Heartsworn: A Monster Romance Sequel Where a Cursed Gargoyle Awakens and Claims His Fated Mate by S.E. Wendel
Tracy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: War of the Underhill #2
Release Date: November 10, 2026
After earning two PhDs by the time she was just twenty-one, Dr. June Parkhurst spent years abroad expanding her expertise in the field of statuary and sculpture conservation and returned to California to start a restoration business. She found success but put everything on hold when her beloved father was stricken with cancer and passed away. Drowning in grief, she closed herself away at her family’s beach house in Carmel-by-the-Sea, not interested in anything until an invitation to assess a mysterious collection of grotesques tempted her out of isolation. She takes up residence in her parent’s Tiburon house and begins work at the privately owned museum in San Francisco. Immediately she recognizes the work, as her family owns a similar statue, one that holds dear memories for her, as he was her friend and confidant during her lonely childhood. Because besides being an expert in statuary, June is also an empath, a gift that she has always shunned, but one that makes it hard for her to interact with others. June is stunned to realize that she can feel something from the statues in the collection, and when the museum is raided by commandos and a statue is stolen, June is sure she saw another statue come to live and fly away with Anna, one of the museum’s docents. She returns home and visits her own statue and is completely stunned when he comes to life and claims that she is his heartsong and fated mate.
Guardian and chieftain, Alaric of the Brightwing clan was cursed to stone by the Faerie Queen fifteen centuries ago. During that time, he has been moved many times, always aware of the world around him, but frozen in stone until now. For the last few decades, Alaric has been kept away from his fellow guardians and alone in the Parkhurst’s garden with June as his only comfort, but it has been years since he has felt her presence and when she returned a few days ago, he realized she was no longer a child and was in fact his mate. But it isn’t until she touches him that his curse is broken, or so he thought. Actually, his curse isn’t completely broken, and he returns to stone during the day, and to make matters worse, June denies their bond. But Alaric is nothing if not patient, he wont’ give up on her and when she starts to open up about the museum, they realize something is going on and they grow closer trying to figure out the mystery, but will they find answers to break the curse or will they just find more questions?
I loved the first book and have been anxiously waiting for this book and believe me, this book was well worth the wait – I think it might actually be better than the first book! This story starts at the same time as the first book, but is told from June’s POV and then continues on after the events of the previous book, taking this story to the next level. The story has lots of emotions; especially grief, some mystery, magic, druids, fae, familiar faces; both good and bad as well as some new characters, plenty of steamy love scenes, some intriguing twists, soulmate love, fascinating author notes and a happy ending complete with an epilogue. I just finished this book and I’m already impatiently waiting for the next book! This is the second book in the series, and while you could read this book as a standalone title, I would strongly recommend reading the books in order for the best reader experience.
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for a DRC/ALC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *
