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Blaze
knows who killed her father and she has merciless plans for payback.
Until a phone call from a seductive stranger pleads with her to wait.
Retribution is in his blood, too. Now, he and Blaze will be united in
the blood of the guilty. Tonight, vengeance is theirs.
Dead by Twilight by Maggie Shayne
Bloodsuckers
may be an accepted minority but one of them is getting away with
murder. Until a female vamp teams with a mortal detective to end the
killing spree. Now the night belongs to them—and so does every pleasure
and danger lurking in the shadows.
Cimarron Spirit by Lori Herter
While
excavating an Anasazi ruin, archeologist Annie Carmichael uncovers the
resting place of a centuries-old vampire who finds in Annie the
liberating mate he has longed for. But how much is Annie expected—or
willing—to surrender for the man she now desires?
“Dark Crime” by Christine
Feehan
In book 23.5 of the
Dark/Carpathian series, Blaze McGuire is full of rage and grief. Two rival mob
factions have moved into her city, which is unnamed, and one of the groups—the
Hallahan brothers—murdered her father. Blaze intends to kill the murderers and
suspects she’ll die in the process. Signing over the rights to her family’s
business to the rival gang, she expects them to carry out her mission to
destroy the Hallahan brothers if she fails, but she never expected the mobster
she spoke with on the phone to race down to the bar and save her life.
Carpathian warrior Tariq are presenting themselves as mobsters and even opened
a nightclub, but their main focus is hunting down vampires in the city. They
haven’t realized, however, how deeply the vampires have integrated themselves
into human society. Maksim knows Blaze is his lifemate as soon as he hears her
voice. She’s a warrior, like him, trained to protect the ones she loves. She
dead-set on revenge, and Maksim can do no other but help her achieve her goal.
relationship develops fast. They’re likable characters. He’s understanding of
her warrior spirit and she’s accepting of his protective nature. As always in
this series, each heroine is more gorgeous than the last. Since repetition and
multiple sex scenes stretch out the word count, this novella is the longest in
the anthology. Head hopping and a few inconsistencies took me out of the story,
but I liked the gritty urban setting and the overall narrative.
“Dead by Twilight” by Maggie
Shayne
In this Wings in the Night:
Reborn novella, book 3.5, city cop and vampire Chloe Madison is hunting down a
powerful vampire that’s killing innocent human men. Believing she’s finally
found the bloodsucker, she follows the lady vamp and her sexy victim to a
graveyard. Turns out, the bloodsucker is just a human playing dress up and the
vic is actually a state inspector who’s seriously pissed at Chloe for blowing
his cover.
doesn’t want to team up with Chloe after his boss forms the new Vampire Crimes
Unit, but he can’t deny her skill and knowledge when it comes to all-things
vampire. Two years earlier, the world found out that vampires are real, but
Shep doesn’t believe vamps and humans can co-exist. While investigating the
murders, they check out a vampire-themed D/s club and the sexual tension
between them soon ignites.
She’s feisty and pretends to be human, he’s protective and bigoted against
vampires, but they work great together. They have a HFN ending, but it’s easy
to see the HEA coming up.
person POV, from Chloe’s perspective only, but I really would’ve liked some
scenes from Shep. Still, I loved this novella. It’s my favorite in the antho.
“Cimarron Spirit” by Lori
Herter
Archaeologist and professor
Annie Carmichael is dating Brent, a wealthy cattle rancher, and excavating
Anasazi ruins on his property. Though she feels comfortable with Brent and can
see an easy future with him and his daughter, she secretly longs for passion
and adventure.
de la Vega believes the ruins belong to him. After years of loneliness, he
needs someone in his life, but his previous relationships with women ended
badly. While trying to scare off the invading archaeologist, he realizes Annie
is his soul mate and sets out to seduce her.
interesting characters. The story is told predominately from Annie’s
perspective, but there are a few scenes in Rafael’s POV. Their relationship
bloomed fast and there was insta-love on his part.
questions. Will Annie be able to continue excavating the ruins since she chose
Rafael over Brent? Will Rafael still have access to the kiva (an Anasazi
ceremonial chamber and his preferred resting place) after the excavation
team takes over?
story and would like to read more of Ms. Herter’s work.
I love reading vampire books
because each author changes the vampire mythos with new twists, but keeps the
basic facts the same. I definitely recommend this anthology.
Book Overall – 4 Stars