Title: Mark of the Raven
Author: Morgan L. Busse
Series: The Ravenwood Saga #1
Age: Young Adult; Adult
Genres: Christian, Fantasy
Expected Publication Date: November 6, 2018
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Source: Paperback
Synopsis:
Lady Selene is the heir to the Great House of Ravenwood and the secret family gift of dreamwalking. As a dreamwalker, she can enter a person's dreams and manipulate their greatest fears or desires. For the last hundred years, the Ravenwood women have used their gift of dreaming for hire to gather information or to assassinate.
As she discovers her family's dark secret, Selene is torn between upholding her family's legacy--a legacy that supports her people--or seeking the true reason behind her family's gift.
Her dilemma comes to a head when she is tasked with assassinating the one man who can bring peace to the nations, but who will also bring about the downfall of her own house.
One path holds glory and power, and will solidify her position as Lady of Ravenwood. The other path holds shame and execution. Which will she choose? And is she willing to pay the price for the path chosen?
My Rating: 
Finished this book 20 mins before it's release day and all I can say is oh my...this was absolutely fantastic! This is an awesome read for fans of Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. I went into this book with no real expectations. I just knew that the synopsis sounded amazing and it's a Christian fantasy so I was intrigued by that. This surprisingly blew me away. This is my first read from Morgan Busse and I will definitely be reading more from her.
This book follows the lives of Lady Selene and Grand Lord Damien and their struggles with their gifts and the world they live in. Though Lady Selene is the main protagonist of the story, Grand Lord Damien gets his chapters which play a huge part to the overall plot. Both of them are such phenomenal characters with such pure hearts. They are strong in every way possible.
Lady Selene has just come into her power and as the eldest daughter she is the heir to the Ravenwood house. She is not like the rest of the women from her family. She desires to be free and to help people. She desires to see peace among the people. She isn't a cold-hearted person. She plays the role well, but I loved seeing her true self shine through. She was everything her mother didn't want her to be and that was absolutely stunning! She was beautiful on the inside and the out. Such a sweet soul my pumpkin pie is (yes, I call her my pumpkin pie)!
Grand Lord Damien is a young man with such a huge heart. He came into his title after losing both his parents and younger brother. He is the family man and friend to many. Damien was such a sweet person. He struggled with having to kill in order to protect. I do think he focused too much on his father's dream and not enough on making his father's dream work for him (in how he could execute it). Everything about Damien made me extremely happy which why I called him my sugar plum.
The romance, though non-existent, was simply adorable. I was rooting for both Selene and Damien from the third or fourth chapter. Everything about them was similar. They both wanted to use their gifts to help and protect. They also despised the idea of killing others to protect. The cuteness between them at the grand assembly made me SO happy. I hope they grow to love one another!
Grand Lady Ragna...she is the WORSE mother on earth. She has allowed bitterness to overtake her life which opened up doors for evil to prevail in her life. I really couldn't stand her way of thinking at all. She was a twisted lady. As for her second oldest daughter, Amara, I just could not stand the way she acted like Ragna. I really don't want to see how twisted she becomes in the sequel.
Caiaphas is the BEST father on ever! This man was pure goodness all around. Everything he did was for his daughter and to bring peace and unity. I respect him so much and hope he survives this series.
The houses were all so interesting. I loved the grand assembly meeting as it showcased how the houses could truly come together if they tried to do so. The secrets between the houses really have me interested in learning more.
I loved the fantasy aspects with the different gifts, but even more so I loved the reference to scripture and relation to scriptures. It was absolutely profound and made the reading experience one that I could relate to in so many ways.
I cannot wait for the sequel! The cover alone has me stoked for it! Highly recommend this beauty!
Go grab a copy!
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