Gothic Heat-Portia Da Costa

Gothic Heat
Portia Da Costa
Black Lace, May 2008, $12.95
ISBN: 9780352341709

Her college pals Belinda and Jonathan Sumner took Paula Beckett to Sedgwick Priory who they insist is owned by a 200-year old sorcerer Count Andre von kestrel. However, not long afterward, Paula awakens in a hotel naked wondering how she lost two days of her life. She is taken to a hospital, but when her friends visit her she angrily tells them to leave; after a few days of observation she is released.

Paula is scared as a voice inside her head keeps taunting her and getting her to do sexual things that she would never have done before. She realizes she is fighting sorceress Isadora Katori for ownership of her body because the evil one no longer has one. At the Inner Light massage parlor she meets masseuse Rafe Halloway. However, Isadora takes control of their shared body and pins Rafe down before taking him. Later, Paula tells him about the sorcerer who haunts her; he says he will help her. Nearing forty and fearing he will die like his father did at forty-two, Rafe hides his agenda of seeking a long life span; he thinks these sorcerers will enable him to obtain that. However, he also finds he is torn between the two women in his life as he loves sex with both; opposites as one takes charge while the other has him take charge.

This heated paranormal romance enables the reader and Rafe to believe that two minds occupy and battle to possess the body of the female lead. Fascinatingly Rafe loves both women as the aggressive sorcerer takes him in ways he never dreamed a woman could and the original hostess lets him take her anyway he desires. As the women compete for ownership of their shared body and his body (and soul), fans will appreciate Portia Da Costa’s unique erotic triangle as the hero is torn between two lovers with one body affirming sex is as much psychological as physical.

Harriet Klausner