2023 paranormal fantasy, second of a nine-book series. Lorelei
Clay is trying to keep her head down, but it's a small town and a lot
of people seem to need help.
With the setup got out of the way in the first book, this one
rattles along: here's a problem, Lorelei tries to deal with it on her
own, it needs research, her friends get roped in, and it's only when
it's all over that you realise how little sense the setup made in the
first place.
But the supernatural hijinks aren't really what I'm here for; it's the
characters, and those do work. Lorelei is still keeping her true
supernatural nature a secret from the reader, which annoys, but she's
keeping it secret from everyone else too, so that helps a bit. As far
as the story is concerned, she might just as well be a former secret
agent trying to live in Witness Protection, except that in this case
the shadowy figures from her past are, well, dead. (But still moving.)
And she's a sucker for a girl who is clearly as much of a loner as she
is…
One thing did feel rather off, which is that in her initial
interaction with this book's Problem To Be Solved Lorelei ends up
rampaging through someone's mind in a way that seems frankly excessive
given the level of opposition she's met thus far. I suspect the author
has noticed, because she goes to a certain amount of trouble later to
make it clear that the victim forgives her, but even so…
As with the first book, it's not great stuff, but it's breezy and fun.