Water’s Blood by Elaine Calloway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Fantastic setting, the author clearly knows New Orleans well and evokes the atmosphere and flavour of the culture (and cuisine!) really well.
Brooke, a water elemental, has disobeyed the rules and fallen in love with a human – a NOPD cop, Alex – and produced a child. At the age of sixteen, that child, Ella, can make a choice: Elemental or human.
The Elementals are locked in a never-ending war with the Fallen Angels, and the clan chief in NO, Soren, has designs on Ella’s soul.
The characters are well drawn, particularly Ella, who comes across as a typical rebellious teenager (not without cause), and also Alex, her human father who must raise her alone, as Brooke is not allowed to reveal her relationship to Ella.
Once Soren, using his tasty-looking minion Dominick, lures Ella away from the safety of her family, the ensuing search and battle race around this colourful city, and involve Elementals of all four varieties, latterly revealing a secret that may give Brooke the family life she has always desired – but only if they can save Ella and banish Soren before Ella’s sixteenth birthday – the day after Halloween, when Soren is at his most powerful.
Why not 5 stars? I just found the Elementals and the Fallen Angels a little too human with extras bolted on, and there were a few typos (missing speech marks for the most part) that jarred, and a couple of formatting issues on my Kindle Fire (no chapter breaks).
But overall the story carried me along and I really liked the very individual characters and the great dialogue, so I would certainly recommend it to UF/paranormal romance lovers.
deborahjay 