Book Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Title: The Madness Underneath

Author: Maureen Johnson

Series: The Shades of London #2

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Publication Date: February 26, 2013

Length: 290 Pages

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After her near-fatal run-in with the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Devereaux has been living in Bristol under the close watch of her parents. So when her therapist suddenly suggests she return to Wexford, Rory jumps at the chance. But Rory's brush with the Ripper touched her more than she thought possible: she's become a human terminus, with the power to eliminate ghosts on contact. She soon finds out that the Shades—the city's secret ghost-fighting police—are responsible for her return. The Ripper may be gone, but now there is a string of new inexplicable deaths threatening London. Rory has evidence that the deaths are no coincidence. Something much more sinister is going on, and now she must convince the squad to listen to her before it's too late.
In this follow-up to the Edgar Award-nominated The Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson adds another layer of spectacularly gruesome details to the streets of London that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

MY REVIEW

The Madness Underneath did not have the same creepy factor that The Name of the Star did, but it has a level of suspense all its own. From the beginning to the SHOCKING ending, The Madness Underneath takes the Shades of London to a new level. Rory wants to be around those that actually know what happened to her, but the only people that know are the Shades. They seem to want nothing to do with her, until she discovers that the tragic attack has turned her into the impossible, a human terminus. She has developed the power to eliminate ghosts with a single touch. While this puts her in a unique position to help the Shades, it also puts her in danger.

Rory is recovering from the nearly fatal attack of the Ripper copycat, and her parents refuse to allow her out of her sight. At the secret request of the Shades, Rory returns to London and Wexford, but she does not feel connected to the school. . Rory does not know how to get back into the rhythm of her life before the attack, and feels very out of place. This leads her to start lying to everyone she cares about, and failing school. Rory soon realizes that something else maybe happening around Wexford, and it may have something to do with her. As mysterious deaths start to happen around Wexford, Rory starts to suspect more than just coincidence.

I really love that direction that Maureen Johnson took with The Madness Underneath, because it really does change the direction of the story. When I first started the book, I really thought that ghosts no one else could see would be the most dangerous, just like The Name of the Star proved. In The Madness Underneath, it shows the danger of the unpredictable human element. I know that some of the reviews I read before diving into this book did not think the story lived up to the thrill of the first one. I will admit that the suspense and creepiness were not as potent in this book, but it still took the story to a new level of crazy. I can appreciate that, and with the events of The Madness Underneath, I can only imagine where the next Shades of London book is going to take us.

The events of The Madness Underneath are setting things into motion. I think that the third installment in this series is going to blow the first and second one out of the water. The ending has also left me with so many questions that I cannot wait until The Shadow Cabinet is released.

**Unabridged Bookshelf received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review** 

The Sentinels of New Orleans Blog Tour: Guest Post and Review of River Road by Suzanne Johnson

Welcome to Unabridged Bookshelf's stop on The Sentinels of New Orleans Blog Tour, organized by Bewitching Book Tours. Today I have a review of Book 2, River Road and a wonderful guest post by author, Suzanne Johnson. To check out all the amazing stuff going down on this tour, just click the button above for the complete schedule.

ABOUT THE BOOKS

Royal Street
Sentinels of New Orleans Book One
Suzanne Johnson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 978-0765327796
ASIN: B006OM459U

Number of pages: 337
Word Count: approx. 94,000

Cover Artist: Cliff Nielsen

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As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco's job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. 
Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans' fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters. While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering soldiers sent to help the city recover. 
To make it worse, Gerald St. Simon has gone missing, the wizards' Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ's new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and the killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter roux.

River Road 
Sentinels of New Orleans, Book 2
Suzanne Johnson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 978-0765327802
ASIN: B00842H5VI

Number of pages: 336
Word Count: approx. 92,000

Cover Artist: Cliff Nielsen

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Book Depository  Indiebound

Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator.
Wizards are dying, and something—or someone—from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live and work along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who—or what—is killing the wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.
It’s anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans series continues.

About the Author:

Suzanne Johnson writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance from Auburn, Alabama, after a career in educational publishing that has spanned five states and six universities.  She grew up halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis' birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of SEC football and fried gator on a stick.

