Book Review: Garden of Dreams and Desires by Kristen Painter

Garden of Dreams and Desires (Crescent City #3) by Kristen Painter
Format: eARC by Netgalley
Publication Date: April 7th, 2015

Magic and mystery collide in this thrilling conclusion to the new urban fantasy series by House of Comarre author Kristen Painter.

Tourists are disappearing at an alarming rate. While Augustine and his lieutenants attempt to find them, Harlow and the evil spirit possessing her remain Augustine's true focus. Freeing her from the spirit's grasp is all he can think about, especially with no real solution on the horizon.

Then he discovers the tourists are disappearing because the witches are stealing souls to cast a dangerous chaos spell. Before he can stop them, Harlow becomes their victim. Now he must race the clock to set her free and end the witches' machinations before the chaos spell strips every fae in New Orleans of their power and bring fae rule to an end.

Wow. I can't believe it's been this long since I've requested this book on Netgalley early this year. Before then, though, I have yet to read any of Miss Painter's books. I didn't even know any of her books had existed until then - which is horrible considering my huge love of urban fantasy. But that also means there's just that many more new books for me to devour. Yum! c:

But, most importantly, I got the chance to dive into a new world that I've never experienced before. We all know about fey, vampires, witches, etc., but not like this. It's the little things in her stories that make it all that much more interesting... not to mention the multiple point of views that, oddly enough, I normally dislike. This actually ended up being one of the best parts of the book. And to think that I first decided to read the trilogy for the lovely book art and for the storyline. I never thought I'd love it this much.

Tourist are disappearing and no one really knows why. But, importantly, Augustine doesn't really care about that. His thoughts are all focused on Harlow, who has been possessed by her late twin sister who's only intention is to take over Harlow's body. And she knows exactly how to do just that.

But the Senator refuses to let him slide away from the emergency in the human world because one of the people who have disappeared is her son - and she knows it has to do with the supernaturals in the town she lives in. After all, he's the Guardian, and its his job to solve whatever mystery is going on in his world. He continues to refuse to do so... until he discovers the two situations meshed into one when Harlow finds herself (both her soul and her twin's soul) at the mercy of the witches' plans to cast a powerful spell that'll bring every fae to their knees.

I discovered recently that, originally, the author had intended this series to be a five book series, just like her previous series (I found the interview on the website called [BibloSanctum], so I don't know if it's directly from there or not) and it... just makes sense to me. Not to say that I didn't like this book - far from it - but it certainly did feel rushed compared to the previous two. It's really a huge bummer when that happens but, hey, it happens. At least it got sort of a finished end compared to The Final Dance series by Christie Golden (no, I'm not hurt by this, no... >___> ).

Even so, honestly, if you love Urban Fantasy, give this series a go. It's different than the norm and I think that's what makes it stand out and that much more unique. I can't wait to see what other books Kristen Painter will write!!