Book: Billow by Emma Raveling

Published July 2012 by Mandorla Publishing|308 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Ondine Quartet #2

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Billow on goodreads & Emma Raveling on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

It has been six months since ondine Kendra Irisavie arrived in Haverleau, the hidden capital of the water elemental world.

Six months since she discovered her destiny as the sondaleur.

Six months since a series of devastating events left behind their mark. 

Now, as she enters the chevalier elite program in her final year at Lumiere Academy, Kendra continues forward on her prophesied journey against the Shadow. Obsessed with what she must do to keep those around her safe, she struggles to balance her powerful magic and the demands of her fate with the challenges of friendship, the complications of romance, and the bonds of family. 

Meanwhile, the threat of the Shadow looms larger. Kendra and her friends investigate a series of puzzling human and elemental disappearances in the city of Lyondale and uncover a horrifying tactic used by the Aquidae in the war.

When danger strikes close to home, Kendra must separate the truths from the lies and choose who and what to believe. 

Even if it means facing what she fears the most.

What I Thought:

I really liked Billow!  It’s such a great sequel to Whirl, and I just love this world.

As far as paranormal books go, this series is definitely different.  I love that it focuses on elementals- and water ones, which is really cool to me!  I liked seeing Kendra finally accept and make peace with being the sondaleur (or at least, make some good progress with accepting it) and she really struggled with everything that’s happened so far.

I thought she was still a bit too independent and willing to run off into danger by herself, but I liked that she finally started to realize that she needed help from others.  I really don’t blame her for being hellbent on revenge, with everything going on, and surprisingly, it wasn’t as irritating or annoying as I was expecting.  I think it’s because she finally realized that she needed help, and couldn’t do it on her own.  She did struggle, and that made her feel much more real to me than she did in Whirl, so it’s nice to see that change in her.

There were times when I was trying not to cry, because it’s a much more emotional book than I was expecting.  All of the characters had to go through so much and I feel like I understand them so much better after reading Billow.  I felt like there’s so much more to the characters than we see, and it was particularly noticeable with Tristan and Julian- but with Julian especially.  There were quite a few things that surprised me with Julian, but also with some of the other characters too, so I’m glad that they really came to life in Billow.

As for the romance, I think Julian is slowly edging out Tristan.  Mostly because Tristan is a selkie prince, and I have no clue how that would work out for both of them.  I do think Tristan understands what Kendra is going through, to a certain extent, but after this book, I think Kendra and Julian are a much better fit for each other.

Oh, and we get our first true glimpse of the Shadow!  I’m nervous for Kendra, but I want her to take down the Shadow so very much.  And I’d actually love to see the other elemental communities!  You hear about them, so I’m hoping I’m not disappointed when we get to visit them in the next book.

Let’s Rate It:

I’m really looking forward to reading Crest, the next book in the series!  Billow is a great sequel (much better than a lot of sequels/second books) and I’m really looking forward to seeing Kendra’s journey continue. Billow gets 4 stars.