Website: www.suzanne-johnson.com

Blog: http://suzanne-johnson.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Suzanne_Johnson

FB: http://www.facebook.com/Suzanne.Johnson.author

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5046525.Suzanne_Johnson

Publisher Page: http://us.macmillan.com/author/suzannejohnson

MY REVIEW OF RIVER ROAD

I have been in love with The Sentinels of New Orleans series since the very first pages of Royal Street, and I could not wait to continue DJ’s story in River Road. In another action packed novel, Suzanne Johnson keeps readers on their toes, with twist and turns coming complete out of left field(in a very good way). What I have loved about this series is that you really do not know what is going to happen next or how the story is going to end until those last few pages. 

It has been a few years since the end of Royal Street, but the characters are still there just trying to keep the peace between all the preternatural creatures now that the border between The Beyond and now has been completely removed. DJ is just as I remember her, and I would not want her any other way. Of course, a few other favorites were there too, including my favorite character the sexy, undead pirate Jean Lafitte. There are multiple love interests for Drusilla in River Road, and I kind of want to root for them all so picking a team is going to be oh so difficult.

The story expands the mythology of The Sentinels of New Orleans world to include many characters and new types of preternatural creatures. One of these being Merpeople, and I love the unique spin on the mermaid myth in River Road. I love the world that Suzanne Johnson has created, and all the amazing creatures that seem to pop up throughout the story. 

River Road was an excellent edition to a wonderful and imaginative series. The characters are the type that you fall in love with and cannot help but root for them every step of the way. I am even more in love with this series that I was, and I cannot wait to continue the journey in the third installment, Elysian Fields. Anyone looking for a sarcastic, funny and still out of this world amazing Urban Fantasy should pick up this series today. Fans of Royal Street are going to love this one. 

 Twisting the Myth of the Loup-Garou

I remember hearing the term loup-garou not long after moving to Louisiana. It’s French for “werewolf,” of course, and Louisiana once belonged to France. So the legends of the loup-garou (also called “rougarou” or “roux-ga-roux”) date back to the land’s settlement.

Much of my fiction is heavily tied to South Louisiana culture, so I’ve had fun playing around with the loup-garou legends. In a digital short called Christmas in Dogtown, I used the most common “rougarou” tales heard around Acadiana (south-central Louisiana, where the Acadians, aka Cajuns, settled). To the old timers, the rougarou is a monster that lives in the swamps. Sometimes he’s seen as a white dog; sometimes a black bear; sometimes a wolf. 

Sometimes the rougarou only partially shifts and has the body of a man but the head of a wolf or dog. While the rougarou is used to threaten kids to behave, his nature isn’t clear—in some versions of the legend he’s evil; in others, he might show up as a warning or a benign creature.

In some of the legends, becoming loup-garou (which is a curse brought on by having your blood consumed by a loup-garou) isn’t a life sentence but lasts 101 days, as long as the cursed person doesn’t speak of it to anyone. In other legends, the rougarou is turned by a witch’s curse. 

For my Sentinels of New Orleans series, I decided to twist the loup-garou legend to tie it even more firmly to Louisiana culture. I didn’t want my garou to be an ordinary, garden-variety werewolf. Bor-ing! 

So my loup-garou came to Louisiana with the Acadians when they were driven out of Canada by the English in the 1700s and settled in the remote French colony of Louisiana. He (or she) carries a demon’s curse that can be easily passed to a human through an open wound. My loup-garou is, like a werewolf, affected by the moon cycles, but shifts more easily. He has less control over his wolf, avoids packs and social structures, is always an alpha, and is bigger than your average wolf. He has a deep red coat and golden eyes. He’s a mean SOB. 

How mean? My loup-garou are not innately bad, but they’re very other. It isn’t yet clear in the books how much the human mind stays in control once the wolf takes over the body, but the Louisiana rougarou legend is of a creature who retains his human ability to think and reason, only with perhaps less inclination to do good. Which means anyone who comes across his path at the wrong time, or angers him, or makes him lose control…well, that person might be in trouble. 

Um…did I mention that one of my major series characters was turned loup-garou? He’s not handling it well and it’s something he and my other characters are going to be dealing with for quite a while, which means lots of interesting twists and turns ahead.

