Arcadia 'Cady' Bell is gingerly settling into her new relationship with earthbound demon and award-winning photographer Lon and his quirkily charming son Jupe. Her newly-awakened Moonchild powers are not her first choice for magic working, the lingering stain of her near death at the hands of her insane parents colors anything she might choose to do with them but with a reawakened serial killer endangering the children of La Sirena she may not have a choice.

Jenn Bennett has written another fantastic novel. SUMMONING THE NIGHT is book two in the Arcadia Bell series and I think even better than the first. I totally enjoyed the first one Kindling the Night but now that I am familiar with the characters and world she built reading the second was just a notch higher on my personal scale. I laughed out loud (especially with the dead-on dialogue of teen Jupe), became tense and read a lot more quickly as the pace and suspense built and even cried a bit here and there. Although primarily an urban fantasy there are elements of romance, and those scenes between Cady and Lon are hot yet realistic with appropriate elements of humor; a refreshing change from the continual use of words like 'heaving' and 'turgid'.

Bennett is one of those authors who can make a reader feel at home in the world they created with just a few deft sentences. She excels at urban fantasy where the mundane is woven with the extraordinary. Arcadia's world is filled with humans, demons, magic users; danger and humor. Each character is complex but not confusing, the main plot line is clear but the additional tendrils involving the emotional journeys of Cady, Jupe and even some of the more minor characters enrich and expand the story.

Sometimes a second book can fall a bit short, no matter how enthusiastic I am about finding a new-to-me author, but not in this case. I can't find enough superlatives for the enjoyment each of Bennet's books has brought. She has won a life-time fan in me.

Book Summary

The second in a not-to-be-missed urban fantasy series about a freewheeling magician who slings drinks at a demon-friendly tiki bar.

Renegade magician and tiki bar owner Arcadia "Cady" Bell is rebuilding her life after narrowly escaping her fate as sacrificial scapegoat. When a fiendish bogeyman sends the community into a fear-fueled tailspin, the influential head of the local Hellfire Club asks for her help in tracking him down. Now that Cady is dating the club’s wayward son, she can hardly say no.

Cady and Lon soon untangle a gruesome trail of clues that puts all the Earthbound children of the club members in danger—including Lon’s teenage son, Jupiter. If Cady can conjure up a little metaphysical help from her demonic bar patrons, she might just be able to figure out the true identity of the Sandpiper Park Snatcher and stop him before he takes another victim.