Allure by Lea Nolan – a Review

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Description:
Worst. Summer. Ever.

Emma Guthrie races to learn the hoodoo magic needed to break The Beaumont Curse before her marked boyfriend Cooper’s sixteenth birthday. But deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry, dark, mysterious forces encroach, conspiring to separate Emma and Cooper forever. When Cooper starts to change, turning cold and indifferent, Emma discovers that both his heart and body are marked for possession by competing but equally powerful adversaries.

Desperate to save him, Emma and her twin brother, Jack, risk their lives to uncover the source of the black magic that has allured Cooper and holds him in its grip. Face with the horror of a soul-eating boohag, Emma and Jack must fight to resist its fiendish power to free Cooper long enough to join their strengths and face it together, before it destroys them all.

Review:
“It’s hoodoo…Not voodoo.  That’s a religion.” 

In case you were unclear, 14 year old Emma, apprentice to Miss Delia, the most powerful hoodoo Gullah root worker of the Lowcountry in South Carolina, will clarify the misconception and race against a deadline to save her BF, Cooper Beaumont from a 300 year old curse.  When you meet this young lady, you’ll know that this sort of urgent matter — it’s all in a day’s work for this gal!  Allure is book 2 in the Hoodoo Apprentice series by Lea Nolan.  I loved her writing style, the flow of the story so much, not only do I clamor for book 3 (please say there’s a book 3!), but I’ll retrace my steps in the meantime and start at the beginning with the debut novel, Conjure!  By the time I’m done with that, you should be ready to go…right, Ms. Nolan?  😉

While Allure launches straight into a fast-approaching target date of 3 weeks (Cooper’s 16^th birthday) to break the curse, we’re immediately given snippets of information detailing missing Gullah artifacts pivotal in Conjure.  Overlapping mysteries including a stolen pirate’s dagger and a missing family heirloom are interwoven throughout the story, but Ms. Nolan features them all diligently.  Sure, Cooper’s soul is the most important (can’t lose focus there, lol), but the suspense behind the subplots were just as intriguing.  The 80-carat family heirloom ruby stolen from Cooper’s father, Beau, whose description resembles that of Jabba the Hut (minus the rotting bologna odor), detours off the main storyline, but snatches center stage when further explored by Emma, her twin brother, Jack, and Cooper, as it connects to the Beaumont curse Cooper is so desperate to avoid.

Sabina, an African queen with a brutal sense of justice…used her mystical hoodoo powers to seek revenge.  She…cursed the Beaumont progeny forever by stealing their souls when they come into manhood, turning them unspeakably dark and corrupt. 

A murder to be solved (along with identification of a tar-like substance found on the body), an unplanned stay from Miss Delia’s haughty great-granddaughter (intent on spoiling Emma and Jack’s young love), a shady investigator with a dark agenda, and all kinds of hoodoo magic, spell conjuring, and boo hags ultimately find its way back to the heart of the matter.  This isn’t stereotypical teenage amusement at play, but supernatural threats that are based in deep-rooted vengeance.

Before you know it, latent effects of the curse are taking root within Cooper and he begins to detach from Emma and Jack (the trio have been BFFs for years). 

My jaw drops as I stare at him, transfixed by the strange hue of his irises.  His eyes have always appeared to change shades, but I’ve never seen this one, ever.  It’s cold.  Lifeless.  Perhaps even soulless.  A chill ripples through me.  Is this proof that the Beaumont Curse has begun to set in?              

Will breaking the Beaumont curse rid Cooper of his sudden obsession with Miss Delia’s great-granddaughter?  Just when you hoped things/emotions would settle down, Ms. Nolan ramps up the hoodoo action, with even more action, and the mother of showdowns leaves you with baited breath (and a wicked oath for interference).  Quick resolutions?  Where’s the fun in that?!  BRING ON BOOK #3!!!

I loved the care, the respect, afforded to the practice.  Ms. Nolan clearly dabbles in the art or has done a marvelous job of research.  The gathering of herbs and exotic ingredients to execute a spell felt as if they were being concocted in my home.  I could almost smell the lemon verbena!  I got such a kick out of her flare for the dynamic imagery:  Referring to the first deputy on site of the murder scene, she described him as “a thick-necked, muscle-bound specimen of crime-fighting prowess”, or when explaining the impossible, she refutes, “But that’s like telling an ice cube not to melt in this heat”.  When voiced by a 14 year old girl, Ms. Nolan gives you hope for the next generation!  Even when Emma’s hoping justice is served, her indignation lies on the person mistreating hoodoo; for using it with malevolence.  I loved this young lady!  I did gasp, and gulp, when reading a kiss between Emma and Cooper that was just too “advanced” for my tastes.  Tracing kisses behind her ear…yiker bikers, slow down!  It didn’t go beyond that, thankfully, and we end up in love with young love…well, sort of.  An unexpected change of plans keeps Emma and Jack in South Carolina.  How long till Cooper and Jack notice Emma keeps looking over her shoulder from the supernatural threat that has a personal bone to pick with her?

It was indeed my pleasure to meet a lovely cast of characters, each equally impressive and unique.  I did end the story on an “Awww…”, so I’ll say it again:  I’M READY FOR BOOK 3!!!

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy provided by Publisher