Happy Hour at Casa Dracula
Marta Acosta
Pocket, Jul 2006, $13.00
ISBN: 1416520384

In spite of attending “Fabulous University”, an Ivy League school, Milagro de Los Santos has not been able to find steady work since she graduated and her string of loser boyfriends would be the support characters of beach novels. Her friend Nancy turns Milagro into a “reading consultant”, which led to four degrees of connection to writer Sebastian Beckett-Witherspoon, who was one of her beach buddies at F.U. At the soiree Milagro meets Oswaldo Krakatoa as both hate Witherspoon’s pretentious book. Later at the Croft Hotel where he is staying, he bites Milagro in the neck.

Not long after that a bewildered Milagro is kidnapped by Sebastian only to be rescued by Oswaldo, who takes her to the safety of his family at their ranch. Milagro finds her new friends warm though strange, but is upset that her new boyfriend Oswaldo has a fiancée. However, as she knows she must return to her rat infested apartment, Milagro concludes that the only way she and the man make that male she loves to be together forever, is for her to Bridge the gap of “I Love the Night Life” at Casa Dracula.

Marta Acosta has written one of the best vampire romances in several years as she refreshes the sub-genre theme with terrific twists that keep the audience on edge wanting to learn more about the attendees at HAPPY HOUR AT CASA DRACULA. . Milagro is a superb protagonist with her amusing chick lit asides that will remind the audience of Love at First Bite with her as Susan Saint James’ Cindy Sondheim and Oswaldo as George Hamilton’s Count Vladimir Dracula. The fast-paced story line never slows down until the final bite occurs

Harriet Klausner

Throne of Jade
Naomi Novik
Del Rey, May 2006, $7.50
ISBN: 0345481291

The Chinese leadership is irate that not only does upstart Englishman Will Laurence bond until death with a rare Chinese Celestial Dragon Temeraire; he turned the intellectual dragon into a war beast of burden. Not wanting an incident with China as they already are at war with France, the British Admiralty Board acquiesces to the demands of Yongxing, brother to the Chinese Emperor and orders Will to separate from his soulmate. An irate Will refuses risking arrest and death. the English bureaucracy sees an escape for them without alienating the Chinese Emperor; they send Will and Temeraire to China for a final disposition.

On the treacherous sea voyage, monsters lurk, but to Will the most dangerous one is the sly Yongxing, who educates Temeraire on the life he missed as a venerated Celestial Dragon in the Forbidden City while teaching the dragon to speak and write Chinese. Will is perturbed by Yongxing’s action, but can do little except trust his soulmate to stay with him. Yongxing also arranges for accidents to happen to Will for the Emperor’s horrified brother believes the westerner mistreats this special dragon by using Temeraire in combat, but also sees the dragon as an opportunity to further his personal ambitions.

THRONE OF JADE is a great fantasy that complements the tremendous first novel, HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON, as the story line cleverly explores human-dragon relationships and de jure and de facto inequality and injustice. Will and Temeraire debate the dragon lifestyle in England after seeing the abusive ugly slave trade on the West African coast and compare England to China where dragons reside freely in towns. Even Will begins to reassess whether his mate would be better off in China where Celestial Dragons are revered and other dragons treated with respect as equals. This cerebral emotional theme enhances a powerful action-packed tale in exotic locations.

Harriet Klausner

Eye of the Dream
Elizabeth Sinclair
Medallion, Aug 2006, $6.99
ISBN: 1932815686

Laura Kincaid works as the head nurse at Tucson Children’s Clinic raising her eight year old son Peter by herself. Just before Peter was born Laura walked out on her always absent Navaho spouse Kaine Cloudwater. She was fortunate to meet Ada Dooley who took the pregnant stranger in and gave her and her soon to be born son a home until the elderly woman passed away last year.

Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Klah informs Laura that her son is missing somewhere in Canyon Country. Three days later, Klah calls off the fruitless search in which no clues have surfaced. It is as if the child vanished into air. He tells her to ask Kaine, the best tracker in the area, to help her. Swallowing her pride, she begs Kaine to find Peter. Irate that she had a child with someone else after walking out on him, he reluctantly agrees and even acquiesces to her insistence that she accompany him. On their journey into wilderness, they talk until she finally tells him that he sired Peter. Outraged that she failed to inform him before, he fears the malevolent no longer human Skinwalkers abducted Peter though he is not sure of their purpose, but his offspring has the healing gift that Kaine and his male ancestors possess and they covet.

This is an exciting second chance at love paranormal romance that grips readers from the moment Klah calls and never slows down until the final confrontation. The action-packed story line uses Navaho mysticism on two levels; the evil Skinwalkers and the dreams the lead couple have had especially transmitted from his grandfather and Changing Woman. These elements along with the likable lead couple enhance and refresh a delightful tale.

