I haven’t
been reading a lot of fantasy novels lately. Not for any particular reason other
than the fact that I’ve been in a romance mood for the last couple of weeks.
But when I was looking for another book to read and my eye caught the cover of
‘Bayou Born’, I decided it was time to start reading this one. Don’t you just
love that cover?

In ‘Bayou
Born’ we meet Luce Boudreau. Luce Boudreau was found fifteen years ago,
half-wild, and with no memory of where she came from, in a Mississippi swamp.
The policeman who found her adopted her and now fifteen years later Luce is a
police officer herself. Even though she still has no memories of her past, and
has no idea where she came from, she is working hard to make something of her
life. But when a young woman is found in the same swamp she is determined to
finally get more answers.

When I
started ‘Bayou Born’, I definitely had no idea what to expect from this read. A
fantasy, and a story about a girl who was found in a swamp.. Yes.. My
imagination was running wild thinking about this book. After struggling a
little through the first view pages, I soon found myself completely fascinated
with this story. We don’t get a lot of answers and throughout this read you get
more and more questions. Although I do not always like that, in this case it
made me want to keep on reading and before I knew it I couldn’t stop. A lot is
happening  in this book and even now I’ve
finished it, I still can’t stop thinking about it. There is so much yet to
learn about this one. Hailey Edwards definitely did a smashing job writing this
book.

The main
character Luce is a little bit strange, but I liked her from the start. She is
very mysterious, but that’s because she doesn’t know where she came from or
what those strange striations on her arm are. She also is very tough. And
reading about her interactions with her co-workers and her new found friends
made me laugh several times.

The
fantasy in this book is definitely exciting and I love the fact that it’s so
intertwined with ‘real-life’. I still have a lot of questions, as well as Luce
herself, so I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. There’s also a
little bit of romance in this book. And I didn’t expect that, but loved it even
more because of it. Hailey Edwards definitely made me love fantasy again!

Hailey
Edwards writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good
magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself,
and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy. She
lives in Alabama with her husband, their daughter, and a herd of dachshunds. 

For more
information about Hailey please visit her website. Or visit her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.