Bayou Born ~ Hailey Edwards

Edwards, Hailey. 2017. Bayou Born.  New York, NY: Piatkus Books, a division of Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0349417066.

I really enjoyed the unique world-building of this Urban Fantasy title and all the creativity the author put into developing the story.

Luce is a police officer in a small Mississippi town, and is infamous for being rescued from a swamp (bayou) when she was ten with strange metal bands marking her skin and no memory of her past.  She was adopted by a policeman who has protected her with the love of a true parent, but she has always wondered where she came from. When another woman is found in the swamp with the same markings, Luce hopes to get some answers with the help of a strange crew of security experts who arrive in town at the same time.

The characters in Bayou Born were well-developed and distinct and the dialogue was well-written and included a lot of humor. The paranormal elements were unique and creative, and I applaud the author for her imagination.  However, I had a few issues with the writing itself: the figurative language (similes and metaphors) and inner dialogue of the main character were often a bit overdone - some similes were so long that I got lost in understanding the point by the end of the description.  I think the writing could have been tightened up a bit without losing the humor the author was apparently aiming for.  This is a world that I would like to visit again, and it looks like it's been set up for a series.  I have high hopes that the author will continue to hone her writing style and perhaps make it a bit easier on the reader in the future.