Dark of the Moon
Susan Krinard
Harlequin HQN, Mar 2008, $6.99
ISBN 9780373772582

In 1926 New York City, Vampire Enforcer Dorian Black saves intrepid (he insists inane) reporter Gwen Murphy from drowning in the East River. He is shocked by his attraction to the human who thinks he suffers from a mental illness and vows to help him as she always pays her debts.

However, though he wants more than a nip from Gwen’s delicious looking neck, Dorian has greater concerns than his appetite. Having to kill his master vampire, the Enforcer finds a vampiric civil war between the supporters of Christoff and those of Kyril for control of the city’s nightlife. Meanwhile Gwen continues her investigation into the murders of gangsters, whose bodies contain no blood and soon uncovers a vast cell of Manhattan vampires, who learn she could expose them to the newspaper’s daylight.

Although the Roaring Twenties New York does not come to full life, readers will appreciate this delightful vampire historical romance due to the lead couple especially Gwen who only Rosalind Russell could play her. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Mr. Black saves the life of Miss Murphy and never slows down as she keeps digging and he keeps enforcing especially after he meets with the Pax. Fans will appreciate this strong paranormal historical as Susan Krinard cleverly includes a caution against religious extremism in which one way is the only way to God with cleansing being the path.

Harriet Klausner

Raine: The Lords of Satyr
Elizabeth Amber
Kensington Aphrodisia, Mar 2008, $12.95
ISBN: 9780758220400

In 1823, the Elseworld Faery King Feydon makes a dying demand of the three scandalous Satyr siblings known for their endless sexual appetites; he orders them to marry his three illegitimate daughters. With no choice the trio heads respectively to their European destiny.

The middle brother Raine was married once before and though that ended in failure as his spouse could not deal with his satyr needs, he stoically goes to meet his bride, the King’s second daughter, Jordan in Venice. His plan is simple; hide his sexual needs from Jordan for as long as possible so that maybe they will bond before his lower head takes command of his body. However when they meet for the first time both is filled with desire as the attraction is heated. Jordan tries to hide her deep craving to be constantly caressed and loved by a man who loves her as she fears she will drive him away with her sexual needs. As they fall in love, Raine and Jordan continue to conceal what they want although in his case it is a bit harder (pun intended) to hide that seemingly eternal flag pole.

The second Lords of Satyr tale (see NICHOLAS) is a heated historical romantic fantasy that make the audience believe in satyrs (who never need Viagra) and the half-breeds who satisfy their constant craving. The lead couple shares in common: lust, love, and lies of omission as both hide their deepest needs and desires so as to not run the other off. With one erotica to go, sub-genre fans will appreciate the sexual encounters of the Regency world of Elizabeth Amber (surname seems tepid for fiery red hot romances).

Harriet Klausner

Betrayed
Jamie Leigh Hanson
Tor, Jan 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780765357205

Nine lifetimes, nine attempts, nine deaths, nine rebirths, nine failures; if Kalyss fails this last time to rescue her beloved Dreux from the statue prison that holds him before her brother-in-law Kai murders her again, she will move on to eternal emptiness without him. However, with each reincarnation, she does not remember the past, her spouse or his brother until it has been too late while Dreux has seen each time the horror of his blood killing his love.

This time two enigmatic strangers intrude on her cycle of life and death by gifting her; some might say cursing her; with the knowledge of her past lives. Still as she eludes her constant predator surviving his assault for the first time in their millennium contest, she still has to figure out how to break the curse that has left her dead nine times and Dreux locked away in a prison.

This engaging romantic fantasy uses flashbacks to tell what happened in the past so that the audience obtains a strong tale in which through nine lifetimes hate has proven stronger than love. Readers will believe angels populate the earth; all seeking redemption with some of them being evil. BETRAYED is a superb battle in a war between good and evil fought on a battlefield of undying love.

Harriet Klausner

Witch Blood
Anya Bast
Berkley, Mar 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425220436

Water Witch Isabelle Novak flirts outrageously with Dustkoff Warlock chief Stefan Faucheux until they are alone in his limo. Suddenly she grabs his balls and begins freezing the liquids inside his body as she seeks to kill him as his demon killed her half-sister Angela. Fire Witch coven Chief Thomas Monahan prevents Isabelle from finishing the act. He has Adam Tyrell and Jack McAllister take Stefan to Gribbon prison where magic does not work so that he can be interrogated. Though drawn to Thomas, Isabelle angrily vanishes disobeying her leader’s insistence they talk.

The next day Isabelle explains to Thomas that since she cannot find the demon that killed her sister, she went after the man whose late father brought him here. Coven archivist Micah asks Stefan why the demon has not gone home after so many years here. He explains there are four types of demons in their world with no one wanting this type of demon to come home. Stefan also says that he must kill four witches to rape their power in order to open a portal to the demon realm. Finally he gives Micah access to his demon library in exchange for his swift death.

