More Tennis

Kathy like to watch tennis on the big screen and keeps me off the computer. Here are some more reviews from Harriet to fill in.

Destined for an Early Grave
Jeaniene Frost
Avon, Aug 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780061583216

Half-breed Cat Crawfield looks forward to some Parisian R&R (romance and relationship enhancement) with her purebred vampire husband Bones. However, the best laid plans of mice, men and half vamp Cats often go astray. The master vampire Gregor arrives to claim her as his wife; he insists he had a prior claim to her as her spouse making her a bigamist.

When Cat was a teen, Gregor abducted her with a goal for later the future. However, Mencheres the master vampire took her away from Gregor, locked the master vampire in a special prison, and erased Cat’s memory of the incident and this master vampire. Cat is outraged for several reasons but also somewhat fascinated while Bones is reeling as he fears Gregor has a stronger claim and not just with vampire law and Gregor seems obsessed over his assertion.

The fourth Night Huntress urban fantasy is an exhilarating thriller driven by the paranormal triangle (though told through a confused Cat’s perspective). The overarching story of Cat and Bones spins brilliantly into a darker drama as the heroine must make several complex decisions with convoluted choices to select from. Another winner from Jeanine Frost, fans of this strong saga will appreciate aptly titled DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE. Harriet Klausner

Beguiled
Maureen Child
Signet, Aug 20009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451227720

Maggie Donovan defeated evil fae Queen Mab in a classic cat fight (see BEDEVILED). Although the part human part Fae woman will never forget what she witnessed especially never listen to ABBA on a full stomach again, she knows she will never return to her previous lifestyle. Culhane the warrior says she is the Chosen One and struggles with being called Queen Maggie.

Outraged by having her butt kicked in by an impure female, former Queen Mab escapes incarceration and prepares for a rematch as she still believes she, as a purebred fae, is superior to a hybrid fae “diseased” with human blood. Maggie adapts to being the Queen of the Otherworld especially with Culhane as her adviser and lover. As Mab vows not to underestimate her foe, she raises their personal war to higher levels when she kidnaps her adversary’s niece at a time when Maggie has doubts about Culhane’s motives.

The conflict in this wonderful sequel is on two levels as the heroine begins to question where her lover’s loyalty lies and the upcoming war with her evil rival. The story line is fast-paced and filed with action, but it is the strong cast, not just the lead trio, who makes Otherworld seem genuine. Harriet Klausner

The Rapture
Liz Jensen
Doubleday, Aug 11 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780385528214

At the Oxsmith Adolescent Secure Psychiatric Hospital in Hadport, England, wheelchair-bound art psychologist, Dr. Gabrielle Fox takes over treating psychotic teen Bethany Krall. Gabrielle has her issues since the car crash killed her fiancé and left her in the chair. The patient-prisoner killed her mom and claims the ability to foresee the future; all her forecasts are dire bleak disasters.

As Gabrielle uses electro-convulsive therapy to literally shock her patient, she begins to realize the teen’s uncanny grim predictions are coming true every time. Gabriele begins to comprehend that Bethany’s father Reverend Leonard Krall imprinted his “Faith Wave” view of the coming Rapture and those who bear the mark of the beast cannot go to heaven. Gabrielle wonders if she is overreaching in her theory of Bethany’s skills and the frequent disasters that the teen predicted and have occurred when she desperately brings her patient’s upcoming calendar of calamities to physicist Frazer Melville, who not only does not laugh at the shrink but takes the forecasts dead serious.

THE RAPTURE is an exciting thriller that stars the psychiatrist and the physicist but focus on the teen seer and her skills. The story line is fast-paced and loaded with action, but even with efforts top prevents the next calamity from happening, the plot as character driven. Fans and the lead pair will wonder whether the teen is the devil or the savior as Gabrielle and Frazer ironically (from the religious point of view that is) struggle with stopping what seems increasingly the end of days. Harriet Klausner