Book Review: House of the Rising Sun (Crescent City #1) by Kristen Painter

House of the Rising Sun 

(Crescent City #1) 

by 

Kristen Painter

Pub May 13th 2014 

by Orbit 

ARC for Review 

Summary
Every vampire has heard rumor of the mythical place where their kind can daywalk. But what no vampire knows is that this City of Eternal Night actually exists.

And its name is New Orleans.

For centuries, the fae have protected the city from vampire infestation. But when the bloodsuckers return, the fragile peace in New Orleans begins to crumble.

Carefree playboy Augustine, and Harlow, a woman searching for answers about her absent father, are dragged into the war. The fate of the city rests on them --- and their fae blood that can no longer be denied.
Book one in the brand new, action-packed urban fantasy Crescent City series, from award winning, House of Comarre author Kristen Painter!

Mirror’s Are Always Brighter On The Other Side

House of The Rising Sun was an okay read for me. I really enjoyed several aspects but it was lacking in others. Augustine was wonderful and my heart broke for the life he has had to endure. Harlow was a character that needed a lot of development, though she had some I’m afraid it wasn’t enough. The push and pull of Augustine and Harlow was entertaining but I was hoping for more romance sadly there wasn’t enough to make me fall in love with the characters as well. Another thing I enjoyed was all of the side characters everyone surrounding Augustine and Harlow brought a lot to the table. Action packed? Yea I would say there was a substantial amount of furniture being knocked around and ashes flying. World building? Sure I enjoyed the futuristic NOLA but although it takes place years from now I envisioned the modern day french quarter. There were references to hologram tv’s but the structure of the square didn’t feel changed. Does that make sense? Like hey no one uses news papers anymore but people take stairs and elevators to get to the top floor of a hotel? Regular doors to get into a town house? Though we were supposed to be in a new age a lot of what was read felt like today’s age. The world building was good but it felt like 2015 instead 2068. In 2068 I’ll have to look back at this review and see how NOLA is lol!

The interactions with the characters were great Augustine’s adoptive mother was wonderful and accepting and loving. Come to find out she is Harlow’s mother all I could wonder is how in the heck do these two not have a better relationship. We find out what Harlow has wanted her whole life and that is to know her father. Well, things are not what they seem. Harlow’s mother has a very good reason why he is not allowed anywhere near them. After Harlow meets her father for the second time she comes to terms that he is an awful person not to be trusted. Harlow struggles deeply with her fae blood all she wants is to be normal. Augustine feels a connection with Harlow and he will do what it takes to keep her safe. There are also witches that are dastardly plotting a way to bring the fae down and let us not forget the voodoo queens and kings. Yes there is a lot that happens in this very first novel and several questions are answered.

The writing had a nice flow and kept my interest. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I think something that was largely disappointing was that I kept waiting for the romance to blossom between Augustine and Harlow but it never really does. I’m not sure if its because Harlow needs to work on herself before she commits to someone or if that is just not even a blip of a focus for the author. I will not be continuing this series so I’ll never know but I’m also okay with that. As I mentioned before this was an okay read for me but it might be the bees knees for you. I recommend this series if you are into the Fae, Witches, Vampires, Action, so basically a little bit of everything sans falling in love.

My Rating

3.0 NOLA, Movies, Hack, Fee, Fae New Year, Masks, Guardian, Attack, Ashes, Mirror, Will, Estate, Mother, Father, Eternal Night, Cross, Young Bloods, Exacting Revenge filled stars.

Purchase Through

✿ Amazon ✿ B&N ✿

About the Author

Kristen Painter likes to balance her obsessions with shoes and cats by making the lives of her characters miserable and surprising her readers with interesting twists. She currently writes award-winning urban fantasy for Orbit Books. The former college English teacher can often be found on twitter @Kristen_Painter, Facebook at www.facebook.com/KristenPainterAuthor where she loves to interact with readers and her blog: http://kristenpainter.com/blog/.