Dance Me a Dark Haired Beauty Merry Turns of a Skin Dancer #1
Fantasy, Magick, Paranormal Romance
Independent
June 20, 2023
Kindle
233
Amazon
Two fae walk into a bar…and that’s just when the trouble begins.
Welcome to the Big Easy, where the good times roll…and where the real and surreal collide. For more than two centuries, rare human/fae hybrid Camille Delacroix has remained safe. Her unique birthright as a skin dancer gives her the ability to change nearly everything about herself, allowing her to hide in plain sight. Yet on one fateful night, not one but two unexpected visitors hailing from her mother’s magical realm threaten to unravel her peaceful existence.
On one hand is Zacarias, Grand Enforcer of the High Court of the Fae. Dark, dangerous and cruelly seductive, he appears with quite the ultimatum: discover the source of the mysterious plague killing the Deathless Ones or be revealed to the world as something other than human. And then they’re Rhys, who manages to be sex-crazed and innocent simultaneously. That is, when he’s not causing mayhem on nearly a catastrophic level wherever he goes. He’s been sent to aid her in her quest, but she’s not so sure just how much help his naïve bumbling will do.
Things are getting complicated. Folks on both sides of the mystical veil are dropping dead and Camille is running out of time. Caught between two sexy fae and self-preservation. What’s a girl to do?
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Camille (Cam) Delacroix is a Skin Dancer like her mother, her father was a human and for two hundred years she has lived among her father’s people. Her mother always warned her about Fae and that they can’t be trusted, she followed her advice until the night not one, but two Fae entered her life. She has returned to New Orleans and works as a bartender living a quiet life but that is about to change.
She is warned to go outside to the alley, or her secret identity will be revealed. Outside she is met by Zacarias the Grand Enforcer of the High Court of the Fae. For a millennium Fae have not been affected by any kind of illness but now Fae are falling ill including the Queen and her daughter. Zacarias has been assigned to find Camille so she can discover where the disease originates from and find a cure. Her magic is so powerful that she can change her appearance, her entire body changes where the Fae can only use glamour. She is also familiar with the human realm, so she is the last hope for the Fae to cure this disease that is slowly killing them.
As if one Fae wasn’t enough Rhys, a knight is sent to help Camille and it is his first visit to this realm. He enters the bar knocking things over, spilling drinks and getting him and Camille encouraged to leave before more damage is caused. Rhys is the total opposite of Zacarias, he is caring, kind and yes, a klutz evidenced by all the damage he causes in Camille’s home. Rhys also has a warped idea of what humans are like I.e., he is convinced that at the end of every day humans have sex so he is sure Camille will be obliging, wrong.
Camille tries to find evidence of humans getting ill as a clue to follow, and when one of her regulars at the bar suddenly dies, she finally has a starting point. Cam is desperate to get her life back and that will take a cure so she can get her two Fae to move on.
Zacarias and Rhys do not care for each other, but Cam needs Zacarias’ help, help he is willing to give since the cure would save both the Queen and her heir. Cam is attracted to Zacarias but won’t pursue anything, still hearing her mother’s warnings in her head. Zacarias, like Cam, is beginning to have feelings, the kind he has never experienced before but a relationship is a no no.
This is the first book in a trilogy so Camille will have more Fae in her life, hopefully Zacarias and Rhys. Rhys is so amazing, he made me smile and laugh with his innocent actions whereas Zacarias is a scary dude. Surprises and an edge of the seat ending in addition to secrets that Zacarias is keeping. There is so much more I want to learn about Camille’s mother and her life growing up, no problem, I have two more books left to go and I hope it won’t be a long wait.
