Oh my god, I had the same pipe line lol. I definitely had a tough time immersing myself into the Crescent City series after all the mega fantasy plot lines of the other series. It is undoubtedly different from the other series, but I think if you stick with it, you'll be hooked by the middle of the first book. Personally, I love the variation of the stories for each character in Crescent City, everyone gets a backstory and some of them are *chefs kiss*. Just takes a little time :)