 | Title: Black Heart Loa
 Sexual Content: References to sex, one explicit sex scene. Rating:
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Description
“An eye for an eye is never enough.”
Kallie Rivière, a Cajun hoodoo apprentice with a bent for trouble, learned the meaning of those ominous words when hoodoo bogeyman Doctor Heron targeted her family for revenge. Now, while searching for her still-missing bayou pirate cousin, Kallie finds out the hard way that someone is undoing powerful gris gris, which means that working magic has become as unpredictable as rolling a handful of dice. The wards woven to protect the Gulf coast are unraveling, leaving New Orleans and the surrounding bayous vulnerable just as an unnatural storm—the deadliest in a century—is born. As the hurricane powers toward the heart of all she loves, Kallie desperately searches for the cause of the disturbing randomness, only to learn a deeply unsettling truth: the culprit may be herself. To protect her family and friends, including the sexy nomad Layne Vallin, Kallie steps into the jaws of danger . . . and finds a loup garou designed to steal her heart—literally.
Review
While I knew BLACK DUST MAMBO was going to be a hard act to follow, my surprises in reading BLACK HEART LOA had nothing to do with those high expectations. LOA was a different breed of book all together, as the story line changes from the human villains of BLACK DUST MAMBO to the more amorphous magical threats. It took me a few chapters to change gears, but despite that slow start I devoured the last two thirds of this book.
One of the changes that took me a bit to adjust to was the lack of a human villain to drive the action. Despite the time constraint of a hurricane about to make landfall, I felt that the obstacles in this book had less forward momentum than those in BLACK DUST MAMBO. The magical issues in LOA were more difficult to keep track of and predict, which meant that the dangers Kallie and her companions faced were less compelling to me as a reader.
Luckily, though I was less interested in the plot, Phoenix once again wrote tantalizing and messy love lives. Fantasies, realities, old loves and new... that was the fuel that kept this book moving for me. LOA teases with just enough heat to keep you glued to the page, but not so much that a Happily Ever After is assured. Kallie and Layne share some hot moments, but Phoenix structured their interactions in a way that still leaves lots of seductive possibilities.
One such possibility was Devlin Daniels (am I the only person who read "demon wolf of the bayou" and thought "Yum"?), who has me at the edge of my seat to read more of his story. Kallie and Belladonna have lots of wonderful page time, and Kallie’s cousin Jackson vies for center stage with his Robin Hood antics and complicated history. While BLACK HEART LOA fell one bat short of BLACK DUST MAMBO in my affections, it definitely sets the stage for sequels that I can’t wait to pre-order.
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"demon wolf of the bayou" huh? I can't wait to get this one :-)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your review. I will be adding both books to the want list.
ReplyDeleteI am actually quite shocked that you gave BLACK DUST MAMBO a 5/5. The writing really is quite florid and ridiculous in some places for eg., referring to a woman's genital area as her "hoo ha". Really? That is almost as bad Charlaine Harris and her usage of "yahoo palace."
ReplyDeleteOOh, actually, the "non-human" element... Seems quite interesting. That perked my ears right up. :) I'll definitely have to check this one out. Thanks, Julia.
ReplyDeleteJulianne
Can't wait to read this one either! Read Black Dust Mambo last year and enjoyed it pretty well! Love this cover too!
ReplyDelete@Paranormal Haven - He doesn't get *nearly* enough page time. Can't wait for more.
ReplyDelete@ Rain Maiden - Hope you like it! BLACK HEART LOA is essentially a gateway for book number 3, can't wait for this series to keep going.
@Renee - I'd never drop a book rating for a hoo ha.... just kidding, that only applies to appropriately placed hoo ha's. Kallie and Belladonna definitely have an over the top style, and though I enjoyed most of their odd sayings (I don't think it's close enough to an actual accent to say "Southern"), the only thing that bothered me was their repetitive "you're so evil" conversations. It looks like both Phoenix and Harris have women from the South stereotyped as women who won't say "vagina"... then again, most romance writers won't, either.
@Julianne - I'm really interested to see how other people react to the action and plot of this book, I'm curious to see if it was my own character-focus that had things start of slow for me. It's not like the story itself is slow, Phoenix barely skips an hour from BLACK DUST MAMBO before jumping into LOA.
@Jessica - Hope you like it, happy reading!
This book was amazing I have yet to post my review but I love Adrian's writing. She knows how to keep a reader engrossed in the story as well as give a little romance and humor hense the "hoo ha" just to picture Dallas saying it brings a smile.
ReplyDeleteOf course I do hold a special place for her Maker's Song Series but her Hoodoo Series is running a close second.
Annette
This book was amazing I have yet to post my review but I love Adrian's writing. She knows how to keep a reader engrossed in the story as well as give a little romance and humor hense the "hoo ha" just to picture Dallas saying it brings a smile.
ReplyDelete