"Magical romantic fantasy"

The underground city of Atlantis is real and in the present day and is guarded by the shapeshifter Dragon Darius en Kragin who kills anyone who enters the city through the portal and the mist. For three hundred years he kept the citizens of Atlantis safe, killing any surface dweller who dared to enter the city. However when Grace comes to Brazil looking for her brother who is searching to see if Atlantis really exists, she enters the city but Darius is too attracted to her to kill her.

Her feelings for Darius frighten her so aided by the Argonauts, the company her brother works for, she escapes and returns home. Darius follows her because humans have found an entrance to Atlantis and are taking the jewels that decorate the walls. If Grace helps him, he will insure her brother, who is a prisoner, is safe. In love with the taciturn man, Grace agrees to his conditions and both realize he can't kill the woman he desires above all others. Now he has to defeat the humans so the secret of Atlantis is insured, find a way to make Grace part of Atlantis so he won't violate the laws of the city and free Grace's brother who is also in love with a dragon.

This romantic fantasy is a magical work where dragons take on human form and have different values than the surface dwellers. Atlantis is an exotic city populated by dragons, vampires, centaurs, and other beings of myth and legend. There is plenty of action as well as romance in the storyline as the book will appeal to a wide range of readers. Gena Showalter has the magic touch to make readers believe in what she writes.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 13, 2005

Summary

Grace Carlyle's world was about to change . . . Deep in the jungle on the trail of her missing brother, Grace never expected to find a secret world populated by mythological monsters -- nor guarded by a sword-wielding being whose beauty put mortal men to shame. Darius en Kragin belongs to a race of shape-shifting warriors sworn to guard Atlantis and kill all travelers who stray within its boundaries. Yet when Grace stumbles into his realm, he finds himself tempted to betray his centuries-old vow. Now their forbidden love will either bring their worlds together -- or tear them both apart.