Ravenous
V.K. Forrest
Kensington, Apr 1 2011, $15.00
ISBN: 9780758255693
Clare Point, Delaware is not just any coastal town. It is home to the Kahill vampire clan who has resided there for centuries. Only in the summer when the human tourists inundate the coastal community is there anyone not an Undead. The Kahill clan differs from ordinary vampires as they die as elders and are reborn as teens with the cycle on-going forever. They possess one gift that also makes them different; their mission is to save God’s humans from the undesirables. When they have learned their lessons God will pass judgment on them.
Clan member Liam McCathal is the best at the kill so his comrades tell him to stay out of the field for now to insure he does not go rogue after a clean up on Paris. He works at his antique shop while cooling down when an HF (human female) Mai Ricci enters his store, leaving the vampire stunned as he does not even makes friends with female humans, but she has him feeling something he has not sensed in a hundred years or more. When someone murders her Uncle Donato and threatens Mia and her father Corrato, Liam is losing control as he takes on a mob chief and his gang, which threatens the Clare Point community even as Mia’s dad conceals something that endangers his daughter and the vampire protecting her.
V.K. Forrest provides a brisk unique vampire mythos as the Cahill clan watch over God’s children in the hopes He will one day forgive them for hurting God’s believers. Sparks fly when the vampire licensed to kill shopkeeper and the HF meet in his store. He knows she is fortunate she does not realize that the hunk she is attracted to is a vampire because he learns he does not want to erase her memories of him. Ravenous is an exciting romantic urban fantasy that readers will thoroughly enjoy. Harriet Klausner
Dead on Delivery
Eileen Randhal
Berkley, Mar 1 2011, $15.00
ISBN: 9780425238783
Messenger Melina Markowitz delivers packages left for her by her paranormal clients to their supernatural customers. However, recently two male she left packages with have died under strange circumstances. Stunned she looks closely at the background of both victims over the objection of her boyfriend Ted Goodnight the cop she met when their spheres interacted on the Don’t Kill the Messenger case.
With Ted having her back, Melina learns the two dead guys shared the same friends, disappeared without explanations several times, and shockingly committed the same crime. Melina begins to realize that a powerful raging voodoo practitioner has let loose the dark on Melina and those in her sphere. As Melina struggles to prevent a catastrophe with Ted assisting her; roommate Norah fears venturing outside with all the paranormal whirling around except for one dangerous exhilarating possibility.
The latest 3M urban fantasy is an engaging paranormal amateur sleuth in which rage and racism has dire effects. The story line is action-packed from the moment her clients are killed and never slows down as Melina the Messenger is caught in a web of voodoo anger that is leaving clients dead, and friends and her lover in peril. She knows she is being set up emotionally for the final out. Harriet Klausner
Zombies Don't Cry
Rusty Fischer
Medallion, May 1 2011. $9.95
ISBN: 9781605423821
Maddy Swift is just an ordinary teen; content to stay in the shadows unlike her BFF Hazel who wants to join the in-crowd of Barracuda Bay. She has a crush on Stamp and hopes he will ask her to go with him to the Fall Formal Dance. On her way to meet Stamp, lightning strikes Maddy. When she regains consciousness, Maddy realizes she has no heartbeat and is not breathing. She concludes she has turned into a zombie; and learns so has some of the mean teens in her class.
She is taken to the Elders and Sentinels; they warn her to follow the rules of only killing the insane zerker zombies. Bones and Dahlia try to convert Maddy into a zerker. However, Dane and Chloe mentor her to keep her from turning into a zerker as she struggles to adapt. With her two friends, Maddy becomes resolute in stopping the zerkers who has a weapon to prevent the trio from succeeding in that they possess Stamp. She can kill the teen she cares about, change him into a good zombie with her bite if she wins the fight of her enemies, or let him change her into a zerker.
This “Living Dead Love Story” targets the Twilight teen crowd, but other zombie fanatics will enjoy the thriller too. Flashes of humor such as the zombie rules of orders and becoming zombies by a lightning strike brightens up for the most part this dark tale. Maddy adapts to her life change perhaps too easily, but this is partly due to her inner goodness. Still readers will wonder whether she joins the berserker side to be with Stamp, gets her beloved to join her team, or either (or both) dying permanently. Harriet Klausner
Boleyn: Tudor Vampire
Cinsearae S.
CreateSpace, May 7 2010, $12.95
ISBN: 9781451559491
In the sixteenth century, heartbroken Queen Anne Boleyn awaits her execution in the London Tower knowing everyone deserted her once the charges surfaced. Accused of adultery and treason by the Duke of Suffolk, she knows her innocence is irrelevant when her Lord, her spouse and her father ignore her plea and that of her accused brother George. Her only crime is to love her husband King Henry VIII. As she dies by hanging, she vows to avenge her wrongful death on those who falsely accused her and those who abandoned her at her time of need.
Her condemnation of God as she neared death leads to the resurrections of Anne, George, and court musician friend Mark Smeaton who was also hung. The trio head to Whitehall Palace to enact vengeance on those who fabricated stories or deserted them.
Although the transformation of real historical figures into paranormal beings is a frequent occurrence (see Lucy Weston’s Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer and Kate Pierce’s Blood of the Rose), Boleyn: Tudor Vampire is a darker thriller. The story line vividly depicts the precarious life of those residing in Henry’s court, but once the threesome return it becomes even bloodier. Fans will appreciate this wrongfully murdered by state execution Anne and her companions as they bite their way back until the undead queen learns that the future belongs to her daughter. Harriet Klausner
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