Cry of Sorrow
Holly Taylor
Medallion, Jul 2008, $15.95
ISBN: 9781933836263

The Coranians have defeated their enemies the Kymru in battle. However, their leader Havgan does not celebrate the victory as his troops do; he feels there remains one last task to complete before he can claim victory. He must find the four treasures (the Stone, the Spear, the Cauldron and the Sword) that will gain him entrance to the Hall of the High Kings, Cadair Idris; then he can claim victory as the High King of Kymru.

However, Haygan knows his quest is impossible as the Treasures were concealed ages ago. He orders Gwydion the Dreamer to insure he achieves his goal soonest. Reluctantly, Gwydion seeks a lost song which contains clues to the relics in the lyrics at the same time he has doubts about the worthiness of his liege to be the High king. He recruits Rhiannon the witch, her daughter Gwenhwyvar, and his nephew Arthur to accompany him on the dangerous quest while Havgan’s soldiers follow them as Haygan trusts no one especially someone allied with a hated witch. In spite of blood relations and friendships when attractions erupt, the wary foursome doubts the loyalty of one other, but for the quartet to succeed, they must depend on one another.

The latest High Kings romantic fantasy (see CRIMSON FIRE and NIGHT BIRDS REIGN) is a strong tale in which the quest and the “counter”-quest make for an engaging twisting thriller. The story line is action-packed as like any quest fantasy there is a lot of strange evil creatures out there. However, it is the quartet distrusting one another even as they pair off in love; feelings no one wants especially at this dangerous time. Holly Taylor is at her best with her strong High King saga.

Harriet Klausner

Dark Master
Tawney Taylor
Kensington Aphrodisia, May 2008, $12.95
ISBN: 9780758226778

Totally broke, Regan Roslund makes a living selling BDSM paraphernalia from the bondage shop she inherited form her late aunt. She finds her inventory boring until passing time she puts a leather choker around her neck and dreams of its previous user, who in her fantasy leaves her in need of more.

The King of the Undead Degenen, Quinby “Shadow” Sorenson needs to marry in order to come to full power and prevent attacks on his throne. When he meets Regan, he decides she is perfect and they quickly marry undead style. However, someone wants to prevent Shadow from becoming all he can be due to sexual intensity so he goes after his Achilles’ heal, Regan.

This enjoyable paranormal erotic romance is fun to follow, but has abrupt scene changes that can prove a bit jarring. Regan is an interesting protagonist as she wonders how she ended up making a living peddling sex gizmos until the Shadow shows her the fun in testing the BDSM merchandise. Fans will appreciate Regan’s DARK MASTER as he teaches his beloved new spouse, sex with a bite. Even as his opponents need her dead to prevent him from gaining the exponential increase in power that sex with the woman you love engorges his species with power.

Harriet Klausner

Bring Down the Sun
Judith Tarr
Tor, Jun 2008, $22.95
ISBN 9780765303974

The flirtatious Polyxena knows she is a beauty and acts accordingly though that is not normal behavior of an acolyte of the Mother goddess. When Philip of Macedon meets the enticing playful Polyxena, he is enchanted by her beauty and her sexual lure. He calls her Myrtale the “crowned one” and pledges to make her his queen when he becomes king.

No longer using the name Polyxena, Myrtale ruthlessly uses her sexual appeal and her connection to the Mother goddess to further the ambitions of her now husband Philip. Her plan is to do likewise when her unborn son the heir is old enough. No one will stand in the way of Myrtale as she plots power and greatness for her family.

The power behind the throne of Philip is his ambitious cunning wife; that is the essence of this engaging biographical fictional account of the mother of Alexander the Great. The story line actually ends with the birth of Alexander; so expect a sequel when her son becomes the ruler and her ambition is as strong as ever. Although the opening sequence when she is still Polyxena pales next to her as Myrtale, fans will appreciate this deep look at a woman the history texts ignore, but proves as powerful in her way as her more famous husband and son.

