An electric, often tantalizing installment enhances this vampire series.
In this erotic thriller sequel, a New Orleans vampire and his human lover struggle to understand their enigmatic but undeniably strong bond.
Dante Gabriel and Erin Hamilton’s first time together culminates in her consenting to the vampire biting her neck and consuming her blood. But coming out of her euphoric haze, Erin is disconcerted by the full realization that her lover is a vampire. Though she steers clear of “the V word,” she can’t deny their mutual allure. This, according to Dante, is a blood bond, an occurrence so rare that information on it is scarce. The Vampyre Texts may explain it, but Dante’s grandfather Bill hasn’t yet finished the translation. But why has it been so long since anyone has translated the ancient tome? That’s just one of the countless mysteries challenging the couple. Erin, for one, has bite marks on her thigh and doesn’t know where they’re from, which likely means a vampire—most assuredly not Dante—has attacked her. There are also patients disappearing from University Hospital, where Erin, an emergency room nurse, works. She connects the missing patients by blood: They’re B positive, the same type the hospital keeps running out of. And though she’s trying to accept that vampires exist, Erin soon encounters more of the supernatural, including ghosts and, maybe, werewolves. Dante, meanwhile, is still recovering from his decade of captivity, courtesy of a female vampire known only as the queen. Her voice is constantly in Dante’s head, insisting she retains control of him. As in the preceding novel, Hardt’s (Unchained, 2018, etc.) second installment, though split into three parts, is one cohesive story. In fact, this book picks up immediately following the earlier one, carrying over mysteries ranging from Erin’s inexplicable bite marks to the still-unknown queen. The couple’s relationship shows unmistakable progress: While the first book teased their inevitable sex, Dante and Erin now face entirely new hurdles post-coitus. The most striking example is Bill’s claim that if their blood bond is broken, both will die. The author’s simple, concise prose sets an impressive pace. Succinct but descriptive details make periodic scenes in the ER exhilarating, as Erin and fellow nurses or doctors need to make quick decisions. Similarly, brevity during the explicit sex scenes amps up passion: The two are so desperate for each other that they typically forgo foreplay, leading to a fair share of thrusting and animalistic growling. The story grounds much of the supernatural elements, making the highlighted romance more believable. Dante, for instance, stresses that vampire myths are generally baseless (vamps are born and can’t transform humans by biting them). And, like others of his kind, he is akin to humans. It’s consequently amusing when this vampire hero doesn’t seem to believe in ghosts. Along with spirits, Hardt adds numerous mysteries in the second volume and leaves quite a few questions unanswered. Nevertheless, there’s some resolution (for example, the fates of Dante’s father and uncle, who vanished while searching for their abducted relative) and plenty of material for the third book.
An electric, often tantalizing installment enhances this vampire series.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64263-014-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Waterhouse Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.
Things are about to get bloody for a group of Charleston housewives.
In 1988, the scariest thing in former nurse Patricia Campbell’s life is showing up to book club, since she hasn’t read the book. It’s hard to get any reading done between raising two kids, Blue and Korey, picking up after her husband, Carter, a psychiatrist, and taking care of her live-in mother-in-law, Miss Mary, who seems to have dementia. It doesn’t help that the books chosen by the Literary Guild of Mt. Pleasant are just plain boring. But when fellow book-club member Kitty gives Patricia a gloriously trashy true-crime novel, Patricia is instantly hooked, and soon she’s attending a very different kind of book club with Kitty and her friends Grace, Slick, and Maryellen. She has a full plate at home, but Patricia values her new friendships and still longs for a bit of excitement. When James Harris moves in down the street, the women are intrigued. Who is this handsome night owl, and why does Miss Mary insist that she knows him? A series of horrific events stretches Patricia’s nerves and her Southern civility to the breaking point. (A skin-crawling scene involving a horde of rats is a standout.) She just knows James is up to no good, but getting anyone to believe her is a Sisyphean feat. After all, she’s just a housewife. Hendrix juxtaposes the hypnotic mundanity of suburbia (which has a few dark underpinnings of its own) against an insidious evil that has taken root in Patricia’s insular neighborhood. It’s gratifying to see her grow from someone who apologizes for apologizing to a fiercely brave woman determined to do the right thing—hopefully with the help of her friends. Hendrix (We Sold Our Souls, 2018, etc.) cleverly sprinkles in nods to well-established vampire lore, and the fact that he’s a master at conjuring heady 1990s nostalgia is just the icing on what is his best book yet.
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68369-143-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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