Summoning the Night by Jenn Bennett

Summoning the Night
(Arcadia Bell #2)
Jenn Bennett
Release: April 24, 2012
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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.

Bennett outdoes herself with Summoning the Night, packing action, fun, romance, and a hyper teenage boy into one wonderful urban fantasy.

The Arcadia Bell series is, for me, like breathing in fresh air. Many aspects of the series are fairly unique for UF. One of these is the relationship between the main character, Cady, and her new boyfriend (err...'manfriend?). Lon is the older, wiser, quieter one and his quiet strength, utter loyalty, and sexy smirks make him a great love interest for Cady. Lon's teenage son also makes this series stand out in the genre of UF. I have recently noticed more teens working their way into the genre (Kate Daniels, Charlie Madigan, etc.), but Jupe really stands out as an important and entertaining character. His hyper-active, willing to please, wanting to be included personality makes him just so lovable! Jupe is not "the boyfriend's kid", but rather an indispensable part of the story, especially in Summoning the Night. In this one, we see Cady and Jupe's relationship grow and their connection is so sweet that I didn't mind in the slightest that Cady and Lon's relationship took a bit of a back seat. That doesn't mean that there weren't some great scenes between the two, because there was one scene in Lon's kitchen........whew!

It is also a bit unique that Bennett writes such a strong urban fantasy without any fantasy creatures. There are other series, of course, which manage this successfully as well. However, there just aren't that many and I highly enjoy the original use of magic in this series. Every aspect of the way Cady uses magic is believable and there are no questions left unanswered about her or Lon's world. 

I was immediately sucked in to the story in Summoning, and I think this one had much more action than the first in the series. Cady and Lon do some serious investigating and poor Cady really takes a nonstop beating. I think she was scratched or bruised on every inch of her body by the story's end! Two of the minor characters from book one reappear and play a much larger role in this sequel. A new character, slimy and untrustworthy, is introduced in Summoning as well. I'm really interested to see where the plot goes in the next book with the way things were left among all the characters at the end of this one. 

Once again, Bennett has given us an inventive and energetic urban fantasy with great characters and an absorbing plot. Can't wait for number three!

Recommended for lovers of: urban fantasy, magic, demons, skunk hair, older men, tropical drinks, and JUPE!