Bayou Born (The Foundling #1) and Bone Driven (The Foundling #2) by Hailey Edwards

 

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Deep in the humid Mississippi bayou, a half-wild child is dragged from the murky waters. She has no memories, no family and is covered in mysterious markings. Adopted by the policeman who rescued her, Luce Boudreau follows him onto the force, determined to prove herself in the eyes of those who are still suspicious.

However, there's more of a battle ahead than Luce could possibly imagine. She may be an orphan without a past, but no one - including Luce herself - could ever be prepared for the truth of her dark, powerful destiny...

 

I've been wanting to try this for a while, mainly because it's set in Mississippi and I haven't seen very many books set there. I also lived within driving distance from the town this book is set in so I was interested in seeing how things would be portrayed in this book. I thought the overall atmosphere of the bayou and Mississippi in general could have been better described. There are names of several towns that I lived near in these first two books, but there wasn't quite enough to differentiate it from anywhere else. No one in the book felt truly Southern to me, but it didn't bother me too much. 

Most of the paranormal/urban fantasies I've read lately have been rather mediocre, especially the self published ones. I think they've all just lacked some character depth, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I ended up really liking it a lot. The characters were well written, except for maybe, as I said before, not feeling very Southern. 

There were a couple of twists that I thought were well done. I didn't see one of them coming at all. I was a little disappointed, after the main character's identity is revealed. It wasn't really a direction I was wanting or expecting the book to go in, but after I got used to the idea it grew on me.

There were certain aspects of this that reminded me a lot of the Crow's Curse series by Laura Bickle, but I'm liking this better. Mostly though, this felt pretty unique and I liked it enough to read the second book, which I've added my rating and the description to below. As of now, I'm planning to continue on with the series.

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Life as a cop in Canton Town, Mississippi, is never dull - particularly when hiding deep within you is a demon bent on the apocalypse. Luce is doing her best to pretend her two worlds aren't crashing into each other, but what should be a routine arson investigation takes a shocking turn when Luce discovers a link between the suspects and her own dark secrets. There's no turning back, even though her search for the truth threatens to burn her old life down around her.

Lines are being drawn in a war Luce barely understands, and she just might be on the wrong side of them. Now she must embrace her powerful destiny, or the ones she loves most will pay the ultimate price.