Jem's review of Heroes by Ednah Walters

Heroes are not born. They rise out of love and duty.  What if you have to choose? Book 2 of Eirik Trilogy continues the story of a god and a Mortal girl...

Eirik wants nothing more than to show Celestia—the Witch who pulled him out of the darkness—that his feelings for her are real, but his parents expect him to avenge a wrong done to his family. To make matters worse, Celestia is moving on and is already dating another guy. Then Eirik discovers she is the key to accomplishing his goals. Caught between love and duty, Eirik will do whatever it takes, including getting up close and personal with Celestia, to get his way.

Celestia is convinced she is drawn to Eirik because of the bond created by the dragon's kiss, so she pushes him away. But when he comes to her for help, she is once again thrust into his world, where things are never what they seem.

From Earth to the realms of the gods, betrayal follows them and help comes from unexpected sources. But when the time comes for Eirik to choose, will he fulfill his duty or follow his heart? Everything rests on his shoulders as the wrong choice may lead to Celestia's worst fear—the rise of the Harbinger of Death.

Jem's review

Heroes starts a few months after the end of Demons and picks up with Celestia back home with her family & friends and Eirik adapting to his life as a dragon shifter and living with his parents in Helheim.

Eirik is searching for his grandmother, Angrbodr and his sister who is not dead as his mother Hel assumes. He is also not staying away from Celestia as she asked, although come on who really believes she doesn't want to see him, but he is visiting her cloaked so she cannot physically see him.
Eirik & Celestia are reunited thanks to his mother, who I think is secretly playing matchmaker, and the adventure continues with them searching for Angrbodr, but also dealing with the murder of witches in the community. Which ties in nicely with Raine's story in Seeress, which also has me wondering if there is more to that overall story arc than I originally thought.

I have to admit that Eirik has not been my favourite characters from the Runes series. I think it was partly because I saw him getting in the way of Raine & Torin and then Cora & Echo that I never grew to love him as I did the others. He started to grow on me in Demons when we got to learn more about him but I think this is the book where I really have fallen in love with him and I think he, along with Celestia may now be one of my favourite characters, although no one can ever top Torin.

I'm really happy with the way Eirik & Celestia's relationship develops in this book, and without giving too much away the thing that I was waiting to happen throughout the whole of Demons finally did in Heroes.

I can't wait to read Gods next and see if my theory about Eirik's sister is correct. I'm also looking forward to reading more about Hel as I really love her character and all the complexities she has.
This book deserves more than the five stars I've given it as the world that Ednah Walters has built is captivating. The way all her characters, even the small ones, have depth to them is part of what keeps me entranced in her world's.  Ednah is one of those authors who's books I will pick straight up and re read over again. If you've not already been sucked into Runes series then I recommend you go & give them a try as I predict you'll end up loving them as much as me.