Title: Deja Voodoo
Author: Elle James
Series: Cajun Magic
Genre: Paranormal romance
Published: 2013
Rating: 2.5 stars
Alexandra Belle Boyette is fairly content with her life. Sure, she’s almost thirty and the second oldest of nineteen children, but she runs her own business, has two close friends in Calliope and Lucie, and a loyal golden retriever named Sport. So what if Lucie’s blissfully married now to Alex’s older brother Ben and they’re expecting their first child? Alex isn’t jealous–much. And she might have a sometime-stalker in the guy she never should have given the time of day to but did during a weak moment at the local pub, Theo Lodet. Oh, and her mother never stops trying to set her up with random available men by inviting them to family dinners. Which naturally tends to make those random available men run quickly in the other direction. Okay, so maybe her life could stand a little improvement. But surely voodoo magic isn’t the answer. Is it?
Ed Marceaux is in the tiny town of Bayou Miste on assignment. An undercover cop, he’s supposed to keep an eye on the town, looking for suspicious characters who may be after the mafia witness that the Louisiana State Police have stashed out in the bayou outside of town. He’s renting a guest cottage from Alex’s mother, and claiming to be there on a fishing vacation–even though he’s never fished before in his life. Naturally, he becomes a significant part of Mrs. Boyette’s mission to marry off Alex. But he’s a confirmed bachelor. And leaving town at the end of the week. Isn’t he?
Deja Voodoo tries to be cute and quirky, but somehow it just didn’t pull it off for me. It never felt like we truly got into any depth in the story–I had a hard time really engaging with the characters. The drama, the suspense, the voodoo magic, the romance–it all just felt like it was glancing off of the waters of the bayou without marring the surface overmuch. Earlier books and events are alluded to (Voodoo for Two, Lucie and Ben’s story and To Kiss a Frog, the first in the series) but I didn’t really feel as if I missed too much by not having read them, nor did reading this one make me want to run right out and pick them up. This is actually the first book I’ve read by this author, and at the moment I’m fairly ambivalent about reading another. If the opportunity presented itself, I’d probably give her another chance if I didn’t have any pressing deadlines to deal with. There wasn’t anything wrong with this one–the writing was decent–it just ultimately didn’t work for me.
In a nutshell: Just an okay read. I wanted to like its quirkiness more than I did. 2 1/2 stars.
(I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.)
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