House of the Rising Sun (Crescent City #1) by Kristen Painter

[Eva Millien]

Blurb:

(Off Goodreads)

Augustine lives the perfect life in the Haven city of New Orleans. He rarely works a real job, spends most of his nights with a different human woman, and resides in a spectacular Garden District mansion paid for by retired movie star Olivia Goodwin, who has come to think of him as an adopted son, providing him room and board and whatever else he needs. 

But when Augustine returns home to find Olivia's been attacked by vampires, he knows his idyllic life has comes to an end. It's time for revenge—and to take up the mantle of the city's Guardian.

My Review:

The first book in the Crescent City series is a riveting urban fantasy that keeps the reader on their toes.  Augustine lives the perfect life in the Haven city of New Orleans until Olivia Goodwin who has been like a mother to him is murdered by vampires.  Now, he’s taken the Guardian position in order to find the fae behind the murder and to protect Olivia’s daughter.

This fast paced and smooth flowing plot keeps readers shivering in anticipation with suspense, action, and drama as Augustine has to give up his easy life and take up the mantle as Guardian to discover who is behind the pack of vampires being let into the city.  The author describes the scenes and events with well written scenes and events that inspires vivid images and well orchestrated action scenes that are believable and have the reader feeling like they are part of the story.  The strong compelling characters are easily related and arouse the reader’s curiosity drawing them deeper into the story.

While the story is an urban fantasy and doesn’t have a lot of romance there is some serious attraction between Augustine and Harlow, Olivia’s daughter.  But no matter how hot the attraction, Harlow’s not crazy about the fae and has some personal issues that she brought with her from Boston and then of course there is the issue that the father she’s never known suddenly popping up in her life.

I found the story to be enjoyable and entertaining, with lots of the twists and turns that keeps readers guessing and lots of intriguing characters that make up this complex and fascinating world with some refreshingly different elements to keep things interesting. While the story did reference characters from the author’s other series, it can be read without having read the others, although it would probably give a more in depth understanding of this world.  

4 STARS 1 FLAME

Purchase Links:

http://amzn.to/1hBXgBY

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/house-of-the-rising-sun-kristen-pai...

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/house-of-the-rising-sun/id69891723...

http://www.bookdepository.com/House-Rising-Sun-Kristen-Painter/9780...

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/house-of-the-rising-sun-6

print: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/house-of-the-rising-sun/9780316...

ebook: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/house-of-the-rising-sun/9780316...

http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=gyySAgAAQBAJ&dq=kristen+paint...

Orbit, May 13, 2014, 448 pages, available in print and ebook

Crescent City series:

# 2 coming December 2, 2014

About Kristen Painter:

(Off author’s site)

A little about me: I’m a former college English teacher, but I’ve held a crazy mix of other jobs including maitre’d for Wolfgang Puck, personal trainer, and sales for Christian Dior Bijoux. On the writing side of things, I’m a two-time Golden Heart finalist and have been on the board of three different RWA chapters. What can I say? I like getting involved. I’m not adverse to bossing people around either.

I have a *slight* shoe addiction and occasionally indulge in an unnecessary handbag. Hah! That was a joke. There is no such thing as an unnecessary handbag. I love make up and jewelry and spa days. Yes, I’m a girly girl. But don’t think that makes me weak. I can (and do) kill off characters with the best of them. Speaking of which…

My forays into writing have been as varied as the jobs I’ve held. I’ve written poetry, articles for magazines, short stories, paranormal romances (that include fantasy, contemporary and steampunk genres) and now I’ve found a home with urban fantasy. I love worldbuilding and few genres give you the kind of license urban fantasy does.

I’m also the co-founder of the award-winning writer’s site Romancedivas.com. I tweet attwitter.com/Kristen_Painter more often than I should. You can also find me on my Facebook author page here: www.facebook.com/KristenPainterAuthor

I live in FL with my retired Air Force husband and a horde of feline dependents. I’m represented by The Knight Agency.

Where to find the author:

http://kristenpainter.com/

http://kristenpainter.com/blog/

https://www.facebook.com/KristenPainterAuthor

https://twitter.com/KristenPainter%E2%80%8E

https://plus.google.com/107663683105377423194/posts

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2060858.Kristen_Painter

Books by Kristen Painter:

http://kristenpainter.com/about/#