Harriet Klausner

Galaxy Blues
Allen Steele
Ace, Apr 2008, $24.95
ISBN: 9780441015641

Being caught helping his brother to pass his exams at the Space Academy by giving him the answers, Jules Truffaut is kicked out of Union Astronautica Space Fleet. For months he works towards one goal: to get airborne. He stows away on the spaceship headed for Coyote but he gets caught. He steals the shuttle and lands on the planet where he is arrested. He hoped to ask for asylum when he landed but instead he knows with the charges against him that the Chief Magistrate will deport him.

Before he goes in front of the judge, billionaire Morgan Goldstein visits Jules in his prison cell; the wealthy man offers a proportion to the prisoner. He gives Jules a chance to become a crew member of the Pride of Cucamonga en route to the Rho Coronae Borealis System in order to make a trade pact with the elder species the hjadd. If he agrees all charges will be dropped and he will receive asylum. He agrees to go on the mission.

When the crew reach their destination, a cultural misunderstanding turns disastrous. Jules and his mates take part on a dangerous mission that more than likely will mean their death, but correcting the blunder is critical. If they succeed the hjadd will reconsider allowing humanity into the Talus, an organization of highly sentient races who exchange science and technological advances.

Set in the same universe as the Coyote trilogy, GALAXY BLUES is a rip roaring electrifying space opera in which humans are infants compared to the elder races. Readers will thoroughly enjoy learning about the hjadd and their strong unconscious belief in their superiority to the visiting barbaric mankind. Jules is an interesting antihero who tries to disapprove the hjadd perception that advanced technology equates to superior culture and species. Fans will appreciate his efforts.

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

Madhouse
Rob Thurman
Roc, March 2008, $6.99, 352 pp.
ISBN: 9780451461964

Cal and Niko were years on the run from the Auphe, evil supernatural beings that are so bad that even hell don’t want them. They live in their own bleak dimension where half human- half Auphe was imprisoned for two years. Now he has opened a supernatural detective agency with his devoted and overprotective brother Niko and for the first time they have friends. Robin Goodfellow, a puck is their and Niko are involved with a vampire Promise.

Something strange happened at the Metropolitan Museum and through Promise’s friend with the Valkyrie Sangrida, Cal and Niko are on the case. A display case shatters from the inside and the remains of Sawney Beane, the non-human Redcap are missing. Somehow centuries ago people formed an army and burned him at the stake; but he is back and on a killing streak eating human flesh with the Revenants. Cal and Niko go against him many times are lucky to come away with their lives. As if they didn’t have enough with Sawney to worry about, Robin becomes a target from someone who wants him dead.

Cal is still messed up with his time with the Auphe and is wary of everyone except Prmise, Robin and Niko and he hopes that he can learn to live without fear. He is a hard edged diamond in the rough who is starting to learn to trust people like the werewolf and the vampire. This is a great mystery wrapped inside an urban fantasy. Readers will feel for Cal who gives up the woman he loves because he knows the Auphe will never leave him alone. He is a Byronic hero who knows his life is not his own.

Harriet Klausner

The Ravening
Dawn Thompson
Love Spell; Feb 2008; $6.99
ISBN: 9780505527271

After years away, Brotherhood warrior Milosh returns to the Hyde-White family manor in Cumberland, England to complete his long term quest of killing the lord of the evil vampires Sebastian. He is stunned with what he sees as the house is a ruin obviously destroyed by fire and his friends like Joss are gone. However, most shocking is the Gypsy living amidst the wreckage.

He demands Paloma explain why she hides in this cold dump. She tells him she took refuge in this forbidden place that no one visits anymore here praying and waiting in hope that someone would come to teach her the Blood Moon technique so she can control her blood lust thirst. Paloma further explains a shapeshifting vampire bit her. Milosh is further stunned as he realizes he wants Paloma, but must not allow her to become a pawn in his war with Sebastian who he assumes bit her. She makes it even more difficult to resist her when she offers her love, body and soul to him.

Decades since the events of early Victorian THE BROTHERHOOD and even more years since Regency THE BLOOD MOON, the final tale in the Chronicles of the Blood Moon Victorian vampire saga is a superb final confrontation between good and evil. The key to this excellent vampire romantic suspense is how Dawn Thompson keeps the feeling that the bad guy is going to win as the hero is distracted by love. THE RAVENING is vampire historical romantic suspense at its best.

