TITLE: Hoodoo Heaven
AUTHOR: Reggi Dupree
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
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I enjoyed this short story by new author, Reggi Dupree. I saw her talking about it on TikTok and it sounded like fun, and it was! She took me on a ride into the world of Hoodoo and interesting characters. I loved Gwen’s profession was something unusual, a tattoo artist, and how her love of color informed the way she looked at the world. Since she “isn’t that thin or that young,” Gwen uses her intellect to save her butt rather than physical force. I can’t wait to read the first book in her series.
Gwendolyn has a problem. It’s her 45th birthday and it may be the last day of her life. Her family is cursed to die on their 45th birthday. If she can survive the day, she can break the curse. The story starts in Dublin, Ireland, as far from her hometown of Hoodoo, Texas, as she can get. It’s also where Gwen meets the mysterious Ace, who wants her to create a tattoo for him. She has a special talent for seeing those who aren’t human, and Ace checks out as human. But everyone of this reader’s warning bells clanged over his too good to be true persona. To escape the assassins after her, Gwen breaks down and accepts the work to do Ace’s tattoo. He takes her to the Moroccan desert—and there she thinks she’s safe. The story ends on a huge cliffhanger! I want to know what happened to Gwen in that pool, and just who and what Ace is!!
The story was well written and drew me into this interesting world of tattoos and hoodoo magic. The cliffhanger ending left me with questions I want the answers to. Even after reading a couple of books after this one, I keep going back to wondering, “just who Ace is and what did he do to Gwen.” Accomplishing this is great writing!