This is the second book in the series (following Frost Moon) and picks up slightly after that book ends. I would think you would be very confused if you haven't read the previous book as this one makes numerous references to events that happened in the previous book (the killing of the bad guy, the magic challenge, her releasing her dragon, etc). Also, we see the characters from the last book and having read the previous book helps to better understand the current interactions. It was great to re-visit many characters and see them grow (or not) from the previous book. Dakota Frost is a kick-butt female heroine and this is a great urban fantasy series. The world that Anthony Francis has built is very intricate and fascinating. It contains the usual suspects (were-folk, vampires, magic-users) and focuses on Dakota (a magic user).The plot has been summarized by others and the book summary did a good job. There is graffiti that is killing people and Dakota is looking into it as the "grafitti magic" seems somewhat similar to the "tattoo magic" that she is known for. I did have two quibbles with the book. It is LONG... very very LONG (for Kindle users, it is slightly over 10,000 on the Kindle). I didn't necessarily feel that it dragged, but a LOT went on in this book. That is the second quibble I have with the book; it seemed like so MUCH bad stuff happened to Dakota in the book. Stuff came up about Valentine, the grafitti arson, with Cinnamon, with her lover, etc. Bad stuff just kept happening and piling on. At one point, I wanted to email the author and tell him to give Dakota a break!So why five stars? The continuation of world-building from the previous book was great as was seeing Dakota become a mom to Cinnamon. Dakota continues to grow and mature. We see her start to control herself a bit for the greater good (in regards to her custody of Cinnamon and keeping peace among the various factions in town). We learned more about her past and her "skindancing" mentor. Characters from the previous book were in here and we learned more things about them. The current story was interesting and kept my interest even though it was exceedingly long. The book kept me riveted and I stayed up until 3am finishing the book. I will gladly buy another book in this series to see what new adventures they have.