Caitlin Kittredge is from "Team Seattle" , a group of urban fantasist authors who reside in and around Seattle.

She's the one I knew least, (I tried the first in her Nocturne City books and wasn't hooked) but her newest series (Black London) set in a modern London with magic looked right up my alley.

And it was. Street Magic the first in the series, rocked. And rolled.

I loved it. For a jaded palate such as mine (too much urban fantasy, paranormal romance, etc in the past year) it was a delicious, spicy feast.

First of all, although real Londoners may say the slang and dialogue isn't true, for this USAian, it totally felt true. I loved all the "bollocks" and "git" and all that. I loved that the tea they drank tasted of minerals in the water and there weren't references to lattes. Take away curries instead of burgers.

I also loved the characters. And for me, the main characters can make or break a book. Pete, the Detective Inspector, tough, caring, and trying desperately to forget the day Jack Winter took her to a graveyard and used her to summon a ghost resulting in his death. Jack Winter, the punk rocker (an amazon reviewer accused the author of channling spike from Buffy the vampire slayer, and I have to say Jack does resemble him a bit) with the sight who should have died that day, but lived and has spent the intervening years using heroin to control the overwhelming presence of ghosts and fae revealed by his sight.

Jack is also tough and caring and irredeemable and extremely likeable. You end up completely understanding why Pete keeps hanging out with him although he's exactly what should be wrong for her. He's magic, she's terrified of what she saw years ago during that summoning. He's a criminal and a heroin addict. She's the police.

And while there is an understated romantic element there, it is never brought out to the foreground. Which should have frustrated me as a romance junkie. However, what Kittredge does so well is portray how these two characters interact with each other and need eachother (all without getting into Jack's head, so kudos. Although a lot of darkening of the eyes, etc is used so we can get his emotions)and in the portrayal of that information, all my hunger for relationship is satisfied.

So you would think this would be a slow paced book, wouldn't you? But not at all. The story is pretty much non stop breaking into places, fighting to get out, and smoking Parliaments and drinking tea.

I loved it. I'm totally looking forward to the next book in the series. I totally recommend it for people who read urban fantasy.