While the last book arguably had shades of Sleeping Beauty entwined in its tale of magic, friendship and broken promises, this is the Cinderella story of Zora Broussand who is thrust in the care of her aspiring-upper class family in New Orleans when all she wants to do is become a musician and singer of jazz ballads. But that is not what a good Christian black girl does nor a future debutante so she has to make do with sneaking out at night to perform at the Petit Sapphire where she falls in love with the wrong man. Zora is tangling with deadly magic, the same that forced her to flee her family in New York and she must gain control or else she’ll have to flee the Mardi Gras ball too.

Clayton masterfully plays with suspense, giving hints here and there to Zora’s past and the dangerous double-sword of her powers. She has the voice of an angel, a siren, whatever you want to call it. She loves music from performing to studying its history and mechanics and different blends. She’s absolutely immersed in it and her power is intricately tied with her magical notes floating around to move items and emit a powerful dark blast when she loses her temper.

Unfortunate as Zora’s lack of control is hard to rectify when she has such little knowledge of her powers. Yes, her mother has magic and her Oma had magic but since her Oma’s death, Zora had tried to quell her powers as her mother felt it hurt too much. But now that Zora is displaced from her loved ones and and surrounded with more rules than before, she finds it hard to keep her the brimming magic from seeping out.

New Orleans is unique with its blend of flavors, ethnicities and people congregating in its ports but Zora’s aunt and cousins only stick with their own kind. The future debs who laugh behind their lace fans at how primitive she is, how unChristian and far too independent-minded like a sinful Yank. As much as Zora tries to follow her mother’s words to blend in, Zora can’t.

That’s why singing at the jazz clubs under the name, Sweet Willow gives her relase and it’s where she meets Phillipe, the grandson of Cay. Again, not a spoiler thanks to the family trees. It only makes it more intriguing to see Elva and Mathilda’s family lines connecting all these years later.

The problem is. . . it’s 1928. Phillipe is a rich white boy, Zora is a upper-middle class black girl. Their love is illegal, impossible yet they cannot deny how comfortable they feel with each other. The music and the magic connects them but the danger of the law isn’t the only thing threatening their lives. Zora’s fears of being unable to control her powers are only slightly assaunged when her aunt demands a conjuror to take away her powers, but as the date nears Zora begins to have second thoughts. It might make her life easier, but will she lose a vital part of herself?

Just as Clayton immerses the readers in the one of a kind landscape of New Orleans from its smoky nightlife, polished country club dinners, mafia hideouts and mysterious conjurer shops are all brought to life as well as the blurred lines of Christian traditions alongside magic and superstitions.

Zora notes many times that sometimes she feels more free in New Orleans than New York as there is larger black community, but sometimes the segregation lines feel sharper here with her aunt trying to pass off as white, thesuspicious looks if Zora even passes by an all-white establishment and of course, the whiff of interracial relationships are seen as a stain on both of them with Zora being a silly girl trying to be with a man whose race oppresses them, and Phillipe being seen as using her for sport.

Clayton doesn’t hold back in depicting the historically accurate and harsh realities of being a black woman especially a black woman in an interracial relationship. However, illegal it is, Phillipe will always get off with a lighter sentence than Zora. She also puts him in his place in regards to his naivety that color doesn’t matter. It does matter in their world and it does matter to her, for like her magic, it makes her life more difficult but she’s proud to be black and wants him to see all of her.

Nonetheless, magic heightens all the danger and secrets that Zora is trying to keep and make an explosive climax. I mean literally explosive but readers will want to read for themselves. And while Zora and Phillippe’s romance is intense and fast-paced, Clayton makes one believe in it is something worthy fighting for. Other characters are reasonably fleshed out, with Zora’s aunt and sisters primarly being antagonists to Zora whose ideas for Zora’s life limit her, but come from a place of love and practicality for their place in life. Other friends and enemies add to Clayton’s themes of prejudice, and secret pasts fueling risky decisions.

Tied together, Clayton adds a thrilling new chapter to this family saga, deepening its message about magic’s strength and danger, introduces a new threat and expands the lore of the world. I can’t wait to see what happens to the next generation.

5 stars.