In this fatal hour, tough, sarcastic Anita, no longer human, torn between her inner vamp and wolf, makes a final mating...
Tenth in the werewolf-loving, rogue-vampire–slaying, zombie-reanimating romances set in St. Louis.
Necromancer Anita Blake’s heart still wobbles between her alpha werewolf lover and ex-fiancé Richard, leader of the St. Louis pack, and Jean-Claude, her Master vampire lover, who is, of course, dead. Anita gets no kick from humans, but which monster is her great love? A woman of variable morality, she’s already betrayed Jean-Claude to sleep to the heights with Richard and up the ante in her gamble with Venus (Blue Moon, 1998), a problem that was put on hold during her trip to Tennessee to save Richard from a rape charge (Obsidian Butterfly, 2000). Anita herself bears the mark of the wolf and has been lupa of the pack, admired by all the males, though she does not wax furry in the full moon. Of her lovers Anita maintains, “They both had my libido, but I was trying to decide who had my heart.” Having killed the dominant wereleopard, Anita stands in as Nimir-Ra, or protector, of the wereleopards until a new dominant arises. Meanwhile, wereleopard Nathaniel disappears at Narcissus in Chains, a D&S bondage club. Jean-Claude agrees to help, but only if Anita quits killing so many people. Anita’s aura, her marks, desperately need filling in, but if shape-shifting Richard and heartrendingly beautiful Jean-Claude both marry marks with her, all will share their auras and magic, and the union will lead her into unplumbed depths of herself. As the tri-marriage kisses blossom, Anita’s soul-searing life in magic and love intensify in mind-bending complexity, with her energies feeding on each other. Then a group of rogue shape-shifting hyenas and half-men arises, led by hooded Chimera, whose repertory includes snake-shifting.
In this fatal hour, tough, sarcastic Anita, no longer human, torn between her inner vamp and wolf, makes a final mating choice no fan will expect to last. Better pounce.Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2001
ISBN: 0-425-18168-5
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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