Title: Summoning the Night
Series: Arcadia Bell #2
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Pocket Books
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Published: April 24, 2012
ISBN #: 9781451620535 / 1451620535
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Copy: review copy from author
MAGICAL TRICKS. DEMONIC TREATS.
After narrowly escaping her fate as a sacrificial scapegoat, Arcadia Bell is back to normal. Or at least as ordinary as life can be for a renegade magician and owner of a tiki bar that caters to Earthbound demons. She’s gearing up for the busiest day of the year—Halloween—when a vengeful kidnapper paralyzes the community. The influential head of the local Hellfire Club taps Cady to track down the fiendish bogeyman, and now that she’s dating red-hot Lon Butler, the Club’s wayward son, she can hardly say no.
Cady and Lon untangle a gruesome thirty-year trail of clues that points to danger for the club members’ children. But locating the person behind the terror will require some metaphysical help from Cady’s loyal bar patrons as well as her potent new Moonchild powers—and she’d better figure it out before the final victim disappears and her own darkest secret becomes her biggest enemy.
Summoning the Night has been on my top 5 most anticipated books of 2012 list since I first discovered this series last year. Kindling the Moon earned 5-paws from this reviewer last October so I had extremely high expectations of this second installment. Although, this novel didn’t knock its predecessor out of the water it came darn close. The main plot line is intense and exciting but it’s the deepening connections between Cady, Lon and Jupe that made me fall in love with these characters all over again.
The trail of clues that’s scattered throughout the pages of this novel turns the story into a real page turner. There’s nothing that I like more than an author who can keep me guessing up until the very end and Bennett does exactly that. I jumped from bad guy to bad guy trying to figure out who to point the finger at but I just couldn’t figure it out! Another thing that I enjoy about this series is the fact that there’s a price to using magic. Cady’s powers are growing exponentially yet the more she uses them the worse the side effects become.
In the first book, Cady and Lon’s relationship was still in the early stages but in Summoning the Night they’re now a full blown couple. These two are incredibly cute together and their intimate moments are off the charts hot! I liked that they enacted a complete honesty rule and laid their truths out to each other. It’s nice to see a couple working together in harmony for a change and that the plot’s conflict doesn’t revolve around relationship problems. Then of course there’s Jupe; where do I even begin? I couldn’t get enough of him in Summoning the Night and book two has only further escalated my obsession with this character. He’s absolutely awesome and he makes me want to almost have kids. Almost. The scene where he and Cady have a heart-to-heart is just pure gold. The emotions are raw and the conversation is just so real that I could picture it perfectly in my mind’s eye. If this exchange doesn’t make you get at least a little teary eyed then I don’t know what will!
Bennett has a very visual-type style of writing which I’m head over heels in love with. It kicks her already phenomenal universe up by another notch and transforms the story from a good read into a fantastic one. The plot has a high creep factor that’s present throughout the book and the villain is in a category all of his own. He/she is just downright terrifying and that’s the best kind of bad guy in my opinion! A new character named Hajo is introduced as well and he also further adds to the overall creepiness. So yeah, the eeriness is coming at readers from all directions! I’m not sure if we’re going to see more of Hajo in the future but I’m definitely hoping for a yes on that front.
Summoning the Night will give you goosebumps, bring tears to your eyes and make you think. Now, there aren’t too many Urban Fantasy books out there that can make you experience such a wide range of physical reactions so Jenn Bennett must be doing something right! I can’t emphasize enough how much you need to read this series and if I haven’t convinced you and Cady doesn’t either well, I’m sure that Jupe will be up to the task!
  My Review |
  My Review |
  My Review |
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| Recommendation: | A great book to read if you’re stuck in a reading slump. You’ll go from 0 pages to 352 pages in a matter of hours. |
| Like this, like that: | The Skin Dancer series by Anthony Francis, The Hollows series by Kim Harrison and a few of Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld books. |
Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
Ooooh! I’m reading(yes, reading) this right now, I’ll be back to read the review as soon as I finish. I loved, loved the first book.
Once again, Congratulations!
I LOVE Jenn’s writing voice too. Great review Carmel!
Carmel this series sounds like something I would love, and I am going to pick up book one. Thanks for sharing it, and I added your button to my blog today!
Great review! The series sounds fun. I just LOVE the girl on the cover. She looks like she’s about had it. LOL Adding this series to my wishlist! Thanks for posting the review!!
SOme days I think the universe is trying to tell me something. I just came from a blog that reviewed Kindle the Moon and now you! I’d never heard of these and now I have to find them!
This sounds exactly like what I’m in the mood for. I’m glad that you’re over your reading slump! I went to check your review of book 1 and I think you’ve convinced me. I added it to my tbr pile.
Great Review Carmel!
Great review, Carmel!
Jupe = AWESOMENESS! 😉