Vampire Kiss
Veronica Wolff
NAL, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780451235725

Off the Scottish coast lies the Isle of Night populated by vampires, tracers, watchers, acari and humans. Ronan the vampire tracer recruited from the University of Florida Annelise Drew (see Isle of Night). She is a second year acari student who understands that only the strong survive so she diligently works hard with one goal to get off the island; which means becoming a Watcher even though escape is doubtful.

Alcantara the vampire acts likes Drew enchants him when he accelerates her training so she can be placed on a mission with him. She is to act the part of a serving girl to seven vampires of whom her mentor states are evil. They seek Carden McCloud captured and most likely tortured by these malevolent bloodsuckers. Drew finds the rescue target and gives him her blood. When Alcantara and McCloud meet, Drew realizes they are enemies, which has her wondering why her mentor lied and who the wicked vampire is.

The latest Watchers urban fantasy is an enthralling, twisting thriller in which readers will appreciate the spellbinding in depth look at a vampire island community inside the wonderful world of the Wolff. Since escaping the Isle of Night is more difficult than getting off Alcatraz, Acari accept their role as gladiator students. Sanctioned fights between each other leave some dead; only the best live through the grueling ordeal their instructors call training. Drew is terrific as she completes the mission but learns a lesson to not trust anyone especially vampires as delineating the good, the bad and the ugly is impossible until it is too late.

Harriet Klausner

Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual
Ryder Wyndham, Chris Reiff (illustrator) and Chris Trevas (illustrator)
Lucasbooks, Jan 31 2012, $20.00
ISBN: 9780345533043

The title is somewhat misleading as this owner’s manual focuses on the Corellian Engineering Corporation’s YT-1300 series with the legendary Millennium Falcon being the most famous (the Emperor says infamous) vessel having a major chapter. Besides the brief history of the corporation, the manual goes into depth with diagrams on the various YT-1300 models, a deep look at systems (piloting, propulsion, etc.), controls, weapons, crew facility and other floor plans, and other operations. There is also a section devoted to the modified Millennium Falcon operated by wanted preferably dead smugglers Han Solo a former Imperial pilot and Chewbacca the Wookie.

This is a great fun manual. Ryder Wyndham (see A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker) provides a well written text filled with fascinating details about the model while the photographs and art are incredible as the two Chris’ show their talent and knowledge of Star Wars. Fans of the saga especially the original three New Hope movies will appreciate this entertaining entry as we will feel we are on board and even driving an YT-1300 vessel. Finally unlike politicians who insist ads by their attack Super PAC pals were not approved by them, this super packed manual is approved by Lucasbooks and a reader can see why.

Harriet Klausner

Dream Shadows
Ingrid Weaver
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246122

For fifteen weeks millionaire Elizabeth Graye has lied in a coma. Mrs. Harrison directed caretakers to play Mozart and Beethoven as a stimulus. However, Norma also plays Country music for her comatose patient and reads extracts from her romance novels.

Thus Norma plays the sad sound of musician Rick Denning, which reaches through the fog of Elizabeth’s rewiring brain. They begin meeting in different time periods when he is asleep. When his Elizabeth appears in his daydreams, Rick obsessively decides to search for the woman he never met in person but has fallen in love with her. As he encourages her to come to him, however, someone else has other plans for the rich “bi*ch and no country singer is going to stand in the way.

Dream Shadows is a fascinating romantic suspense with a paranormal element serving as a matchmaker. Because of the diverse eras, the storyline feels somewhat repetitive in an entertaining Ground Hog Day way. Mindful of Jack Finney’s classic Time And Again, fans will enjoy love on a different plane while the body lies comatose and a killer waits to finish the job.

Harriet Klausner

Eternal Captive
Laura Wright
Signet, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451235879

The three Pureblood vampiric Roman brothers (Alexander, Nicholas and Lucian) left the Eternal Order community due to a dispute over tyrannical rules and the prejudicial mistreatment of the Impure half breeds, vowing never to return. However the road has been difficult land-mined with cravings though Alexander (see Eternal Kiss) and Nicholas (see Eternal Hunger) have found their respective soulmates. The two siblings vow to help their brother Lucien from being a chop off their unknown father’s block by preventing him from becoming a maniacal breeder.

