Scent of Darkness by Margot Berwin, could have been a really good novel, but instead fell flat. I’ve barely finished reading it, but have mostly forgotten it already.

The protagonist, Evangeline, has a wise old grandmother from New Orleans who is a master aromata, scent maker. She leaves a vial for Evangeline that she finds after her grandmother dies. The scent has a secret ingredient that attracts one good man, one evil man to her. This leads her to New Orleans where her life takes a strange turn and she almost loses herself.

Even though the writing was decent, none of the characters were memorable, or even believable. This was just very disappointing, very bad storytelling.