Review: Souls Set Free

Title: Souls Set Free

Author: Kimmie Easley

Publisher: Self published

Genre: fiction

Reviewer: Storm Goddess

Review Rating: 4.5 LIGHTNING BOLTS

Blurb:  Emma Carter isn’t your average loving mother and wife. Actually, she’s not loving at all. Unable to move on from a tormented childhood of abuse she’s now at risk of losing her own family. Hopeless, she goes to bed every night secretly longing to not wake up the next morning. That all changes the day her mother is murdered while living on the streets. Emma must now face all of the pain she has spent years trying to numb with pills and alcohol when she is forced to travel back to her hometown to identify her mother’s body.

If only it were that easy…



Review: Sometimes, your past doesn't just haunt you, it consumes you. It takes everything you are and that's how you live. Is that the way it should be? Well maybe not, but for some, putting that past behind them simply isn't that easy. It isn't meant to understand....that's just one of those things that become what it is.

Emma Carter is one of those people. She's got a loving husband, and two amazing daughters.  But she's bound to events in her past that she feels she can never escape. The weight of that past drags her down until there's nothing left to feel. She's there, but yet she's so far away.

The one event changes everything. Emma begins a journey of a little soul searching, forgiving, and shedding that image of her past.

I'll say now this book has a few touchy subjects. Childhood abuse, and a bit of drugs and alcohol. There are flashback scenes that really tore me up inside, but they're in the book to show the reader the exact reason Emma is so traumatized.   Even though she tries to dull her pain, Emma is the strongest of her family. I wanted to smack her brother and sister around for leaving some of the most painful things up to Emma to do. Emma is just about on the brink to keep her family together after she's shut everyone out for so long, and now the times are tested when she has to face some hard decisions.

Even with the beginning impression of Emma, I connected with her on a strong level. Though not the same situations, I admit I hung onto parts of my own past for so long. I carried anger, resentment and so much more until I had to learn to let go and move on. So reading about Emma and her struggles really, really touched something in me.  She has a very supporting and loving husband, Jansen, and I am so glad she had a husband that stood by her no matter what. Emma wasn't at her best, but Jansen never, ever gave up on her!  I love this guy!

The emotional wallop hits readers right away, and it doesn't stop. There were times I cried, I yelled and I of course wanted to jump in that book and knock some common sense into some characters. Emma's family is full of dysfunction, but she manages to come out of it less unhinged, unlike her siblings.

The ending stole my heart...what a surprise! Emma really came a long way and I love what happens in the last part of the story.  This is a moving novel about forgiving and love.  I look forward to what else Kimmie Easley has to offer in her writing career. This is a story I can see many people relating to in one way or another. It's so true to life, and even in some of the most heartbreaking scenes, the story captured the essence of the situation so well. Highly recommended!


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