Her Soul for Revenge

The Souls trilogy by American author Harley Laroux follows three heroines as they fight to overcome the tyrannical rule of the Libiri cult, whose members seek to resurrect an ancient, malevolent god called the Deep One. The trilogy begins with Her Soul to Take (2021), the timeline of which overlaps significantly with the events in Her Soul for Revenge; several of the scenes take place in both books, though from different points of view.

The first novel in the trilogy focuses on Raelynn “Rae” Lawson, a native of Abelaum, the mysterious Pacific Northwest town where the series is set. Rae returns to Abelaum to finish her education after spending much of her adolescence in Southern California. After she returns to Abelaum, Jeremiah and Victoria Hadleigh soon befriend her, though their friendship is a cover-up for their malevolent intentions. Jeremiah and Victoria are members of the Libiri cult, which is led by their father, Kent Hadleigh. The cult originated 100 years earlier, when miners were trapped under Abelaum for weeks. Three survived. The Libiri believe that, six generations later, a debt must be repaid to the Deep One, the god who lives in the mine, for that survival. Rae is a descendant of one of the three survivors, and the Hadleighs are descendants of another. Juniper, the protagonist of Her Soul for Revenge, is a descendant of the third family. The Hadleighs intend to sacrifice Rae to fulfill this debt.

Rae allies with Leon, a centuries-old demon who has been magically bound to the Hadleighs for 100 years. Leon is motivated by both his fascination with Rae and his hatred of the Hadleighs. As he works to protect Rae, the pair gradually fall in love; Rae eventually binds herself to Leon, which means that her soul can’t be sacrificed to the Deep One. In Her Soul for Revenge, Leon appears primarily as Zane’s close friend and former lover.

The overlapping timelines between Her Soul to Take and Her Soul for Revenge mean that readers of both novels will know the direction of many of the plot elements in the second installment, as Her Soul to Take ends with the Hadleighs dead and the Libiri decimated. This indicates that Laroux’s primary focus in the novels is on the emotional relationships that develop between their characters; the trilogy’s overarching plot promotes the growth of those relationships.

The trilogy concludes with Soul of a Witch (2023), which follows Everly Laverne (also known as Everly Hadleigh), Kent’s daughter, who was born out of his extramarital affair. Everly and her late mother, Heidi, are witches; Everly works with Archdemon Callum, who is extremely protective of Everly and uses his immense power to do as she commands. In Her Soul for Revenge, Everly declares that her goal is to kill the Deep One entirely. This lofty goal follows the increase in stakes for each novel in the trilogy. In the first book, Rae seeks only her own survival, while in the second, Juniper seeks to destroy the Libiri cult. In the third, Everly promises to destroy the god that led to the cult’s initial development.