Isabelle and Thomas kiss and begin stripping when they are interrupted by Mira who says she heard whispered the name Simon Alexander. They keep him under surveillance, but he shows no sign of power. Simon meets an earth witch Melanie and her daughter Katie when the demon arrives, but in spite of being hurt by Isabelle, he escapes. As Thomas and Isabel work together to stop the demonic killing, they fall in love.

The sequel to the bewitching WITCH FIRE is a terrific romantic fantasy in which (pun intended) the key paranormal species Witch, Warlock, or Demon seem genuine; especially fascinating is the types of demons residing on Demon World. Fans will appreciate this strong tale although a late escape feels anti-climatic. Still the romance is strong set in the superbly developed Bast universe where the unreal feels real.

Harriet Klausner

Twist
Colby Hodge
Doechester Shomi, Feb 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780505527486

In the Chicago area Abbey Shore works hard renovating houses in order to pay for college where she hopes to study architecture like her late dad did before his fatal accident. She is on the job and tired when a wall crumbles revealing a hidden room behind it. Inside is an odd object that suddenly begins to rotate. Before she knows what happened in what seems like a blink, Abbey is one century into her future.

There she sees Dr. Shane Maddox, whom she met in her present at the Sacred Heart Emergency Room when she needed stitches due to an on the job injury. He holds her culpable for his becoming what he has become when an alien stalking her over a hundred years ago took him instead. These aliens have since destroyed humanity but with the arrival of Abbey he has renewed hope.

Told from Abbey’s perspective, TWIST is a superb apocalyptic thriller that from the moment her karate class is canceled until the final Tick never slows down as the heroine confronts one crisis after another in a future devastated by pandemic disease and a nasty predator. Abbey is terrific from the onset as time never stands still or moves linear; instead Colby Hodge asserts its one TWIST after another until the circle is either broken or complete.

Harriet Klausner

Deluge
Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Del Rey, March 2008, $23.95
ISBN 9780345470065

On the sentient planet Petaybee, the Company Corps has made a serendipitous landing, hoping to catch the natives off guard so they can round them up easily and send them to the prison planet Gwinnet. They arrive to find an empty village, the inhabitants hiding in the communal cave where they speak to Petaybee. The Corps is trapped in their ship by a terrific storm the planet sent their way.

The Selkie twins Ronan and Muriel have convinced the ship changing aliens who usually take the form of sea otters, to use their city-ship and take them to Versatile Station owned by their influential friend Marmie. She has been sent to the Gwinnet prison planet by corrupt officials bringing false charges against her. The twins want to contact Marmie’s influential friends to talk to them about her imprisonment and the invasion of Petaybee. They can’t use Petaybee’s com because of bad weather conditions. They reach the station ahead of the Corps and they send a message just before the Corps takes over. They and the inhabitants of the station are taken to Gwinnet where the twins old enemy professor Mabo is waiting to conduct painful experiments on them to figure out how they change into seals when in water

DELUGE wraps up the Twins of Petaybee trilogy and all the questions are answered and all the loose ends are sewn up. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this fantastic space opera with its fast pacing, action scenes and the interaction of humans and shape-shifting life sentient aliens. There are plenty of villains from corrupt prison officials to power hungry men and women of the Company Corps to a mad professor; readers will thoroughly enjoy the tale in hope they get what they deserve, especially those that are irredeemable.

Harriet Klausner

Dead Heat
Joel C. Rosenberg
Tyndale, Mar 2008, $24.99, 384 pp.
ISBN: 9781414311616

President James Macpherson is on his way to Los Angeles to give a speech at the Republican National Convention at the Staples Center. His intelligence team killed a terrorist they has been hunting for years but in his computer they find a map of the Staples Center. They think the terrorists are targeting the president but are confident that they have him protected. The Secret Service is proven wrong when container ships launch scud missiles with nuclear warheads at D.C., Seattle, Manhattan, and Southern California killing the president and many others.

Vice President Oaks is now the president and he and his advisors are in a bunker deep underground. He intends to make the country who launched the bombs pay for killing millions of Americans but he has no idea what country it is. North Korea is prepared to invade the South and could have done it as they had the means. The new president of Iraq who makes Saddam Hussein look like a choir boy hates the Americans and is in league with the U.N. Secretary-General. He is prepared to go to war to prevent the Kurdish providence from succeeding and joining the new Kurdistan. Israel builds the Third Temple to the consternation of other nations. It looks like intelligence is needed to figure out who killed America and since the infrastructure is destroyed, the US must depend on its allies and what little intelligence they have from contact with the field.

