Tuesday, December 25, 2007

The Vampire’s Kiss-Raven Hart

The Vampire’s Kiss
Raven Hart
Ballantine, Jan 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780345498564

Five hundred years old vampire William Thorne is tearing Europe apart searching for his vampiric wife and their son; he seeks them not out of some family love, as he does not; instead he knows they are evil and have kidnapped someone dear to him, Renee the powerful daughter of Melaphia the strongest voodoo priestess in the New World. Her daughter’s magical blood can cure ills that affect vampires and it is her mother’s blood that makes William stronger than vampires twice his age. When he learns they were in London, William asks his vampiric cousin to assist him on his quest.

Back at home in Savannah, Jack’s sire William is trying to prevent a backwater hillbilly werewolf clan from making crystal meth. The powerful alpha werewolf Seth is also trying to take them down in a pack fight while Jack’s love Connie struggles to accept that creatures of the night exist. Eleanor, who William converted into a vampire, begs him to free her from his wife and her mate even though she betrayed him by leaving with them shortly after he made her. William will free her, but only when Renee is liberated and unbound. His decision to let Eleanor survive proves a mistake because she slows down his quest to reunite with the child of his heart. An ocean away her mother uses her power to hurt her daughter’s enemies so that William can free Renee in what appears to be the first salvo in a war.

THE VAMPIRE KISS is a pulse thumping enthralling horror thriller filled with action to the nth degree. There are many revelations in this exciting story that will serve as future plots. This includes the supernatural species Connie belongs too and why Renee’s mother wants her soul on another plane of existence. Readers learn of the long term strategic goals of the Vampire Council of Dark Lords especially how they plan to interact with their sustenance, humans. However, it is the lead vampires, likable Jack with his self deprecating undead jokes and courageous William with his need to do right who make this a fine entry in spite of its overall transition story line.

Harriet Klausner

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