Harriet Klausner

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Aaron Allston
Del Rey, May 30, 2006, $25.95
ISBN: 0345477340

Peace finally seems the way of the galaxy as the Skywalker-Solo bloodlines are developing a legacy of harmony. Everyone appears to welcome the respite from the wars while Jedi Master Luke Skywalker organizes the New Order of Jedi Knights into a force for the better good. Nothing could be better yet on Coruscant Luke senses a return to the darkness is imminent, as he tells his wife Mara that the enemy, “he doesn’t exist”, yet but will.

On Adumar, Jacen Solo and Ben Skywalker smell the odor of death from the Dammant Killers factory beneath the planet’s surface. However, they misjudge the cowardly fears of the firm’s officials who plan to prevent them from informing their superiors of the missile plant. As an ambush is set up on Adumar, planet Corellia leads a so far peaceful insurrection against the strict binding rules of the Galactic Alliance. To end thoughts of succession, the Galactic Alliance decides on a presumptive first strike doctrine with Corellia being the target. This destroys the Skywalker-Solo alliance as Corellia is the homeworld of the legendary Hans. Civil war seems forthcoming yet worse than the split between allies, Luke’s enemy still does not exist.

This is a terrific entry in the long running series as Aaron Allston starts a new arc with a fresh outlook in which the Skywalker-Solo extended intertwined families are at odds with each other over what to do with Corellia and other similar leaning planets. Luke’s appearances bring an eerie feel thought the exciting story line as the real enemy has not surfaced but is coming at a time when civil war is looming. As always the aliens seem genuine and the relatives of Hans and Luke make for a fine tale as the force moves on towards a new schism.

Harriet Klausner

The Burning
Bentley Little
Signet, August 2006, $7.99, 460 pp.
ISBN 0451219147

The United States is under supernatural siege and four people in different states witness the beginning of the battle. College student Angela gets along great with people until they turn against her for making racist remarks. She believes it has to do with the hundreds of bodies found in a tunnel, and the black mold that is spreading around the area.

Dennis Chen wanted to take a cross country drive across America seeing the tourist sites but something is forcing him to drive through the Western States. When the black ghost train travels through town, Dennis is the only live person on it.

Jolene and her friend Leslie come across the diaries of a man who lived in Bear Flats, California who made it is his mission to get rid of all the Chinese immigrants. They also see the diaries he wrote and the ghost train and the destruction it brought as it passed through town. Henry, a park ranger and also saw the ghost train, hikes with many Indians who have been mystically called to the Point in Utah.

When national monuments, parks, and towns come under attack, the president appoints FBI agent Greg Rossiter to find out why this is happening and how to stop it. The answers lie in two sets of memoirs that were written over a century ago that describes a national tragedy and a federal cover up.

Bentley Little is one of the best American horror writers in the world as he consistently takes what seems normally monotonous and turns it into a horror show. There are plenty of thrills and chills in THE BURNING but there is also a mystery that has to be solved for life to get back to normal. The four major characters and their locations play an important role in the mystery as Mr. Little creates three dimensional characters; people we will immediately recognize if we were to meet them.

Harriet Klausner

Dark Protector
Alexis Morgan
Pocket, Jul 2006, $6.99
ISBN: 1416520368

Paladin warrior Devlin Bane and his colleagues know what it is like to die and return to life as they have done so many times in the seemingly endless struggle to prevent the Others from annihilating humanity. However, for a Paladin to return from the dead, he must trust his Handler to heal his body and guide them back to life. Dr. Laurel Young is a Paladin handler, who has serviced Bane and others.

However, Bane senses that his Handler is different than her peers as she seems to genuinely care about their welfare including their mental state. He desires her though he knows that a personal relationship between the one lifetime Handlers and the multi-lifetimes Paladins is taboo because emotion is unacceptable since a Paladin could turn rogue and become an Other, which means the Handler would have to kill him. Bane is an enigma as he is the longest serving Paladin and she wants to know why; at least that is her rationalization to herself. Deep in her heart Laurel is half in love with her patient who one day she will have to obliterate.

The first Paladin romantic fantasy, DARK PROTECTOR, is a fabulous tale that enables the audience to believe in the paranormal elements especially the return from the dead and the war between the Paladins and the Others. The star-crossed romance between the lead couple adds to the feel of reality and further induces the audience into a one sitting read. Though the introduction to the rest of Bane’s warrior teammates somewhat slows down the pace, sub-genre fans will appreciate this thriller and demand more novels starring mankind’s protectors.

Harriet Klausner

The Next
Dan Vining
Berkley, August 2006, $23.95, 320 pp.
ISBN 0425209431

Jimmy Miles is a private detective who only takes cases that interest him. That is the perfect profession for a Sailor, a person who died but didn’t pass on and in all ways that count remains alive. They interactt with the “Norms” have all the money they need, have relationships with the opposite sex and don’t need to eat or sleep although they do both. At the moment Jimmy is tailing Lucky, as a favor to his Sailor friend Angel to make sure she doesn’t commit suicide.

