Muse by Susie Hanley
My rating* – 3
This review contains spoilers.
Books like Muse, are the reason I joined the book club at work.
This is an urban fantasy set in modern times in a world like ours. Only in this world Muses and Guardians are real. Guardians, who have superhero powers and qualities, protect Muses until they die. This book is written from the point of view of Shelby, a 25-year-old divorced mother of two and talented artist. The book is well written and characters are well-developed, they have layers quite like real world people.
Shelby has worked hard to make a life for herself. Her parents died when she was young, and her husband left her with two kids. When her ex-husband comes back to town, he has more to say than just I’m sorry: he’s a Guardian, and his new assignment is her. She is a Muse now, one coming into her own no matter how hard she fights it, and trouble stalks her wherever she goes. Her ex-husband can’t keep up and, with their history, she doesn’t want him to. To complicate matters, there’s another Guardian around when she needs help, and they are falling for each other. He has a dark past that’s trying to reclaim him, and Shelby is in the way. But she has to accept her Museness and figure out fast what being a Muse really means if she is to keep herself and her children alive. – Book Description courtesy Amazon
However, I have issues with the book: In this world Muses and Guardians are not a secret, so I did not understand why Shelby seemed so ignorant about them. Even though she has reasons for not wanting to know about them, in this world they are everywhere, celebrities even, so she should have known something. I’ve also already connected the dots about her parents…I don’t understand why after learning the truth about herself, she hasn’t made the connection.
I get that Shelby spent half of her teenage years being a single mother but her prickly personality with her ex-husband Cal, was more than a little overbearing at times. There was one instance where she gets information about her “musedom” and from her suitor Guardian, who wonders why Cal didn’t explain things to her…and that was because she never gave him a chance to.
“A Guardian is only as strong as its Muse.” ― Susie M. Hanley, Muse
I like Shelby though. She’s a young mother, student and now Muse and I see potential in her development as a character. There is light and darkness to being a Muse, and Shelby has both within her. I laughed out loud when she described the darkness in her as her “dark passenger”. I thought to myself that it was an Ode to Dexter.
There is a lot of action towards the end of the book which I liked. But when Shelby’s son is in danger it takes far too long for her to tell the necessary parties about the situation. For such a strong and protective mother, that should have been the first thing out of her mouth and then she could have filled in the rest of the story on the way to defuse the situation.
I am a romantic at heart, so when the love triangle was introduced between Shelby, her ex and her super fast Guardian boyfriend; Hanley developed the ex-husband so well that he seemed to have a deeper story to tell, I must admit I’m rooting for him. Team Cal all the way.
My go-to books are memoirs and spiritual/inspirational books Muse felt like a guilty pleasure for me. I’m so over vampires who glow in sunlight and paedophile werewolves and other shades of meh…that this was a welcome and fresh change. I like this world of Guardians each with their own unique super powers and Muses who are talented and strong but also vulnerable and just looking for love. This book has everything, romance, action, suspense, Menage-a-Guardian, I am looking forward to the second book in the series.
*my personal quality ratings are the scores I give books on a scale of 0-5 based on my personal opinion of a book. 0 is “birdcage liner” and 5 is “off-the-hook good”