Hooked on Books

New Orleans, a city rich in culture, history and urban legends, made the perfect back drop for a story ripe with magic, vampires & witches. The story takes place right after Hurricane Katrina, a.k.a. "The Storm," which adds another layer to an already atmospheric setting. You can tell the author is a native to the area and very familiar with the cultural history and traditions. She does a fabulous job portraying the city and integrating the magical elements into it.

                  "Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome" 

                       (an excerpt from Chapter 25)

     "Yes, hello, Jack Whitaker here. Rumor has it the National Guard has set up shop in the old Brown's Milk Factory. Supposedly, they've hooked up generators to the old refrigeration system, and they're using it to store corpses waiting to be processed."

     "There you have it, folks. The city is so broken we're stacking up murder victims like pints of Blue Bell...."

If you aren't familiar with a "Casquette Girl," it's actually the name that was given to girls that were sent to the French colonies of Louisiana from France to marry. They carried their clothes and dowries in small chests that were called casquettes because they looked like caskets. The story is based off of the original girls but let's just say the girls in this story brought back more then dowries in their casquettes. Oooh! You'll have to read it to find out...

It won't scare the crap out of you but there are some creepy aspects to it. It's a YA book and the main characters are senior high school students but adults will still like it. I didn't feel out of my depth reading it like I do some YA books. If you like reading about old curses, vampires and witches covens or even if you just want a feel like you're strolling through the French Quarter you should check it out. I thoroughly enjoyed it and if this is the start of a series I will be back for more. Bravo! Bon Travail!

*Note: I read and reviewed the newer edition of this book releasing on November 17, 2015. 

**I received this ARC from Netgalley, Amazon Publishing and SkyScape in exchange for an honest review. Merci Beaucoup!