Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, Book 2) by Richelle Mead

Half-human, Half-Fae; two halves of a whole. Two sides that must learn to complement each other or Eugenie Markham won't survive in any world.

Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire who is paid to banish otherworld creatures. In STORM BORN (DARK SWAN, BOOK 1) Eugenie won a battle against a gentry King and became Queen of the Thorn Lands. Eugenie is the daughter of the late Storm King, a King in the world of fairy. She has some accessible magic that she uses in her job as shaman, but she is quickly learning her untapped magic of the elements that she inherited from her father.

When Eugenie became Queen, the land twisted itself to her ideal kingdom, a desert. Now her people are starving and dying of thirst. When the land changed, the crops died and the water dried up. She doesn't want to be Queen in this world, but she cannot live with herself if she lets her subjects die. She sets to task of using her new abilities to search for water, and she uses her connections to the human world to educate them on what can be grown in the new barren landscape.

Eugenie's lover, Kiyo, is expecting his firstborn soon so he spends a lot of his time in the Otherworld. Eugenie knows that he loves her, but she still worries that he won't stay with her for long if she won't bare his children. She is afraid of an ancient prophecy coming true, one that says her firstborn will ruin the world of humankind. So, when a local village brings their troubles to Eugenie, she throws herself into the problem to escape her own.

Gentry girls are coming up missing, and no one can be bothered to find out why. Eugenie's investigation leads her to a couple of shaman on the human side, and Eugenie will have to decide which world she belongs to in order to survive the battle. But another evil force is on the horizon, and Eugenie is soon fighting for her life.

THORN QUEEN (DARK SWAN, BOOK 2) is an amazing paranormal fantasy. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series. The pages draw you deep into a world of magic, mystery, and romance. Eugenie is a character that keeps growing and evolving, and I can't wait for the next one!