Review--Dead on the Delta by Stacey Jay

Once upon a time, fairies were the stuff of bedtime stories and sweet dreams. Then came the mutations, and the dreams became nightmares. Mosquito-size fairies now indulge their taste for human blood—and for most humans, a fairy bite means insanity or death. Luckily, Annabelle Lee isn’t most humans. The hard-drinking, smart-mouthed, bicycle-riding redhead is immune to fairy venom, and able to do the dirty work most humans can’t. Including helping law enforcement— and Cane Cooper, the bayou’s sexiest detective—collect evidence when a body is discovered outside the fairy-proof barricades of her Louisiana town.

But Annabelle isn’t equipped to deal with the murder of a sixyear- old girl or a former lover-turned-FBI snob taking an interest in the case. Suddenly her already bumpy relationship with Cane turns even rockier, and even the most trust-worthy friends become suspects. Annabelle’s life is imploding: between relationship drama, a heartbreaking murder investigation, Breeze-crazed drug runners, and a few too many rum and Cokes, Annabelle is a woman on the run—from her past, toward her future, and into the arms of a darkness waiting just for her. . . .

Stacey Jay's Dead on the Delta was an okay read. I had won this book in a contest and thought it sounded pretty interesting and I'll admit to loving the cover. Although I am pretty sure Annabelle did not have the tattoo, but whatever.

Here we have our basic fairies are evil book. Of course the fairies are a little different, most seem to be pixie like and if you get bit by one, chances are pretty likely you'll die. Very few of the population are immune to fairy bites and Annabelle is one of them--so there are others, just not a lot.

Annabelle works with the police on cases where she's needed to examine bodies or crime scenes in fairy related cases. She also works to collect samples of fairies'...leftovers. When she's called in to look over the body of a little girl, things start to get very serious for her. The FBI comes in to handle the case, and also because Annabelle makes a very big mistake while collecting samples afterward which brings the FBI in.

Naturally one of the FBI is Annabelle's old lover. We learn about their past, very slowly not a rush of info. Just that they had a past, then several pages later we learn what caused their breakup. Annabelle's current beau is a police officer named Cane. And while he's in love with her, Annabelle isn't sure she feels quite the same.

Annabelle was a hard heroine to like. She has her flaws--like all heroines do--yet she was a pretty heavy drinker. She didn't seem to have any sense of morale. I can understand her not knowing what she wants, yet I felt like she didn't have any self-love for herself or something. Of course that sounds weird as I type, I just couldn't make a connection with Annabelle. She annoyed me quite a bit throughout the book. I just never got to liking her. She has spunk and wit, yet sometimes a bad attitude--which she does admit to.

The book has a nice murder mystery going, I only solved it a page or 2 before Annabelle. And it was a doozie! There were details that I would have never guessed in a million years. It really takes you by surprise. 

Also a few other matters in Annabelle's love life were shocking. There's not much of a love triangle going on with her, Cane, and Hitch. Hitch has definitely moved on, yet there are still sparks between him and Annabelle, which kind of makes me think little of him since he was in another relationship. But I can definitely see more things happening between him and Annabelle in future books, especially with the way things ended.

By the end, I just felt "meh". Didn't love the book, didn't hate it. Just didn't really feel anything. So I'm not sure if this is going to be a series I stick with. But it was still a decent sort of read, I never once felt like calling it quits. So take it as you will.

Overall rating 2.5/5