still are) a powerful demon hellbent on destruction and mayhem can mess with a person's head.

Throw in the group who've bound themselves to her and the blistering attraction she has with their leader PLUS the realization that the other-her used her power to coerce and demand things that Luce is very uncomfortable with and she's floundering. She's trying, mind you, but everyone seems to need something a little different from her and it's a lot to take in.

Things happen in this book and the complicated life of Luce Boudreau gets a little more complicated. Like I said, I'm already itching for the next book because I WANT TO KNOW what's coming. I have it bad for this series and I won't even apologize for my fangirling because it's just that good.