Looking for a cure for insomnia? Try this book. Works like a dream.
Seriously, I bought this book because I love romance and also enjoy some elements of the supernatural, such as vampires. The book seemed to offer the right sort of combination - or so I thought. I was wrong.
Susan Krinard's Kiss of the Wolf started vaguely promisingly, but I quickly found it increasingly difficult to turn the pages. LA plastic surgeon trying to find herself goes to the Louisiana bayou - well, naturally, where else would she go? - and stumbles into a mystery involving a dead distant relative to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Like you do. And, of course, she also encounters a couple of werewolves and a murdering thug in nice-guy clothing. Falls into bed with Werewolf 1 not long after, despite his surly behaviour, and promptly falls in love with him and realises how much she loves the bayou despite there being not a lot of need for plastic surgeons in deepest Louisiana. Yeah, right. Yawn.
Novella 2 appeared to offer a little more promise. Tanith Lee's Shadow Kissing was apparently about a haunted apartment, yet it wasn't really. Though there was a seemingly self-propelling statue, also bearing a striking resemblance to a character in the novella. Between irritating minor characters (including one with the unlikely name of Cinnamon) and a so-called hero who was a complete jerk, I don't know what there was to like about this. Plus, although Lee got some of the English nuances correct, there were several references that jarred given the setting was London and the characters English.
And finally - yes, finally I got close to the end! - there was Novella 3. The Devil She Knew, by Evelyn Vaughan. Mercy of mercies, this one was about 40 pages shorter than the other two. Woman finds a strange fire in her walk-in closet. Like you do. Woman figures out within about ten seconds that she's got a portal to hell in her bedroom. Of course! Naturally, that's the first conclusion one would jump to. And when she calls her friendly maintenance man - whom we progressively discover manages, and in fact owns, her building - he naturally jumps to the same conclusion. This one went on and on, despite being shorter. But once the author got over wasting pages and pages on irrelevant, boring stuff (such as lunch with the heroine's family) and they suddenly, by amazing coincidence, figure out who's behind it and go visit the guy (hey, did you curse me with the fires of hell? Um... maybe), everything is skimmed over so quickly that it's completely unclear what actually happened.
Don't waste your money. This one is going straight to the recycling pile, and all three authors are on my `forget it!' list!
wmr-uk
