Harriet's Reviews

Busy today, doctor and auto shop visits.


Lucinda, Dangerously
Sunny
Berkley, Oct 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425228982

Lucinda the demon dead princess has become the most powerful being ever since she and her companions left Hell to return to the realm of the living and the Monere Queens who fear nothing except perhaps her. However, while there are those who love and adulate her; there are also those who envy her. All Lucinda wants is a nice life with those she cherishes.

She has bond-mated with Monere warrior Stefan and his ward Jonnie, and is some never before known way also with Talon “the Flower of Darkness”. Her two guards, Ruric and Hari are loyal though the former also feels protective of a blind human female. However, in this little Eden has come a demonic serpent. Her enemy Derek abducts her and takes her to the edge of Hell where only the only the deadliest survive with no hope because he believes sacrificing Lucinda will restore life to this dead demon.

The complex second Demon Princess erotic fantasy (see LUCINDA, DARKLY) is an exhilarating thriller due a super support cast (including Derek) who enhance understanding of the lead protagonist; ironically much of the exciting story line is told from her either the heroine’s anguished or sexual perspective. The secondary subplots embellish the super prime segue as romance, sex and danger stalk the donkey-kicking heroine and her cohorts with Derek lurking. Sunny, as usual brightens up the day with her latest romantic urban fantasy. Harriet Klausner

Shadowlight
Lynn Viehl
Onyx, Oct 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451412782

Jessa Bellamy is a highly regarded job recruiting consultant. Her success is due to her special skill of being able to touch someone and journey into the SHADOWLAND where she learns the dark side of a candidate that they hide from an interviewer. She hides her ability, but also knows there are other Takyn like her.

GenHance CEO Jonah Genaro has learned of Jessa and tries to kidnap her. He wants to use her as he has others in an experiment to create a race of supermen via gene manipulation; no one has survived his tests. Mattias rescues Jessa; insisting he just wants to keep her safe, but he has secrets that he conceals from her while Jonah wants her back and some unknown adversary prefers both dead.

Expanding the world of the Darkyn with a SHADOWLIGHT into the Kyndred, Lynn Viehl provides her fans with an even more complex realm in her latest enjoyable urban romantic fantasy. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of suspense as Jonah plots to harvest Jessa’s DNA while Mattias plans to protect her though he also has other secret plans for her. With a strong lead couple and a terrific in a macabre sense villain, SHADOWLIGHT unveils a dramatic thrilling twist. Harriet Klausner

Immortal Sins
Amanda Ashley
Zebra, Oct 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780821780640

Every night after work Karinna Adams visits the Underwood Art gallery as she is drawn to a painting “Man Walking in the Moonlight” by renowned artist Josef Vilinus. During every visit the man seems to be somewhere else in the picture as if he walks around the landscape. This time she hears him speak “help me”; frightened she flees.

Jason Rourke has roamed the landscape of the Vilinus painting for three centuries. Three hundred years ago Vilinus the wizard cursed him for taking his virgin daughter Ana; he also sent Ana inside another painting. Jason knows there are two ways he can be freed: a mortal female calling him to come to her or the wizard’s death.

Kari takes the painting home with her to see if she might want to buy it. The next night Kari dreams of the man in the picture making love to her; Jason dreams of his fangs dining on her throat as he is a vampire who looks forward to tasting the sweetness of her blood. When she wishes he was real, the painting falls and the glass shatters. Jason is freed and Vilinus knows it. Jason tells her he is a vampire who was cursed and about Ana still trapped. Jason explains to Kari he needs her help to rescue Ana who is trapped in a Romanian museum. She agrees to help him although she struggles with falling in love with a vampire.

The lead couple is a strong pairing and the support cast is solid while the heroine’s doubts about crossing over to become a vampire add tension between them especially enhanced by another coupling. Jason adapts nice and slow to the modern age. Although the confrontation is not quite as dramatic as the rest of this super urban romantic fantasy, fans will enjoy the vampire who fell from the painting into love. Harriet Klausner