I really enjoyed this book. At first I thought it hinted a bit too much of Chess in the Downside Ghost series, and while I'm giving the author the benefit of the doubt for now, at times the similarity is a bit grating.

Minor Spoilers
Also---here comes another love triangle. Really? There is so much material in this world to explore, I just don't understand the need to throw this in there.

Plus, the whole mary sue aspect of two super hot guys pining over a seldom bathed borderline alcoholic is hard to swallow.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and the darker side of the world the book took and despite a few 1st in a series rough spots, think this series has the potential to become an 'auto-buy'.

I am on to book two, thanks to a road trip and hope for more goodness.

This book gets a B

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Now THIS is why I read urban fantasy. I want flawed characters, a plot that grips me by the throat and doesn't let go, fabulous writing... and hey, a love triangle sure doesn't hurt. I adored Annabelle from the very beginning. "Flawed" doesn't even begin to describe her. She's got a ton of demons she's trying to exorcise (the wrong way, for the most part), but she makes no apologies for who she is and the way she lives her life. My heart ached for her every time she had to have one of those heart-to-heart talks with Cane, but each time the interaction felt genuine. And that's one of the great strengths of this book: all the character interactions come across as extremely authentic, as do the characters themselves.

I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series. I can't wait to see what kind of trouble Annabelle gets herself into next! ( )

I struggled with this story. Annabelle Lee is flawed and I do love a flawed character but she comes across as mostly unlikable. I think given time I could build a connection to her but certain issues with the story itself and the world building are going to make that hard.

Annabelle Lee is immune to the bites of the fairies that crawled out of the wood work in our little world. I'm not entirely sure what being bitten by a fairy does to you. Some people seem to die quickly, others are carted off to die slowly. The immune technically don't get bitten but apparently have their own issues.

When a girl in town is killed and Annabelle stumbles into a Breeze (fairy by product that people use as a drug) house and is nearly killed all in a short time period. Initially the action seemed to bounce around like a ping pong ball. Dead girl, Breeze attack, ex-boyfriend, fairy attack, angry real boyfriend and I just wanted to scream for a break. The plot was building but it seemed as frazzled and erratic as Annabelle's alcohol and prescription drug addled brain. I knew in no time who the killer was and I absolutely hate when the author's way of hiding the truth from you is by making the character so damn stupid that they can't even consider the truth and think everything but it until the very last minute. That's just laziness. Plus it makes me hate the main character. When the character says six gazillion times "Oh poor so-and-so, they don't know this murderer is right around the bend, let me ignore everything else in favor of my lame brain new idea" it makes me want to snap my kindle shut and move on to the rest of my monumental "must read" list.

Pluses
- She's not gorgeous, she's not flawless and she has an interesting job.
- The world seems like it will be interesting at least, even if it's starting to look a little cliche
- There are well formed other characters and relationships already developed and prime for building on.
- She's got a grumpy cat. Sue me. I like it.
- Hey, there's a black guy played in a sympathetic way! (ignore his crazy ass family and his druggy sister...)

Cons
- Annabelle is Stoopid. And lazy. And childish. She's got her reasons at least but if she doesn't put up or shut in one direction or another soon it will get old very fast.
- The plot was predictable. I rolled my eyes before every stupid move Annabelle made.
- Love triangle, square, octagon? I don't know, but I'm not reading a YA or a PNR so several somebody's need to die fast.
- The deux de machina rescue at the end. I get that they're real characters but it was not my favorite.

Not sure I'm willing to put out >$7 on the next book. The only reason I may go for it is 1/ because then I can probably be sure whether or not this is a no go series for me (or possibly a 'yeah more please!' series) and 2/ thanks to my amazon card I have lots of points and therefore a nice, big balance on my amazon account waiting to be spent on kindle swag. ( )

Maybe 3.5, I liked it, I wish I could have like it more. Part of the problem is Annabelle, she can be frustrating and annoying, and you never seem to get her relationships with the other characters - you read about them but you never really get inside them. I will read the next book because I feel this series has great potential.
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I liked this a lot! ( )