Review: ROYAL STREET by Suzanne Johnson

Royal Street. What can I say? I loved it. Wonderful characters, a great plot and plenty of conflict. Not to mention sexy shape-shifters and pirates.

Drusilla Jaco, known as DJ, is a Green Wizard and a Sentinel in New Orleans. Her boss, Gerry gives her an assignment to capture and send the famous pirate, Jean Lafitte back to the Beyond. Lafitte threatens payback, but she sends him on his way. Then hurricane Katrina comes along, and DJ is ordered to evacuate. We all know what happens to New Orleans after Katrina - it flooded. DJ can’t locate her boss, Gerry, and she’s afraid he’s dead, but she tries to hold on to hope that he’s not. The Elder’s, however, believe Gerry is hiding, and that Gerry betrayed them.

Now DJ’s in charge of the New Orleans area, and her assignments are to send the dead back to the Beyond and plug all the breaches from where they came. Plus she's not giving up hunting for Gerry. Her new partner, Alex Warin is an Enforcer for the Elders, but that’s not all he is – he’s HOT! Alex and DJ spend a lot of time together helping each other along the way. They run into all sorts of problems such as Voodoo and National Guard killings.

I can’t give too many details or I’ll ruin this wonderful story for you. And take it from a reader who’s been hunting for a book such as this one, I don’t want to give anything away. I rarely read novels in one sitting, but I just couldn't stop reading Royal Street. I was fascinated by DJ, Jean Lafitte, her delicious partner, Alex and his sexy cousin, Jake. Oh, I forgot to mention, Louis Armstrong, he’s in there too. As well as a famous restaurateur. Hurricane Katrina has a major role as well.

I’m local to the New Orleans area, and the author couldn't’t have done a better job on creating the suspense and raw emotions of Katrina and the after-math. I remember it well. The book brought tears to my eyes in some scenes and I laughed my butt off in others. Suzanne Johnson is one to watch out for. I don’t care if you love romances, paranormals or urban fantasy books, Royal Street has it all. A perfect blend for everyone, just like a spicy New Orleans gumbo. It’s all in there.

Royal Street will be out in April 2012, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon so you don't forget this one. The next book in this series is called River Road.