Review: Deadlock
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 1, 2011
If this book is any indication of the rest of my reads in 2011, I am going to be a happy, happy girl this year - Deadlock kicked butt!!I have been a fan of Moira Rogers' Southern Arcana series since the first book, Crux. Deadlock, book 3 in the series, is my favorite so far:Alec Jacobson is about as Alpha as they come - he's the unofficial leader of the New Orleans area "pack", and a lot of people rely on him to keep things running without interference from the official pack hierarchy up in New York. In previous books he's been a bit gruff, tough, and bad-ass, but you know he's got a heart of gold. In Deadlock we see some of Alec's past... we learn he was married to a human, and she died because of it. He hasn't really gotten over it, and pushes himself to protect the supernaturals in New Orleans so that they can live and love like he didn't get to do.Carmen Mendoza is a doctor who is new to New Orleans - she's come to work in the supernatural hospital. She's half-werewolf and an empath. She's also got a very power-hungry father and uncle, and they're disappointed that they haven't been able to marry her off to another powerful werewolf family. When she refuses to meet their latest potential suitor, they decide to take matters into their own hands using powerful, dangerous magic.Alec's protective instincts go into overdrive to save Carmen, and when she's near him she feels safe. The heat between them is scorching hot; I love that a 44-year-old man and a 30-something woman get to have this amazing, sexy, primal romance.I also felt like this book did a great job of focusing on the rest of the supernatural community, both in and outside of New Orleans. Political issues that we've been watching in the first two books come to a head and I am love-, love-, loving where that storyline is going.I can't do a proper review without mentioning Andrew and Kat. OMG I need their story NOW!!! Their pain and desire leaped off the page. I want these two to get an HEA so badly!The combination of the love story, the political machinations, and Andrew and Kat's yearning storyline made for a fabulous read! When I wasn't reading Deadlock I was wondering about the characters; I love it when a book grabs me like that.I know this review has been all over the place; I feel like I'm pointing in every direction and saying "how cool is this", and "look at that", and "check this out", "and this too!", but there were so many good things going on!I'll leave you with this little fun thing: One of the locations in Deadlock is Algiers Point, a small neighborhood on the Westbank of New Orleans. I've lived in Algiers for over 20 years, and for many of those years lived 2 blocks away from Lavergne Street, which is specifically mentioned in the book. In addition, Alec mentions that "they've got someone in the 4th", which is where one of my brothers works. You know as soon as I read that I wanted to call him and ask him which of his co-workers he thought was a werewolf! So those things took an already great read and made it a bit more fun for me ;)I do recommend reading Crux and Crossroads, the first two books in the series, before reading Deadlock. It can be read as a stand-alone, but will be much more enjoyable if you know all the background players and their history.