Garden of Dreams and Desires

February 23, 2015
Painter’s third Crescent City urban
fantasy adventure (after City of Eternal Night) opens with computer whiz Harlow possessed by the power-hungry spirit of her dead twin, Ava Mae. In a convoluted plot, Ava Mae schemes to permanently possess Harlow, seeking the help of voodoo priest Father Ogun. He’s in league with evil witch sisters Giselle and Zara, and he plans to use Harlow/Ava Mae to earn the sisters’ favor. Fortunately, voodoo priestess Jewellia is on hand to help Harlow’s fae love interest, Augustine, who’s determined to oust Ava Mae. Meanwhile, fae-hating Senator Pellimento is hunting Augustine, whom she blames for the disappearance of her son. Painter does her best to show the good and bad sides of the fae as well as New Orleans’s voodoo practitioners. The plot is exceedingly tangled, and most of the threats fizzle out in an unexciting final confrontation, but Harlow shines as she discovers and uses her inner strength—a real treat for readers who have been with her from the beginning. Agent: Elaine Spencer, Knight Agency.

March 15, 2015

Picking up where last year's City of Eternal Night left off, this volume finds Harlow Goodwin fighting to regain control of her body from the spirit of her dead sister, Ava Marie, after she made the mistake of sprinkling her sister's ashes at the base of the lightning tree, a powerful fae object. Housemate and romantic interest Augustine tries to help get Ava Marie out of Harlow, but his Guardian duties call him as well. Tourists are disappearing, and it looks like new head of the local coven Giselle is up to no good. VERDICT While the near-future New Orleans milieu and its mix of fae, witches, and voodoo practitioners continue to be a draw, the melodrama of an evil twin and the fresh threat from a supernatural-hating senator seem to have derailed the series a bit.

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