"an entertaining paranormal adventure romance"

Gwyneth Stevens makes a living at investigating supernatural occurrences, and capturing and controlling the beings as needed. When a rash of murders occurs, with humans being killed and mutilated by fiendish Hell Hounds, she is sent in to find the underlying cause of it. Her investigation takes her to a theme park specializing in the supernatural, and right into the lair of the vampire Pallo, for whom she feels inexplicable emotions, as if she knew him before. But, she'd remember someone like him, wouldn't she?

In the process of the search for answers, danger runs deep and magick runs amuck. She is attacked more then once, and one of those times is rescued by the mysterious fae, Caleb. She feels immediate attraction for him as well and she's torn between two men who are both more then what they seem. Each holds some of the keys to her past, with answers to who she really is, and they have some surprising information for her. Gwen grows closer to both of them throughout her case and finds out they are all linked through shared pasts.

This was a very interesting and unique premise for a story that will obviously be expanded upon in future books. However, due to the nature of the story being done as a series of books, there were some parts that were confusing, mainly the bonds between characters from past and present lives, with flash backs to the previous lives. A lot happens in the story, which is necessary to set up the plot for the continuation and provide background information and events, which will notably affect the characters in the present and future.

Sometimes books written in the first person can be confusing to follow, but Ms. Roth handles that writing style with finesse, skillfully fleshing out her characters to make them real and alive. Shades of Laurell K. Hamilton can be found in this book, with some parallels being able to be drawn between writing style and genre. If someone loves Ms. Hamilton's books, they are bound to enjoy Ms. Roth's story. Descriptive prose is well done, making the characters see things as Gwen does, though being able to pick up on the events and details Gwen is missing.

Gwen is a strong intelligent female and it was extremely funny and somewhat ironic how she was so clueless about a few particular things throughout the story, not putting two and two together. It is apparent that she was meant to be drawn that way, to show that though she may be a kick ass heroine, even she is far from perfect... and not always the most observant person, just like the rest of the world. It adds some more human traits to her superhuman persona. Pallo and Caleb are rendered beautifully, in appearance and personality. It will be easy for readers to understand why Gwen is drawn to them both.

In short, Ms. Roth is an incredibly talented rising author. This reviewer looks forward to reading more of her works.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, August 2004. All rights reserved.

Reviewed by Kelley Hartsell
Courtesy Love Romances
Posted November 22, 2004

Summary

In modern day America, creatures that go bump in the night exist only in books and movies, right? Wrong. The streets are crawling with supernatural predators.

Gwyneth Stevens works for a local branch of the government that specializes in controlling and maintaining supernatural creatures.

When a rash of hellhound related homicides sends Gwen searching for clues, she comes face to face with Pallo, the Master Vampire who owns Necro's Magik World & Supernatural Theme Park. What she doesn't realize is that she and Pallo share a past, and only he can help her discover who she really is.