Danior Blake comes upon Zane feeding off Maggie, and stops him. It's illegal, by council law, to kill a human in the city but Zane claims it was his only choice when his vampire venom failed to paralyze her. She'll remember the attack, and after biting her twice, she might turn, which is also against council law. But for some reason, Danior doesn't kill her. Instead, he saves her and nurses her through the change. Now he must convince her to trust him, and he must outrun the council once they find out that he allowed her to turn.

I've enjoyed Ms. Anwar's Carnal series very much. This one was good, and worth a thorough reading, but it seemed to lack something her previous books had. The intensity between the characters, both in and out of the love scenes, was missing. On the plus side, there seemed to be much more characterization of the heroine, and more background on her. She was also different; though Celeste Anwar's heroines were not necessarily Xena-like, they rarely suffered from true insecurity like Maggie. The difference was astounding, and very well- done. Her insecurity was genuine and while she sometimes suffered bouts of self- pity, she was also self-confident in other ways and refused to wallow in that self-pity. Danior didn't seem to take up much of the story, unfortunately, but he was also different from Ms. Anwar's previous characters. He seemed more sweet and protective. Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I'd have likely enjoyed it even more if I'd realized the style was going to be different.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Explicit

Reviewer: Tara Black
June 17, 2004