Review: Dead on the Delta by Stacey Jay

Dead on the Delta (Annabelle Lee #1) by Stacey Jay
Synopsis (Goodreads):

Once upon a time, fairies were the stuff of bedtime stories and sweet dreams. Then came the mutations, and the dreams became nightmares. Mosquito-size fairies now indulge their taste for human blood—and for most humans, a fairy bite means insanity or death. Luckily, Annabelle Lee isn’t most humans. The hard-drinking, smart-mouthed, bicycle-riding redhead is immune to fairy venom, and able to do the dirty work most humans can’t. Including helping law enforcement— and Cane Cooper, the bayou’s sexiest detective—collect evidence when a body is discovered outside the fairy-proof barricades of her Louisiana town.

But Annabelle isn’t equipped to deal with the murder of a six year-old girl or a former lover-turned-FBI snob taking an interest in the case. Suddenly her already bumpy relationship with Cane turns even rockier, and even the most trust-worthy friends become suspects. Annabelle’s life is imploding: between relationship drama, a heartbreaking murder investigation, Breeze-crazed drug runners, and a few too many rum and Cokes, Annabelle is a woman on the run—from her past, toward her future, and into the arms of a darkness waiting just for her. . . .

My Thoughts: I'm torn on how I feel about this book. I liked the world building -- REALLY liked it, actually. It was dark and different and it felt like a very dangerous place to live in. I liked a lot of the secondary characters with all their quirks and sometimes stupid choices. However, I had a tough time empathizing with Annabelle. The girl is screwed up. She has her reasons for it, but it was tough to watch her sabotage a relationship that had potential and make stupid choices as far as her career was concerned (FYI, drinking on the job is never a good idea unless you're a bartender -- and even then, really).

Now that we've established that Annabelle's a screw up, I will say that I liked how she stepped up to try to show her ex that she's not the aimless slacker that he thinks she is. I do think she probably should have come clean about the circumstances that made him her ex but she can tackle that in the next book. Speaking of Hitch, I'm torn on how I feel about him. I like him. In some ways I think he's a better match for Annabelle than Cane is (possibly because they have a bit more chemistry. Maybe.). However, I didn't like the vibe he brought when he allowed his partner to try to bring Annabelle down because she was feeling a little insecure. No matter how I try to spin that, he had to know some of what Stephanie was feeling and he didn't try to stop her. Not cool, Hitch.

Overall, this was a dark, gritty book full of nasty, biting fairies and a nicely twisty mystery. Annabelle wasn't the easiest character to like and there were times when I was shaking my head at her in frustration but she has a whole new world opening up to her and that intrigues me. Nothing says exciting to me like bad, mysterious, dangerous things happening to unsuspecting people.

Books in this series
1. Dead on the Delta - Paperback | Kindle
2. Blood on the Bayou

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