#BookReview Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe @AlexBledsoe

Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alex Bledsoe’s The Hum and the Shiver was named one of the Best Fiction Books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews. Now with Wisp of a Thing Bledsoe returns to the isolated ridges and hollows of the Smoky Mountains to spin an equally enchanting tale of music and magic older than the hills….

Touched by a very public tragedy, musician Rob Quillen comes to Cloud County, Tennessee, in search of a song that might ease his aching heart. All he knows of the mysterious and reclusive Tufa is what he has read on the internet: they are an enigmatic clan of swarthy, black-haired mountain people whose historical roots are lost in myth and controversy. Some people say that when the first white settlers came to the Appalachians centuries ago, they found the Tufa already there. Others hint that Tufa blood brings special gifts.

Rob finds both music and mystery in the mountains. Close-lipped locals guard their secrets, even as Rob gets caught up in a subtle power struggle he can’t begin to comprehend. A vacationing wife goes missing, raising suspicions of foul play, and a strange feral girl runs wild in the woods, howling in the night like a lost spirit.

Change is coming to Cloud County, and only the night wind knows what part Rob will play when the last leaf falls from the Widow’s Tree…and a timeless curse must be broken at last.

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I'm currently listening through every book in the Tufa series before I start reading The Fairies of Sadieville, the latest book in the series that will be published in April. I'm right on the fifth book, the one before The Fairies of Sadieville, so I'm sure I will get to The Fairies of Sadieville before the pub.date!

In the first book of the Tufa series, The Hum and the Shiver are we introduced to the strange people that live in the Smoky Mountains. The Tufas is said to have been there before the Native Americans arrived in the United States and this book gives more clues to what they really are...

Musician Rob Quillen comes to Cloud County, Tennessee looking for a special song that will take away his heartache. But, he gets more than he bargains for when he gets caught up in a power struggle between two different groups of Tufas. For the people on the outside of the community is the Tufas one group of similar looking people, but there has been a power between those that follow Rockhouse Hicks and those that follow Mandalay Harris for a long time. And it the woods a wisp of a thing, a feral girl is running screaming, for when the last leaf falls from the Widow's Three, then the curse that has made what she is will finally be the end of her...

We were introduced to Bliss Overbay in the first book that starred Bronwyn Hyatt, the war heroine (a great book as well, read it). In this book, however, is Brownwyn taking a step back and it's Bliss time to be in the center as she tries to figure out how Rob Quillen can see things only a true Tufa can see. I found this book to be an absolute delight to listen to, just like the first book. As a big fan of urban fantasy, do I love the Tufa people that have so many interesting secrets. And, I love how this book gives away some more secrets about them. Also, the storyline about the wisp of a thing is so heartbreaking.

I recommend this series warmly!