It’s the Roaring Twenties in foggy San Francisco. Prohibition is on, inhibitions are low, and dark magic is rolling into town… Archaeologist Lowe Magnusson is packing something everyone wants. The djed amulet, a priceless Egyptian artifact, will fetch Lowe a hefty paycheck from one of San Francisco’s wealthiest. But when the handsome Swede runs into his patron’s uptight daughter, what he once considered easy money becomes maddeningly complicated… Cursed with deadly spirits as her constant companions, curator Hadley Bacall must keep calm to hold her dangerous specters at bay and prevent them from lashing out at anything—or anyone. Trouble is, Lowe is driving her crazy, but her father needs the artifact he’s transporting. While Hadley can feel the amulet’s power, she can’t fathom the destruction—or the desire—it’s about to stir up.

While I LOVED Bitter Spirits from chapter one, Grim Shadows took me a little longer to love it. Jenna Bennett’s writing was just as great but it took me longer to warm up to Lowe and Hadley. I’m not 100% sure why but there was something missing in the beginning that was getting in my way. Maybe my undying lust for the older Magnusson brother, Winter was getting in my way of falling for his younger brother Lowe. But about 1/4 into the book I was starting to like them as  a couple.

Grim Shadows is much like The Mummy meets Indiana Jones in the middle of San Francisco. A sexy and dangerous adventure with just enough paranormal through in. You have an Egyptian curse, treasure huntingArchaeologist that’s also a bit of a con man and a socially awkward woman trying to climb the ladder at the museum she works at with her father. Oh and did I tell ya that the bad guy is unable to die and has magic to call on a fire giant, a griffin and can suck the life out of people? 

Grim Shadows had the right amount of action, mystery and romance rolled up into one hellva follow-up toBitters Spirits.  And the ending had me sniffling. I’m afraid to see what Bennett could do to me if she decided to write a real tear jerker.

With a bit of a rocky start, Lowe and Hadley won me over by the end of Grim Shadows and Jenn Bennett is firmly on my auto read listen. And after getting two Roaring Twenties books this year, it’s going to be hard to wait a year for book 3, Grave Phantoms. But I have Bennett’s Urban Fantasy series to look forward to in the mean time.

I’m stilling enjoying Amy Landon’s narration work on the series however since I’m not fond of Landon’s voice for Bo and with him being the hero of Grave Phantoms I will be switching from audio to print for the next installment.

About Jenn Bennett

Jenn Bennett is author of the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series from Pocket Books and the upcoming Roaring Twenties paranormal romance series from Berkley. Born in Germany, she has a B.F.A. in Painting from Troy University. She’s lived and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the U.S., and the Far East, and currently lives near Atlanta with one husband and two very bad pugs. Get weekly Facebook updates from Jenn by liking her fan page, or follow her on Twitter for daily dribbles about her current writing projects, the book industry, and miscellaneous obsessions.

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