Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll

Jeweller Garet James isn't the same as everyone else. She just doesn't know it yet. With her fair share of problems - money (lack of), an elderly father, a struggling business - Garet should be just like any other young, feisty, single New Yorker. If only it was that simple...It begins with the old silver box that had been soldered shut. All Garet has to do is open it. A favour for the frail owner of the antiques shop. Who wouldn't help? Only it's then that things start to change. Garet doesn't notice at first, the shifts barely perceptible. But the city in which she grew up is beginning to reveal a long-hidden side - darker, and altogether more dangerous: parallel world of chaos, smoke and blood. And now it's out of the box...and it has no intention of going back in.

This is not my usual choice of book but when I read the synopsis I had to give it a try. The book is full of fantasy creatures: vampires and fairies to name but a few.
The main character, Garet, tells the story, and she is drawn to a box in an second hand shop,m she never knew existed, doesn't know where it is located or how to return to it. The box has a seal, a swan with wording, just like the signet ring her mother had given her on her sixteenth birthday. She is unaware of what is happening and it is like we are discovering the story as she does. The story has some romance, intrigue and also gives an insight into Garet's family history although I feel there is still more to learn.

There are a number of subplots included within the story; the robbery of some paintings from her father's business, Garet's friends band and her father's debt.

The story is full of fantasy, however there are many New York landmarks and modern day events to keep readers grounded.

The background research that this book entailed must of been immense and Lee Carroll (who is actually two people, husband and wife: Lee Slonimsky and Carol Goodman) have transferred it into this book really well. The descriptions are gorgeous - and lend themselves to the fantasy style of the book.

I did enjoy the book, although I do not think that Urban Fantasy will be a genre I will choose to be one of my favorite genre's.

Thank you Lynsey from Transworld publishers for sending me the book to review.