LIVING VIOLET

A standard supernatural-boy–meets-girl romance.

Samara doesn't understand why women constantly throw themselves at her coworker, Caleb Baker, who is decent-looking but not traffic-stopping apart from his "intense violet eyes." It's her ability to resist his charms that draws Caleb to Samara. But Caleb's a dangerous heart-breaker—literally: Women have a tendency to have heart attacks around him. When Caleb kills a would-be date-rapist in front of Samara to protect her friend, he's forced to reveal his nature to her. He's a Cambion, meaning he shares his body with an extra soul, that of a seductive incubus that draws the women to him to fulfill its life-sucking nutritional needs. A slow romance and work on taming Caleb's inner-beast occupy the snoozing bulk of the book, with action and tension slipping back into the story only in the last third, when Caleb's supernatural ties finally threaten Samara's family. Apart from pacing problems, the voice is inconsistent, often reading like an adult trying to mimic a teenager. This leads to condescending ponderings on such clichés as the wrongness of kids dying before parents and the attraction bad boys hold for girls. The narration aims for clever but too often lands in cutesy, but the characters can be likable when the prose is successful, and the relationship charms through the leads' discomfort and inexperience with romance.

Doesn't stand out.