Harriet Klausner

Echoes From The Grave
S.D. Tooley
Full Moon Publishing, Aug 2007, $26.00
P.O. Box 408, Schererville, IN 46375
ISBN: 9780978540234

The digging at a construction site on the south side of Lake Michigan uncovered many human bones. Everyone assumed that a Native American burial site was inadvertently exhumed.

As the local tribes want the site preserved as a cemetery, Chasen Heights detective in charge of the investigation Jake Mitchell arrives at the dig accompanied by his detective wife Sam Casey. She quickly informs her spouse that the remains of one of the dead told her that they were murdered three years ago. Jake knows to heed Sam’s Native American psychic skills. However, the bones go missing before they can be tested as if someone fears what they will tell will affirm Sam’s information.

Few if any paranormal police procedurals are as good as the Casey-Mitchell Lake Michigan whodunits (see NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK and RESTLESS SPIRIT). The latest entry ECHOES FROM THE GRAVE is a terrific whodunit as a cunning person manipulates the construction crew and the Native Americans to insure Mitchell cannot learn the truth although his sleuthing spouse Sam has pointed him in the right direction. The investigation brings to life some of the history of the Lake Michigan area while the husband and wife detectives are a delightful pair as they do their jobs professionally enhanced by her talent and that of her Native American family. Although construction sites in the Chasen Heights area seem extra dangerous, S. D. Tooley provides an exhilarating fast paced mystery that readers will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner

King and Queen
C.A. Thomas
Outskirts Press, Oct 2007, $17.95, 230 pp.
ISBN: 9781432707309

She was fourteen and he was nineteen when they became betrothed with their families’ blessing. Yeshua loved Mary with all his heart and saw the innocence in her that touched him deeply. Mary the Magdalene felt Yeshua was different than any other man in existence but she loved him with the whole of her heart, understanding him when his own disciples were confused. Yeshua thought of Mary as his uncrowned Queen, a Nazarene high priestess who worshipped the Mother Goddess with Yeshua’s approval for what is the Father without the Mother.

The disciples especially Peter and his male followers were angry and jealous that at times he paid more attention to Mary than he did to them. He sat with her when he preached and he was not afraid to caress her in public and treat her as an equal. They had three children, a boy and two girls and Jesus loved his family. He saw the future and knew that Mary would be reviled, her name an anathema to many people even though she gave much to the world completing the circle of Jesus’ life.

Although the basic essence of how the bible describes Jesus is not changed, C.A. Thomas shows Jesus as being as much a man with a man’s feelings and needs as he is part of the Divine. He states that Jesus treated men and women as equals. The women played an important part in Jesus’ life because as he lay dying at the cross, they were the ones with him. C.A. Thomas has a written a beautiful love story that allows readers to see the times in which Jesus lived.

Harriet Klausner

Forecast
Jane Tara
Love Spell, Nov 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 0505527448

In Greenwich Village, everyone knows to visit the Shakespeare females if they wanted accurate predictions of their future. If you need to know the weather or find a lost child or object, most know to stop at the Shakespeare Second Site new age store. Rowie Shakespeare loves her grandmother who manages the store and her mother the mystic, but would like to move past the mysticism starting with a boyfriend, who with a first kiss she does not know his future with some other bimbo.

TV weather man Drew Henderson is the in meteorologist because he goes where the action is and explains complex science so that his viewers understand it without dumbing it down; it helps that he is a hunk. Covering a hurricane he is injured, but his studio chooses a psychic weatherwoman rather than a professional to temporarily replace him. As he has cardiac arrest, Rowie becomes a celebrity with her uncanny 100 per cent accuracy. When they kiss for the firs time, she cannot read his lips except for their wanting to kiss her again.

This is an amusing New Age romance with whimsical fantasy elements to enhance the tale. In many ways FORECAST is an updated version of Bell, Book, and Candle, but has a freshness of its own due to the weather predicting “rivalry” between the psychic and the scientist. Jane Tara provides a charming entertaining tale of love amidst TV meteorology ratings that this reviewer predicts will gain the author many appreciative fans.