Lucien knows he is in trouble as his doomsday clock began the final countdown when he gave blood to Bronwyn Kettler. He craves killing Bronwyn. His apparently only choices are the status quo path of doom leading to his murdering Bronwyn and her vampire fiancé, or committing suicide. None of the Roman siblings or their mates realizes that Cruen the ex Eternal Order member needs Roman insanely out of control as part of his diabolical scheme.

The excellent third Roman brother Mark of the Vampire romantic urban fantasy continues to expound on vampiric genetics that make the Wright mythos the right stuff. Action-packed with a powerful psychological obsession as its key base, fans will relish this superb tale and series while hoping for future visits to the world of Laura Wright.

Harriet Klausner

A Demon Does It Better
Linda Wisdom
Sourcebooks, Jan 1 2012, $14.99
ISBN: 9781402236723

In Inderman, Dr. Lili Carter the witch takes a staff position at Crying Souls Hospital. She conceals from the hospital administration her real reason for returning to the asylum where she worked ages ago. Lili searches for her friend Sera who worked here before vanishing without a trace.

The physician is stunned by the poor conditions of the facility and the haphazard care of the staff. She is especially shocked by the mistreatment of Jared the demon Patient 1172. Dr. Mortimer incarcerated 1172 for what the patient thinks is forever. However, he may have found his miraculous cure with the new doctor as he and Lili are attracted to one another. They team up to learn the insidious truth of what is going down at Crying Souls Hospital.

This romantic fantasy is an exciting thriller due to a strong unique support cast from a feline complaining that Minneapolis is not Inderman to Dragon nurses to the return of the “Hellion Guard” (see Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend). The protagonists are an interesting forbidden (not for medical relationship reasons) pairing of a patient and a doctor while the villain is as vile as they come. Although the romantic subplot at times distracts from the taut suspense, fans will enjoy visiting the Wisdom magical realm.

Harriet Klausner

The Departed
Shiloh Walker
Berkley, Jan 3 2012, $15.00
ISBN: 9780425245217

For fifteen years, psychopath Keaton Weiss preyed on lonely females who he kidnapped and then sadistically tortured them in his house of horrors before murdering his victims. That changed when Tawny Lawrence a mother incarcerated for seven years by the maniac escaped. Obsessed FBI Special Agent In Charge of a unique unit Taylor Jones arrests Weiss before escorting his psychic Desiree “Dez” Lincoln in to the torture chamber. She takes him to a field of horror in Iowa.

In Virginia, Taylor, thanks to Dez, traps young girl rapist and murderer Edward Mitchell, but the predator fires a shot that hits the psychic. As she is rushed to the hospital, Taylor realizes how much he cares for his employee. After she heals, they make love, but he believes this was an inappropriate mistake. Hurt by his attitude, Dez heads to French Lick, Indiana alone to help a dismayed spirit; Taylor follows her to his hometown where his then six years old kid sister Anna vanished so long ago, but still drives him to help the unprotected.

The Departed is an entertaining romantic urban fantasy police procedural. The storyline is fast-paced, but as Shiloh Walker admits in the forward requires acceptability of the special FBI cell. The cases are fun to follow but accelerate even faster once the lead couple enters Larry Bird territory. Readers will enjoy this exciting paranormal FBI romance.

Harriet Klausner

A Bridge of Years
Robert Charles Wilson
Orb/Tor, Dec 6 2011, $16.99
ISBN: 9780765327420

Following a divorce and a desperate need to start over, alcoholic Tom Winter leaves Seattle to return home to Belltower where he buys a three decade old house not occupied for over ten years, but maintained in pristine condition by an apparent phantom housekeeping service. The previous occupant Ben Collier lived there from 1964 until he vanished in 1980. Tom thinks his luck has changed as there is not one iota of dust anywhere and everything works.

However, he wonders if he is having the DTs when the “Tidiness Elves” clean his dishes. He soon meets his ghosts the cybernetic caretakers who plead with him to repair the abode as Tom learns the basement contains a tunnel that on the other end takes a traveler to Greenwich Village circa 1962. Ignoring the custodians’ warning not to enter the tunnel, Tom lands in May 1962 where he meets Joyce Casella in Washington Square Park. They are attracted to one another, but she fears he lost his mind to LSD or something similar. However, a marauder Billy Gargullo who killed Ben targets Tom and Joyce.

