Crux – Southern Arcana, Book 1
Moira Rogers
Release: March 3, 2009
Buy Kindle version: here
Rating: 4 Stars

Jackson Holt makes a decent living as a private investigator in New Orleans, home of one of the largest underground supernatural populations in the United States. He and his partners have never met a case they couldn’t crack…until a local bar owner asks him to do a little digging on her newest hire.

With time running out, she has no choice but to trust Jackson as he struggles to uncover the truth of her past-and her destiny.

Moira Rogers is a new author for me, or rather a new duo of authors. For some reason I went into reading this one expecting a plot heavy on the romance and was pleasantly surprised to find that this book is just as heavy on the action, plot, and character building. I love it when an author surprises me.

The story is about Mackenzie who is on the run from some crazy shifters looking to use her for her body. While on the run she falls into a web of really cool people who convince her the supernatural is real and give her an unexpected support system. Jackson Holt takes a liking to her immediately and will do whatever he needs to keep her safe.

The story arc is reminiscent of a paranormal romance…. girl is in trouble, our hero must use his super powers and super friends to save her. But, in this story our heroine isn’t weak or waiting around to be saved and our hero doesn’t expect her to sit back in a safe corner and wait it out. I found the characters to be honest. The dialogue between them was easy and free flowing. The relationship was realistic, a nice mix of playful flirting with sincerity. Jackson is funny and sexy, protective without being overbearing.

The plot of Crux builds quickly. The book is action packed and I had a hard time finding stopping points so I could get some much needed sleep! There is an atypical twist in the plot three quarters of the way through. After it I thought for sure we were getting an ending and the “Big Bad” would continue to haunt us in the next book, but instead the story keeps going! Because of this small twist in plot sequence, the story loses a bit of momentum and I felt the true ending was smidge anti-climatic. Not overly so, and definitely not enough for me to dislike it.

In Crux Moira Rogers has built a strong supernatural world with an exciting plot and realistic characters. With as much as I enjoyed the interactions between Mackenzie and Jackson, I am looking forward to the next books in the series! There were so many intriguing side characters introduced in this group of friends… only more good stories can come after this!

Crux is available for purchase now from a variety of ebook stores, find the links as well as full chapter excerpts here. Crux will be released in print format on January 5th.

Book 2 of the Southern Arcane Series, Crossroads, will be released in ebook format in February 2010 and print format in December 2010.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me for review from the author

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