City of Eternal Night

Painter delivers on her promise of excitement and romance in the second installment of the Crescent City Series (after House of the Rising Sun). Computer whiz Harlow is trying to come to terms with her fae abilities and her attraction to playboy and New Orleans fae Guardian Augustine. Their romance tentatively creeps along in this otherwise stirring installment as they set out to solve the mystery of a young woman’s kidnapping from the Mardi Gras Exemplar Ball, the biggest fae event of the year. Possible suspects are cunning witch sisters Zara and Gisselle, who want freedom from fae regulation, and the evil Branzino, Harlow’s fae father. But the kidnappers aren’t asking for money; they’re asking for Augustine’s life. Harlow struggles throughout with the emergence of new powers as well as an almost literal emptiness inside her that seems to be expanding: apt metaphors for a young woman finding herself. Painter takes this romp to unexpected places, with many, but not all, of Harlow’s family secrets revealed. Agent: Elaine Spencer, Knight Agency. (Dec.)