This is a reprint of a 1991 classic time traveler relationship drama. The exciting story line is filled with action, a vague future filled with war and horrific climate change, and a purposely not fully developed bittersweet romance. Character driven, fans who appreciate a complex somewhat convoluted thriller will want to read Robert Charles Wilson’s terrific time travel treatise as the protagonist struggles to cope psychologically (accentuated with the right on target climax) even more than the physical stalking by a killer.

Harriet Klausner

Wolf Whisperer
Karen Whiddon
Harlequin Nocturne, Dec 20 2011, $5.50
ISBN: 9780373618750

Pack protector Mac Lamonda is grieving and raging as his wife Maggie recently died in a car crash and her birth clan claimed and abducted his twin children while he mourned his loss. He wants his kids back so he has come to Wyoming to abduct a distant cousin Kelly McKenzie of his late spouse to force an exchange with this Tearlach clan that vanished years ago except for his target as she runs a canine rescue mission.

He arrives just after she learns her sister Bonnie has been abducted. They are attacked, but thwart the adversaries as her Tearlach skills save his life. Each distrusts the other as her clan took his kids and his Protectors failed to investigate who murdered her father and now her sibling is missing. Failure to combines forces proves not an option as a clever diabolical manipulator is putting the pair and their loved ones in jeopardy.

The latest Wolf Pack urban romantic fantasy (see Lone Wolf) is an exhilarating thriller due to the strong lead couple who loath the other’s clan and the expansion to the already powerful Whiddon mythos with the Tearlach talents. Mac and Kelly complement one another especially in a fight and at love. Readers will relish this entertaining tale as united the protagonists may save their loved ones; divided their loved ones will die.

Harriet Klausner

Skirmish
Michelle West
Daw, Jan 3 2012, $25.95
ISBN 9780756407018

In the Essalieyan Empire, the Terafin leader of the House Terafin is dead, a victim of demonic assassination. A power struggle ensues as to who will replace the head of the most powerful House. Former Averallaan street and Undercity urchin Jewel “Jay” ATerafin, encouraged by her late mentor, her den mates and her magical associates (two immortals, the Winter King stag and three giant winged cats who never shut up), considers applying for the vacant position.

Four candidates announce they want the job; Jay is not one of them. Demons stalk and attack her while she deliberates whether she wants the job. Peaceful transition is impossible as each side has human and magical allies that they deploy.

The latest House War political fantasy (see House Name and City of Night) is an engaging thriller as civil war to take charge of the most powerful House has begun. Jay has come a long way since Rath, the late Terafin’s brother, found her (see Hidden City) and brought her to his estranged sister. However, the key to this exciting thriller is the magic feels genuine and lethal as paranormal combat has begun. Although fans will be disappointed in how Jay employs her skills, the demise of a major figure in the previous three entries brings freshness with death a real possibility to anyone in the House War saga.

Harriet Klausner

Feral
Sheri Whitefeather
Heat, Dec 6 2011, $16.00
ISBN: 9780425243329

In late nineteenth century Mexico, Lareina stalks Noah. She sets her trap in a cantina forcing him to follow her as she exits the bar. As he takes her, she changes into a beast who turns him into a were-lion.

In present day Santa Clarita Valley, California, Jenny Lincoln runs Big cat Canyon, a rescue mission. She lacks funding until a donor gives her a large infusion of cash. Noah offers more if she spends one night at his BDSM sex club Aeonian in Los Angeles. Attracted to him, but also needing the money to keep her grandfather’s dream afloat, she shows up. He has wanted her ever since he saw her image on her Cat Canyon web site. Noah gives her a tour that stuns her as sexual activity in animal costumes is everywhere. Then Noah changes into a lion as he goes after his fantasy.

This is an exciting romantic urban fantasy starring two likeable individuals in love and heat. The story line is fast-paced as the road to mating is easy but to being mates proves complicated. Sheri Whitefeather provides an engaging BDSM romance with a shapeshifting Native American mythos as the foundation.

Harriet Klausner