Highway to Hail by Sierra Dean
Rainchaser #3
Urban Fantasy
April 26, 2022- Self-published
ARC

Review by Angela

This was one of my most anticipated releases this year. The previous installment, Driving Rain, came out in 2017 and left off on a HUGE cliffhanger. So for five years, I’ve kept my fingers crossed that this author would release another book in this series and put me out of my misery. And now it’s finally here!

I was kind of worried that with the wait in between releases I would feel lost picking up Highway to Hail and wondered if I should reread the previous two books for a refresher but turns out I didn’t need to. I jumped right back in easily. And oh how I’ve missed Tallulah and Cade.

For those of you not familiar with this series… Tallulah is a Rain Chaser to the god Seth, which is kind of like part lackey to do his bidding and part priestess that is able to channel powers associated with him. In her case, calling storms. Her companion is a bad luck priest to the goddess Ardra who makes unfortunate things happen wherever he goes. This is book three in the series, so A LOT has happened and Tallulah has done some questionable things to get out of some serious jams, which are coming back to haunt her now. Things like promising Charon the sun for passage over the river Styx, not realizing that would mean her sister Sunny’s afterlife.

I’m not quite sure how long after the events in Vegas this book picks up, but Ms. Dean does jump right into what’s going on with Tallulah and Cade and confronts the issue of their night together which went away when Tallulah had to turn back time to save her sister’s life. Cade is having dreams that feel more like memories and he wants answers. Thankfully readers don’t have to wait for them to have the discussion of what happened between them and why he is having those sex dreams. I can not tell you how happy this made me. I had fears that this would drag out and was thankful that didn’t happen.

Of course, there is always something nefarious going on in the world of gods and men and Tallulah (with Cade along for the adventure) is sent out to investigate a person claiming to be Taranis, which is one of Seth’s lesser-known names. This takes her to small-town Texas and a cult-like atmosphere where she meets a woman claiming to be a Rain Chaser and a man with powers of persuasion pretending to be a god.

Tallulah and Cade make a great team, even with all the tension and chemistry swirling around them now that Cade knows what went down in Vegas. In addition to their trip to Texas, they also have to intervene on Sunny’s behalf with the goddess of death and figure out a way to keep her soul away from Charon. That makes for a lot of action and adventure and I had such a great time reading. This is such a well-done, fun series and frankly, I don’t think it gets enough attention.

If urban fantasy with a touch of romance is your thing, this series is for you.

Grade- B

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