One of the things I most love about writing paranormal fiction is the ability to take a common mythology—a vampire or a werewolf or, in River Road, a merman—and twist it to create a fresh look at an old convention. Who’s your favorite werewolf? What do you most like about him or her? Or are you over the whole wolf thing?

Leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of your choice of Sentinels of New Orleans books (Royal Street or River Road—coming in paperback June 25), or an author swag pack!

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Waiting on Wednesday: Phantom Eyes by Scott Tracey

 

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we cannot wait to get our hands on.

 I am waiting on:

Title: Phantom Eyes

Author: Scott Tracey

Series: Witch Eyes #3

Publisher: Flux

Publication Date: October 8, 2013

Every child in Belle Dam is taught about the feud from an early age. There are ‘our’ people and ‘their’ people. Friends and enemies. Associates and strangers. It’s the kind of town where eyes are always watching, and you don’t need a reason to sell out your neighbors.
But the feud is a lie. As a new wave of fury sweeps through the town, creating a third front to an already overtaxed war, Braden has been broken worse than ever. His innocence? Shattered. His heart? Crushed. His magic? Gone. His new life? Ruined. And this is only the beginning.
Beneath the city lay deep wellsprings of power. The one who controls them is the one who will win the feud. In a city filled with puppet masters, Braden must elude their strings and end the feud once and for all. But first, he must outsmart his father, evade Catherine’s dark magic, regain what was stolen from him, trick a phantom who refuses to die, and foil a demon’s master plan.
Even then, he may not survive. Because power is a problem, and victory comes with a cost…

I have to say that the Witch Eyes series is one of my favorite series! The writing is amazing, and I love the characters, and after the events in Demon Eyes, I cannot wait to see what is going to happen to Braden and everyone in Belle Dam. October can not come fast enough!

What are you waiting on?

Leave me a link and I will come check it out!

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Book Review: Shift by M.R. Merrick

Title: Shift
Author: M.R. MerrickTitle: Shift
Series: The Protector #2
Publication Date: February 1, 2012
Length: 350 Pages
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Devastated by a terrible loss, Chase is trying to balance the life he’s been left with, a family he’s still getting to know, and power he never thought he’d have. He doesn’t understand why the Goddess has named him the Protector and granted him two gifts: the Mark, a tattoo that now covers his back, and the ring. But between getting interrogated by the Circle and psychic attacks from Riley, the Mark is the least of his concern. There’s a demon inside Rayna that’s fighting to be released, and it’s not her inner witch. It’s something else—a monster threatening to tear her apart.
As Chase struggles to control his magic, his enemies are closing in. Everyone has staked a claim on his ring, and destroying it may be his only chance to stop Riley. But Chase must decide if stopping him is worth risking the lives of everyone he cares about, or if protecting the ring will be enough to save his world.

MY REVIEW

Some say that Lighting does not strike twice, but that does not apply to author, M.R. Merrick. He has captured lighting in a bottle or more accurately in a book, yet again. After Exiled, I had high hopes for Shift, but my hopes and expectations were blown out of the water and into orbit. If you are looking for one of the best young adult urban fantasy series out there, The Protector series is it. 

This time there is more danger lurking around every corner. Chase is trying to adjust to his new life, with his new powers and without the one person that mattered to him most. The Circle who exiled Chase is finally realizing something may actually be wrong. Rayne’s demon has resurfaced, and it is trying to rip its way out of her, literally. Chase is determined to protect everyone he loves, because he cannot lose anyone else. In his heighten emotional state, and the stress, Chase continues to make decisions without thinking them through. 

In some series, the middle book or books do not live up to the excitement or quality of first or last books. In the Protector series, each book is pertinent to the story, and the story is not drug out to help fill a word count. This causes Shift to be completely full of astounding, action-packed storyline that keeps readers enthralled to the very end. 

The Protector Series and Shift will continue to be the series that I push on my friends and family members when they ask me for book recommendations. In fact, my husband has rewarded from my eager pushing of the series, and it is his favorite series of all time. This is coming from someone who is not an avid reader, and had not read a book for fun until he met me. While I maybe a lover of books, my husband is a hard case to win over. The fact that this made both of our favorite lists is a testament to excellence of The Protector series. 

**Unabridged Bookshelf received this book from the author, in exchange for an honest review**

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