Another good addition to the Jane Yellowrock universe. While this book is not as action packed as many of the earlier installments, there is still a good story line and many beloved characters.
Not recommend for readers unfamiliar with the Jane Yellowrock books, but for the long time fans eagerly awaiting a new installment. (Like me!)
I look forward to the next book (and any other books Faith Hunter writes).

Jane Yellowrock is back! Now recovered from cancer but still with issues, Jane returns to NOlA for a wedding and enemies. ARC from NetGalley

Jane, Bruiser, and company are back in NOLA. Jane's cancer is gone but she's still having issues with shifting which means she could end up dead, for real.

As the Dark Queen, she's trying to adjust and understand that she can't lead the charge any longer. She and her team are trying to unravel plots that have been unfolding over centuries.

I always love the inner dialogue between Jane and Beast - both have such well-developed voices and personalities.

Despite Jane not leading the charge, mostly, there are plenty of battle scenes - lots of blood.

Lots of snarky dialogue between Jane and her team - especially the Youngers. A tender bit about Wrassler.

With the team back in NOLA, there are some delicious food descriptions. I've never been there but the books certainly seem to capture the flavor of NOLA.

I appreciate that, unlike some urban fantasy series, Jane's powers don't seem to grow and grow exponentially. I also appreciate a lack of orgies.

Not a good entry point to the series if you're a newcomer. Start at the beginning so you can appreciate the build-up to True Dead. Long-time readers, we get some but not even close to all of our questions answered. But don't despair, there are some great revelations that make it worthwhile.

This is the book I have been waiting for a long while. In this series, we have seen Jane grow from a lone ranger to a person responsible for a small company. At one point she becomes the de facto person in charge of all the security for the Master of the City, Leo. The last couple of books have languished a bit for me because, well, *spoiler alert*, Leo DIED! I keeled over and cried in shock with Leo passed away. How could this be? How could Ms. Hunter do this to a pivotal character? Why would she do this? Well, turns out there is method to her madness.

In this book, events further pushes Jane to grow again. Jane is best as a do-er. She is the type of person who likes to contribute. She is now in a leadership position and honestly, she sucks at it. What Jane is going through is what I see so often with hot shot/rockstar contributors at work who are suddenly promoted to a people manager. They completely fall flat on their face because they don't realize that their roles and responsibilities change over. I doubt many people reading this book will care or get how carefully Ms. Hunter highlights Jane's failings. Unless the reader is in HR and understand how and why people managers fail or the reader is a people manager who is really good at their job. I digress.

There is quite a bit of Jane not understanding that as the big "Kahuna" she needs to stop putting herself in positions where she can get severely hurt or killed. Why? Because it isn't all about her. When she was an individual contributor... meh, so she dies. There are others that can take up her spot. When she's the symbol of protection of hundreds of "minions" this is a different story. She may not like this but reality is, if she is hurt, that makes hundreds of vampires, people and shifters fair game for any bad guys to come in and wreck havoc. I understand this all to well from my own work experiences. I experienced both first hand when I was only a contributor and then later when I became a people manager. I digress again.

This story contains some good epiphany for several key characters in this book. It also brings an interesting twist that I think will appeal to most of the die hard fans who were devastated by the loss of a main character. I really enjoyed this book as it matures more into an urban fantasy with high action and interesting characters. It is a bit removed from earlier books where it felt more paranormal with the potential love triangle between Leo, Bruiser and Jane. Since Bruiser was dedicated to Leo. Leo wanted Jane and Jane wanted Bruiser. If you are looking for a return to the erotic tension, go look for an erotic book, this isn't it. This urban fantasy is highly recommended to readers who enjoy character growths, loss and reunions.

Another fantastic installment in the Jane Yellowrock series. Jane is having trouble controlling her shifting, which is not good with a friend's wedding coming up, and a possible new liver eater in town. It also turns out that former master of the city Leo Pellisier was playing a REALLY long game, and Jane is about to get caught up in it, again. I love the family Jane created for herself, and how they play such an important role in her story.

Another amazing book by Faith Hunter. Jane and crew are back in NOLA and back to what they do best, hunting down the bad guys. There are many surprise twist and turns in this book especially one that will have long time fans very excited. I won't spoil it, but I am looking forward to what this might mean for future books. Even though Jane was healed of the cancer in the last book she is still having a hard time with her shifting but as usual is too deep in trouble and trying to keep everyone alive to address it. We get a closer look at the new dynamics since Jane became the Dark Queen and how everyone it having to adjust. If you are looking for everything to be tied up nice and neat by the end you will be disappointed as the book ended on a huge cliff hanger. I am waiting with bated breath for the next book and what it might bring.

The first 1/4 of the book wasn’t particularly interesting to me, I skimmed a lot. After Jane got back to New Orleans the plotline picked up…for most of the book. There was less of the woo woo magic I do not care for, but that left room for more bloody, drawn out battles. Jane spent way too much time in her head. If I was playing a drinking game with how many times she though about how she didn’t want to be Dark Queen, I’d never have gotten this written.

The book was uneven, overly wordy, and not a particularly absorbing read (for me). Lots of time spent harking back to events of previous books, many of which I barely remembered. Even the ‘big twist’ in this book failed to perk up my interest. Not to say there weren’t a lot of good parts of the book, there were; just not enough to balance the things and parts I didn’t enjoy.

I really miss the Jane and stories of the early books. The plots/investigations were interesting and streamlined. I haven’t liked the latter books of this series nearly as much. This series has just gotten too bloated and weird for me.

<I>At least there is Hunter’s ‘Soulwood’ series, I’m still enjoying that one…

OMG YES!!!! loved this book. The things that happen!!!! YAY Faith Hunter.. you did it again...There is so much happening you really don't want to put it down