Motor City Witch (Urban Arcana #2) by Cindy Spencer Pape

Released: October 4, 2010
Format: e-book
ISBN: 978-1-4268-9062-8

Motor City Fae was one of the first books I received from Carina Press (via netGalley). I was excited to see Motor City Witch on netGalley because I’d enjoyed reading the first book in Cindy Spencer Pape‘s Urbana Arcana series (my thoughts here) and was looking forward to reading the second installment. (Full disclosure: I was fortunate enough to receive a free copy of this e-book as well.)

I’m feeling a bit lazy so, rather than summarizing the plot myself, I’m going to paste the back blurb here:

Once upon a time, Elise Sutton had been a powerful witch and paranormal enforcer. Once she’d been madly in love with Fae lord Aidan Greene. But when Aidan had considered his duties more important than their relationship, the love affair ended badly. Shortly after, while on the hunt for a rogue demon, Elise was brutalized and almost killed. Months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. To protect her child-and her heart-Elise decided to live a nonmagical life.

Until she meets Aidan again, and he assumes Dina is his daughter. When Dina is kidnapped by a racial purity movement, Elise turns to Aidan for help. The icy facade she has built around herself shatters at Aidan’s touch. Together they have to hunt through the human and faery worlds to find Dina…and to discover whether or not they have any kind of chance at a happily ever after.

Overall, I enjoyed Motor City Witch but not quite as much as I liked its predecessor. Elise didn’t really resonate for me as a protagonist since she has such a rich past that’s never really explored; instead, it’s mentioned in passing but not truly discussed. With a little more of her back story, I think her story arc would have been more interesting to me. Aidan is a good male lead, though, with all of those traditional hero characteristics, including squishy insides for a child that may or may not be his. I really liked Aidan when he popped up in Motor City Fae and he doesn’t let me down in this story either, though there are a couple lines where I thought, “Would he really have said that? That seems a bit out of character.” Plus, his chemistry with Elise is strong.

I also really enjoyed how much more we know about the world, thanks to some added mythology, and more time in Faerie. There are some great action sequences and some fun scenes for Aidan where he’s only got his brains as a weapon. Dina’s also a nice addition, who we’ll hopefully see more of in future stories. She’s cute and precocious and, by the end of the novel, I really wanted to read about her when she’s all grown up. Cindy Spencer Pape also does a great job of setting up future stories and potential romances, and offers some nice character growth for the secondary cast. (I don’t want to say which since it’s something of a spoiler.) In any case, I’m quite excited to read the next installment, Motor City Werewolf, featuring Greg, who’s one of the characters I enjoy the most.