Protagonists
[x] Hot garbage
[ ] Boring boring boring
[ ] Serviceable
[ ] Likeable leads
[ ] I love them so much

Side Character
[x] Every character is terrible
[ ] Characters commit sin of being boring/generic
[ ] Enough interesting characters to balance out the few terrible ones
[ ] Likeable side characters
[ ] Amazing characters all around

Antagonist(s)
[ ] Hate them for the wrong reasons
[ ] Cliché as hell
[x] Serviceable
[ ] Sympathetic or likeable enough that I don't want to hate them
[ ] Love to hate them

Plot
[x] Average, generic plot
[ ] Average plot made interesting with creativity
[ ] Crazy plot that is either so bad it’s good or just plain bad
[ ] Unique plot that keeps you interested

Writing
[ ] Terribly written
[ ] Very simple but effective language
[x] Average writing that does the job
[ ] Beautiful but accessible writing
[ ] Challenging

**Not so-short summary**:

Holy crap. Where do I begin with this?

The setting is post-Katrina New Orleans and revolves around the voodoo community and a murder that may be pointing to the wrong suspect. Our hero, Mambo Reina Dumond sets off to find out the truth of the matter.

The scenes where Reina is consulting a client are the most fascinating ones. A client has a problem, they discuss, she gives her thoughts and then comes up with a solution related to her craft. If the book were solely about little episodes like that (and if there is one like that, please let me know), it would be very interesting.

Uh....what else....

The character of Tyka seems engaging and sympathetic. She lives with her alcoholic father and has a knack for fighting and tracking people down.

And that’s the last of the praise I can give this book.

The other characters outside of that aren’t very interesting. The plot is nothing amazing and even with all the red herrings thrown in, I could tell who was the bad guy was after a second meeting between them and Reina. The writing is fine. There were a few bright spots in terms of quotes. There are few characters that seem integral to the plot that just show up once and disappear for the rest of the book. Likewise there are secrets revealed that don’t seem to add anything to the story other than to create unnecessary tension.

The main problem I have with the book is Reina’s relationship with Roman, her cop ex-boyfriend. He has NO redeemable qualities. He despises the voodoo community (which begs the question why live in New Orleans, the CAPITAL OF VOODOO!?!?!? Just move! You can be an asshole cop elsewhere). He hates them so much he has no problem taking a donation box from a voodoo event and using blatant intimidation to scare practitioners and affiliates.

Every time Reina and Roman had an interaction, I just lost more and more respect for Reina since he outright insults her religion to her face and hurts her own community. She says at one point:

“He was a devout Christian who never went to church but had no problem telling you what he thought was morally right or wrong. Breaking these rules himself somehow didn’t apply.”

YET she still considers him a good man. I think what she means he is good in bed because all this woman wants to do is bang him when she sees him. She cannot stay mad at him though he is damaging her community. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

I get relationships can be complicated - especially when the two people have different views on politics, religion, etc. - but this feels like an abusive relationship. He says he respects her but acts like he doesn’t. It just feels like the main character has no self-respect when it comes to this man so it just gets harder and harder to find her believable (suspension of belief be damned).

Her defending her religion against his anti-voodoo tirades regardless of how much she loves him doesn’t make her look strong. It doesn’t make him look vulnerable. It doesn’t make their relationship look like a complicated romance. It makes Reina look dumb as any other self-respecting person would just cut ties with someone like this. It makes Roman look like a complete asshole who just wants Reina to conform to his beliefs. It makes their relationship pointless.

I had to stop reading a few times and was about to drop this because I was getting so frustrated.

I’m really sad because in the first few pages of the book, I got drawn in so easily. I saw so much potential. Then it just went downhill. I can’t recommend this book at all.