I truly enjoyed Jigsaw, so when I saw Kathleen Nance had a new book out, I looked forward to having the chance to review it. Unfortunately, this story did not flow well as the suspense plot never really flared to life, weighed down as it was by a convoluted fantasy world. The world-building and the suspense plot do not mesh well and this caused the book itself to falter.

Following the death of her husband, Natalie Severin’s grief nearly destroyed her career as a reporter. However, at New Orleans News Eyes (NONE), she’s given a second chance that comes in the guise of covering tales of the occult and paranormal most publications would ignore. Natalie is grateful for the opportunity and one night while following a lead into the bayou she stumbles across something incredible that will lead her on the investigation of a lifetime.

Instead of discovering the supernatural phenomenon she seeks in the bayou, Natalie finds herself in the midst of an exotic animal smuggling ring. In the struggle, Natalie sees local veternarian Ram Montgomery best three attackers in a fight and perform a miracle using what can be nothing other than magical powers. Though Ram and Natalie are immediately struck by lust at first sight out (a phenomenon readers get to hear only too much about), Ram’s magic and Natalie’s history as a reporter cause mistrust between them.

Ram and Natalie both want to get to bottom of the animal smuggling ring’s secrets, but they are reluctant to fully trust one another. This results in a dance of “one step forward and two steps back” as they try to work together. Unfortunately, what could have been compelling issues for the couple to deal with are rendered interminable by weak character developement and clumsy world-building.

The reader learns early on that both Ram and Natalie are tortured and that each lusts after the other. However, lust gets used far too often as a shorthand for character development and this results in a romance I found difficult to believe. I could easily accept that these two were going to have a total sexfest, but I found it difficult to see any deep, lasting relationship emerging from it.

The world-building is also a little on the flat side, resulting in the hard time I had connecting with the book. The mental lusting made me smirk, and the discussions of magic came off as rather hokey instead of flowing naturally. While the characters all seem to accept magic (even if some do have personal issues with it), the world in which the characters practice feels artificial, making it difficult for the reader to set aside disbelief. The story comes together and the plot action grows more compelling toward the end, but by then it is hard to really care.

Fantasy and paranormal romances romances certainly have a wide readership and there are some excellent ones out there. However, Phoenix Unrisen simply is not one of them. Kathleen Nance has written some good books, and I would suggest sticking to her backlist for now and giving this one a miss.