Review: This is how a prequel is done!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 6, 2013
After reading Something Strange and Deadly and loving it, I was thrilled to know a prequel novella was coming out this week.  A Dawn Most Wicked follows Daniel Sheridan on an adventure three years prior to SS&D.;  He's working on a steamboat on the Mississippi River, in love with the captain's daughter, and finds himself in a pickle with his job, some nasty ghosts, and a race down the river with disastrous consequences.This, ladies and gentleman, is how you do a prequel.  I've noticed a lot of authors doing novellas that give the love interest's point of view or boast additional insight into a character or scene, but most of them just end up being rehashings of what we already knew.  Susan has a different approach.  She thankfully has written an entirely new story that not only gives the reader a lot of excellent, in-depth background on Daniel, but she also treats us to the origins of the spirit-hunter team and the technology they use in SS&D.;I liked Daniel previously, but now I love him.  I loved how he struggled with acting on his feelings or doing what he'd been taught was right and proper.  I also loved that because of his previous experience with Cass, it made him more determined than ever to become the kind of man that was worthy of Eleanor.Susan's novella is full of action, excitement, romance and yes, some gore.  It definitely got me in the mood to read A Darkness Strange and Lovely (where Eleanor goes to Paris!) which will be published on July 23, 2013.4.5/5