Strange things are happening in San Francisco surrounding Lucy. Two women always seem to be always around her and she never notices him even though he has passed her while walking. The Norms are committing suicide in record numbers and the sailors are edgy and nervous. When he sees Mary, the woman he loved and lost, Jimmy is reminded about similar circumstances when they resided in Los Angeles. Something dark is causing all the deaths in San Francisco just as it did in Los Angeles years ago and Jimmy is determined to find out what it is.

Dan Vining is one of the few authors who can consistently write great urban noir with a supernatural twist. The concept of Sailors and their similarities and differences to Norms is one of the reasons THE NEXT is so very entertaining. The mystery is well thought out and realistically within the framework of the storyline. Readers will adore Jimmy who is a good sailor who still loves the woman who walked out on him years ago; readers will adore him for being so understanding while trying to help the living.

Harriet Klausner

Be Mine Tonight
Kathryn Smith
Avon, Jul 2006, $5.99
ISBN: 0060848367

Chapel used to be a courageous yet arrogant man, who feared nothing. Six centuries ago, he crashed the inner sanctuary of the Knights Templar in order to gain immortality by drinking from the Holy Grail they guarded. He penetrated their barriers, defeated their guardians, and drank from the cup. Now he knows six hundred years later that he will roam forever condemned satiating his hellish thirst drinking blood at night.

However, he has found a reason to live when his eyes feast upon brave Prudence Ryland, but she is dying from ovarian cancer. Her only hope to live rests with drinking from the same cup that has condemned Chapel to be outside anything holy. However, he offers an alternative means to eternity; his passionate kiss of death and rebirth if he dares.

This is a magnificent vampire romance with an intriguing plot twist involving Prudence’s health making her choices between “unlife” and death. The story line is fast-paced as Chapel wonders whether he should condemn his beloved to a life of sorrow and regret though he admits love makes it worth while. Pru is a fabulous protagonist symbolizing much more than a strong protagonist with a dilemma; she embodies life’s complexities of much of the modern biological ethics debate; this inside a paranormal romance will have readers toast Kathryn Smith for this excellent thought provoking thriller.

Harriet Klausner

The Oracle‘s Queen
Lynn Flewelling
Bantam, Jul 2006, $7.50
ISBN: 0553583458

The prophecy says that Skala, once ruled by queens, will be ruled again by queens. Taking it seriously and fearing that this means his overthrow and probable death if unchecked; King Erius takes drastic action to insure his downfall never comes. He has almost all of his female kin assassinated.

Knowing that any female newborn relative will die, Skala wizards physically conceal the birth of Erius’ niece with a gender changing spell turning her into Prince Tobin while doing nothing for her twin brother who dies. However when “he” turns fifteen, Prince Tobin’s inner essence awakens breaking the gender spell and he becomes the she that is her nature. Princess Tamir comes at a time her people desperately need a true Queen to rule, but she has psychological problems being uncomfortable in her new female identity yet realizing why she felt out of place as a male. Tamir also does not trust the wizards who changed her at birth and her demonic twin brother realizes he was “sacrificed by the wizards so has an ax to grind against them and his sister. At the same time Erius’s son Korin claims the throne declaring his cousin a traitor.

This is terrific ending to a great fantasy trilogy that can stand alone, but is enhanced by reading the previous two novels first as they provide much of the background (see HIDDEN WARRIOR and THE BONE DOLL’S TWIN). The story line is action-packed as the three rival relatives soon encounter one another with much at stake. This trio seems genuine and Tamir’s identity problems, Korin’s doubts with the Oracle and the fanatic Illior demanding a warrior queen on the throne, as well as the demon twin’s rage make for a fabulous fantasy finale.

Harriet Klausner

The Lucifer Messiah
Frank Cavallo
Medallion, Jul 2006, $6.99
ISBN: 1932815870

In the Fall of 1946 in New York City, goons employed by Salvatore “Sam” Calabrese chase after Sean Mulachy, but as they area about to catch up to him, a mist forms out of nowhere hiding Sean from them. Once they leave, he visits his best friend Vince Sicario, who is shocked to see Sean as the last time they saw one another was in 1917 when the latter enlisted. Sean looks like he did in 1917 while Vince has aged three decades.

Two groups of beings search for Sean; the Morrigan and her minions, and Argus, who looks like a six tear old and his allies. Both believe that Sean is Lucifer reborn to bring light and wisdom to a troubled world. However while the Morrigan believes that humanity is not ready f such a revelation, Argus deems the prophecy of Nestor has begun. Sean must learn who he is before either side gets to him.

Sean initially does not believe he is Lucifer, but begins to reconsider as strange phenomena occur including his lack of aging and the Church demonizing his allies and the Morigan needing to kill him so the prophecy doesn’t come true. Adding to the suspense is that much of the cast wear human disguises to masquerade their true essence. Frank Cavallo cleverly uses creatures of myths and legends to further the tale as the audience wonders what is good and evil and who lines up where including the protagonist. Dark fantasy fans will cherish this urban thriller.

Harriet Klausner