Seven Souls a Leaping by Lisa Pietsch, K.F. Zuzulo and Heather Long
Sapphire Blue Publishing
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
ISBN: 978-1-934657-99-7
Reviewed by Jo









“Frozen Hell” by Lisa Pietsch
Danyelle Roy is a private investigator and like everyone else, she is hurting with this economy. Desperate to earn money for her bills, Danyelle requests a bounty from a bailsman she knows. The case appears to be an easy one on paper, but first she has to meet with Duncan MacDougal. Duncan is a specialist with NENA who deals in paranormal investigations. There is something strange about both the murderer, Jeffrey Wiles, and the evidence left behind. Danyelle and Duncan will have to depend each others strengths and knowledge to bring him down. But will the passion that is evident from their first meeting help or hinder them when it counts?

“Frozen Hell” had a shocking opener but it was just a warning of what I was about to get into. I instantly enjoyed both Danyelle and Duncan’s view of the world and their lives. They were so different, yet it didn’t surprise me how fast and hot they came together. I think it was because they both had such firm beliefs about what is good and what is evil, and in this case it matched. The final showdown had me wondering how the rest of the book could go on at one point.  “Frozen Hell” brought Danyelle and Duncan together in a blaze of danger and passion.  A great couple to lead off with.


“Star Light, Blood Bright” by K.F. Zuzulo
Samantha MacDougal sees auras, which has it up and down sides. The good side is that she can usually tell instantly about a person. The downside is that Samantha can’t escape or rest from her gift for even a second. Samantha works in the family agency with her brother and cousin, and they just closed down a nasty murder case, or so she thought, until odd things start happening around her. Ike Marshall is a Boston police detective with a background that allows him to believe in many things. Especially when he has to save Samantha from something that shouldn’t exist. Instead of closing up the Jeffrey Wiles matter, it appears that the case is still open, on at least one level. Samantha isn’t sure if she trusts Ike or not, after so many years of getting yelled at by auras, she can’t find Ike’s at all. It’s a rare person who can control and/or hide their aura, how would Ike know how? Could he be the answer to Samantha’s prayers or her nightmares?

“Star Light, Blood Bright” brought along the second chapter in Jeffrey Wiles’ madness and the clash of Samantha and Ike. I watched and wondered as Samantha tried to figure out what was suddenly going on around her. I loved Ike’s gentle toughness from the beginning. Samantha and Ike seemed like a long shot in the romance department yet I shouldn’t have been surprised that they did discover the passion hiding just inside their squabbling. After all, they are both stubborn. I loved how their deep belief in what you can’t see that gave them the path to love and defeat Jeffrey. Or had they?  “Star Light, Blood Bright” proves that love can happen on many levels, even when trying to defeat a dead madman. Samantha and Ike just whetted my appetite to see what would happen next.


“13^th Night” by Heather Long
Tara Conroy is the office support, researcher, and link between worlds, physical and psychic, for NENA. She can talk to the dead, something that would have overpowered her long ago if she hadn’t found someone to intercede for her on the psychic plane.  Tara is happy for both her cousins, yet she wishes for what they have found – love. Something Tara long ago knew would not happen to her – after all the man she loves is dead. Darian Barnes is a stockbroker who met with a witch at the wrong time in history and suffered for it. Now Darian loves and protects Tara from any spirit who might try to contact her. That is until an intense evil decides Tara is just what the doctor ordered, and is strong enough to truly fight Darian. Both are terrified to discover that something from Jeffrey Wiles is back for one last try.To survive it’s going to take research and the power of love – will it be enough or will the two lovers still be on different planes when all is said and done?

“13^th Night” gives Tara a chance at her one love while fighting the final battle with Jeffrey Wiles. Darian had my sympathies right from the beginning because of a misuse of power. During the majority of reading about Tara and Darian, I was sure they would never get their ending, but I should have remembered that you never bet against love. The third way that Jeffrey showed up was shocking and had me wondering just what it would take to finally kill this evil man. I found it to be cosmic justice on how Darian came to life. The final chapter of Jeffrey Wiles’ threat to mankind was metaphysics at is finest. Tara and Darian’s struggles and love made “13^th Night” a superior way to end a truly fantastic book.


Seven Souls a Leaping follows along as all three members of NENA – New England New Age Investigations – discover their life partners and defeat a foe unlike anything any of them have ever had to fight before. Unlike most anthologies that just go around a common theme, I loved how this one stayed with a story line and just added to it until the end where it all came together.  Each story took me along a path that started with a horrific murderer, on to a bounty hunt to the death of the murderer, and finally, in a race to kill his soul and essence. The stories seamed together so well that if I hadn’t known a different person wrote each one, I would have never guessed it. I was held in suspense from the very beginning, which to me is the best way to be held. The combination of murder, suspense, magic, humor, and passion swirled together so well I drifted from one story to the next without being torn out of the world that was so intricately developed. Seven Souls a Leaping is a suspenseful must read filled with three wonderful happy endings, and the death of a super villain you will have to read to believe. I found Seven Souls a Leaping to be one of the best anthologies I have read in a very long time, and of course, I just have to Joyfully Recommend it to one and all.