Joel C. Rosenberg writes a political thriller think is based on today’s headlines and most of the events in DEAD HEAT could conceivably happen. The action is non stop from the very first page and the politicians and elected officials feel lifelike. It is interesting to see what happens when a first strike hits America and how the country reacts to most of its land made wasted. Mr. Rosenberg is fantastic writer whose chilling and exciting novels make him one of the best thriller authors writing today.

Harriet Klausner

Dragonborn
Jade Lee
Love Spell, Mar 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 9780505527547

The emperor has outlawed dragons and dragonborn ordering them killed though he has bonded with a dragon. Natiya is the surviving daughter of two dragonborn whom the emperor had murdered. She dreams of avenging the deaths of her parents while hiding the queen dragon egg she is carrying hidden in plain sight as a naval jewel; one day that Unhatched dragon will live in a sacred bond with her.

The emperor’s dragon hunter Kiril believes that dragon hatching destroys the human essence as happened with his cousin. He believes killing the host and parasite is critical to save humanity from this insidious bonding. Then he meets and begins to fall in love with Natiya, but believes she is concealing something probably connected to her dragonborn parents. At the same time the emperor knows a threat exists to his century long reign and plans to snuff it out before it can incubate. His efforts lead him to Natiya.

This is a superb romantic fantasy starring a coming of age heroine who is learning the hard way that with power comes responsibility and accountability. She is a fundamentalist who is beginning to understand there may be other valid opinions. Natiya and Kiril are natural enemies as she has a grudge and needs to avenge her parents and he has a grudge to avenge his cousin; perfect enemy combatants falling in love. As always in a Jade Lee tale, her world of enchantment seems real to the delight of her grateful readers.

Harriet Klausner

Possession
Mathilde Madden, Madelynne Ellis & Anne Tourney
Black Lace, Feb 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 9780352341648

“The Silver Chains” by Mathilde Madden. Alfie desperately needs sex, but when he tries to make it with a woman he changes into a wolf. At Wonderland, his pack member Misty introduces him to Caroline. After he changes in front of her, she tells him her sister the witch predicted an unstable werewolf would visit her and gave her notes to give him. He, Misty, and his other pack member Leon head to Brazil to find the legendary Silver Chains that will enable him to have sex as a human. They are captured by an Amazon tribe whose queen binds Alfie to her.

“Broken Angel” by Madelynne Ellis. Both the Youkai demons and the Talon hunters want Blaze Makaresh after he steals an ancient manuscript. The Talon catches him after a Youkai poisons him. Asha the Talon saves his life by sucking out the poison. Soon they make love, but the Youkai still want him, which confuses the Talon as Blaze is just a nobody; shockingly Talon himself demands to meet this Blaze.

“Falling Dancer” by Anne Tourney. Lia the dancer fell from a height that should have left her battered body dead. Instead she walked away without a scratch. Her boyfriend Brendan the musician worries about her and is sent to Kelda the bartender for assistance. Kelda knows that a Fallen One switched places with Lia who is now in the cold void on nothingness. Now with two males wanting her, Brendan and the doctor who was with Lia in ER, Kelda reluctantly plans to exorcise the Fallen One out of Lia’s body using a sexual encounter.

These are three heated paranormal erotic tales in which the sex is not just interwoven into each plot, but enhances these strong fantasies. The lead and secondary cast are solid in each thriller and the storyline entertaining. Fans will want to follow the further adventures of each of the heroes as these are eroticas at their best.

Harriet Klausner

Heart of Light
Sarah A. Hoyt
Bantam, Mar 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780553589665

In an alternate world, Queen Victoria rules the British Empire; she and all the descendents of Charlemagne have magic since he stole the ruby Soul of Fire from an African tribe. The magic is diffused throughout the empire with the commoners having very little and the aristocrats being powerful mages. The anarchists are starting to rebel as they demand freedom and magic.

To quell the trouble, the Queen sends Nigel Oldhall to Africa to find the matching ruby Heart of Light so that Her Highness can bind all the magic in the world to her and her descendants. Nigel brings his new bride Emily with him for trip on the Carpetship. She thinks they are going on a honeymoon as Nigel failed to enlighten her that he is on a mission for the queen. Also seeking the Heart of Light is the Hyena Men, rebels who want to bind the ruby to African control. When Emily learns what her spouse kept from her, she is furious and turns to two other men for comfort. She is unaware that someone else, whom Nigel knows all too well, tracks them as he plans to obtain the ruby for his personal control of magic.

Sarah A. Hoyt provides a great historical fantasy that looks deep into how people feel under outside rule as Victoria rules the continent while the Africans loath the invaders’ domination of their land; thus readers have a scathing social commentary on colonization and occupying armies interwoven into the plot. Emily, Nigel, their companion Peter, and their guide Kitwanna are all characters made better by the quest for the ruby. There are many shocking revelations throughout the exhilarating story line; so much so that the audience will be tempted to read the five hundred plus pages in one sitting.

Harriet Klausner