Kevin A. Ranson’s The Matriarch: Changeling is the latest and greatest installment of the Matriarch series. Not only does the story’s plot thicken and rise to literary bliss, but it also gets to the meat of the action without any unnecessary fluff.
Ranson isn’t shy about creating genuinely strong lead female characters. In fact, the main protagonist, Janiss Connelly, has completely transformed from a mere uninspired human, into a fearless immortal heroine. On the surface it appears as though Janiss is just the administrator of Cedarcrest Sanctum. What people don’t know is that the residents of the facility receive otherworldly benefits from regular doses of her vampire blood. Although, she and her closely guarded staff successfully manage the sanctum, a new challenge presents itself in the form of another indestructible lady, Nancy. Janiss goes head-to-head with ghosts from her past (literally), enemies in the present, and challengers that threaten her future and those she cares for.
The official synopsis:
“Throughout American history , every major conflict has been due to either a misunderstanding between parties or a failure to live up to a promise – and needless bloodshed was always the result.”
And bloodshed was something with which Janiss Connelly was all too familiar, either by her own or someone else’s hand. Friends. Lovers. Enemies. But as the administrator of Cedarcrest Sanctum, it was a necessary evil: keeping the facility’s residents safe – and, thanks to infusions of her vampiric blood, alive – was both her responsibility and mission.
It is a mission that is jeopardized by a very old – and private – vampire living and working as a college professor in Charleston, West Virginia. Janiss visits to determine her undead “neighbor’s” true intentions, only to find that she and Cedarcrest are on the professor’s “syllabus.” Left with no choice, the administrator must become the student and ask her own hated teacher for the deadly tutelage she needs to rescue the Sanctum.
In The Matriarch: Changeling, Janiss will learn that friends and enemies are never who they seem to be – a lesson that must be paid in blood.”
Despite the fact that this is the third installment of the Matriarch series, (and word from the author that there is one last one on the way) readers are able to pick up the complex story line that has developed over the previous two books. I would encourage readers to get their eyes on the whole story, though. Strong characters who you can easily relate to, quickly latch on to your heart and remain there. Ranson has found a way to keep readers invested in the lives of the people he fictionalized. Prepare to enter a world much like our own, yet darker and more sinister. The Matriarch: Changelings satiates the hunger for a parallel world where vampires exist, and convinces you that it is possible.
Visit Cedarcrest Sanctum here for yourself!
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