The Blessed

Shade (Leather, Lace, and Locs) skillfully combines lesbian romance and chosen-one fantasy adventure against the vivid backdrop of a supernaturally tinged New Orleans. Suri Daniels discovers that the magic and ritual her late grandmother’s ghost has directed her to learn will serve its purpose when she steps into her fated role as priestess-guardian to the Orishas in the city. Meanwhile, 200-year-old cambion Lyla Jeffries, whose enslaved mother was human but whose father was a powerful demon, is called to serve as Suri’s protector against a voodoo priestess who schemes to enable the demon Lilith to take over Suri’s body and unleash chaos. Shade creates deep backstories for both women while building a complex magical world that respectfully draws on many traditions of the African diaspora. This adds richness and texture to the story, but slows the somewhat predictable plot. After so much setup, Lilith proves a disappointingly dull foe, and, though Lyla’s succubus nature and Suri’s sexual empath powers make a sexual encounter near inevitable, romance readers won’t find much actual heat as the leads quickly decide that sex is a distraction from their world-saving work. Still, fans of New Orleans magic and stories centering powerful Black women will find plenty to enjoy. (Dec.)