Book Review: Binding the Shadows by Jenn Bennett

Binding the Shadows
Author: Jenn Bennett
Series: Arcadia Bell (Book 3)
Publication: Pocket Books (May 28, 2013)

Description: In the third book in this beloved and "riveting" (Romantic Times) urban fantasy series, demon-friendly tiki bar owner Arcadia Bell discovers more about her own evolving, and possibly destructive, magical abilities when her bar is the target of a demonic crime wave.

Renegade mage and bartender Arcadia Bell has had a rough year, but now the door to her already unstable world is unhinging. When a citywide crime wave erupts, Cady's demon-friendly tiki bar is robbed by Earthbounds wielding surreal demonic abilities that just flat-out shouldn't exist. With the help of her devilishly delicious boyfriend, Lon Butler, Cady sets out to find the people who wronged her--but her targets aren't the only ones experiencing unnatural metamorphoses. Can Cady track down the monsters responsible before the monster inside her destroys everything--and everyone--she loves? If she survives this adventure, one thing is certain: it's last call for life as she knows it.

My Thoughts: First of all, make sure you have the fourth book at hand before you finish this one. You are going to really, really want to read it.

Cady Bell is happy with her boyfriend Lon and his son Jupe but there are some challenges ahead. There is a new drug in town that enhances Skills. Cady and Lon first run into it when Dare sends them to question another member of the Hellfire Club and he exhibits way beyond the ordinary range of Skills. Next there seems to be a local crime wave going on. Cady's tiki bar is robbed by a couple of Earthbound teenagers who have too much telekinesis.

On the personal front, Cady's own abilities are evolving and becoming much more powerful. She learns that the mother who was taken into the demon world, and who Cady thought was dead, is not only alive but is determined to gain control over Cady and her powers.

And, even more personal, it is Christmas time and Cady has to meet Jupe's grandmother and aunt and she is afraid of making a bad impression. Then Jupe's mother shows up claiming to be drug-free and eager to rebuild her relationship with Jupe. But no one, least of all Cady, is willing to trust her as she wreaks emotional havoc on one and all.

This story is action-packed and Cady has more than her fair share of enemies who are all trying to get control of her. I love her relationships with Lon and Jupe and I love that she is learning to be part of a family. These relationships help balance all the chaos in the rest of her life.

I need to know what happens next! Excuse me while I slink off into my reading cave with BANISHING THE DARK.

Favorite Quote:

Who could resist a pygmy hedgehog that could climb up the Christmas tree and leap onto your shoulder when you least expected like some kind of little psychotic, quilled monkey?

I bought this book. You can buy your copy here.