Tag: romance

Engaged in Wickedness

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews

From the description of Engaged in Wickedness, it looked like Jade Lee’s introductory novella for her new Bridal Favors series would merely be a purely engaging frothy romance. But the desperate purpose behind Lady Gwen’s wickedness gives this historical romance a surprising depth.

The story does have what seems like a typical start. It could have been whipped out of the Regency, and with a few updates, taken place anywhere and anywhen.

A young woman tests, in fact over-reaches the rules of her station, seemingly out of a spirit of adventure. She seems adventurous to her tamer and more conventional peers, who listen avidly to the tales of her adventures, safely after the fact.

But Lady Gwen is the daughter of an Earl, and the rules she is flouting are the staid and unbreakable conventions of the haut ton. What rules are those? She likes to sneak off into darkened corners and shadowy gardens with men, and let them kiss her.

This is dangerous behavior. If she is caught, she will be ruined in the eyes of the ton. Her father’s station will not save her. And Lady Gwen simply does not care anymore. Flirting, and being caught, just a little, is the only thing that fills the emptiness of her life.

But one man is watching her. Sir Edward Murray has come to London to find a wife. And Lady Gwen is just the wife he wants. This slightly reformed bad boy has found his responsible side since the death of his father six years ago. Before he assumed his baronetcy, all of his plots and schemes were focused on getting into trouble. Since then, he’s been too busy successfully managing his estate.

Now, now he’s spent all his time in London crafting one plan after another to ensnare Lady Gwen. Little knowing that she is all too ready to be caught.

All he has to do is quit plotting and really, really see her. But by the time Edward finds Gwen’s true depths, she discovers all of his plots and schemes.

Can recklessness and deception lead to lasting love?

Escape Rating B: At the beginning of the story, Gwen seems to be a very shallow person, and the reader wonders why one would sympathize with her. She’s not just a flirt, she’s actively self-destructive, and for no particularly good reason. Gwen seems to be running around a ton ball looking for someone to compromise her reputation, and her family is nowhere in sight.

Lucky for Gwen, this part doesn’t last long. As we meet her family, it starts to be clear. Gwen’s family is clinically dysfunctional, and things are being concealed from the world. Gwen is acting out of stress, because she can’t cope anymore.

She needs to be rescued, but that risks exposure. So instead, she’s looking for ruin, because adventure makes her feel alive for a few minutes. She’s searching for danger. And it makes sense. Finding Edward is the best thing that could happen to her. Gwen needs a bad boy with a respectable facade. It just takes her a while to realize it.

Figuring out just how bad he can be is what makes the story fun.

 

In My Mailbox #2

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren as a way for bloggers and readers to share the books they bought, borrowed or received that week.

When this meme started in 2008, I suspect the mailbox was an actual mailbox, whether or not it looked like the one in the graphic. For me, the mailbox is mostly an email inbox. But the principle still applies.

And sometimes it’s real mail. You’ll see.

Ebooks I received from their authors or publicists:

Wreck of the Nebula Dream by Veronica Scott
A Hint of Frost by Hailey Edwards
Intangible by J. Meyers
Lowcountry Punch by Boo Walker
Third Rate Romance by Tim Martin
The Mine by John A. Heldt

Ebooks I received for reviews for Blog Tours (Tour company name in parens):

Wanted: Handsome Alien Abductor by Myra Nour (BTS)
Staring into the Eyes of Chance by Kay Dee Royal (Bewitching)
Finding My Faith by Carly Fall (Bewitching)
The Zurian Child by Jessica E. Subject (Sizzling PR)
Sunrise Point by Robyn Carr (Little Bird Publicity)
The Great Outdoors by Becky Moore (Sizzling PR)

 

One new assignment for Book Lovers Inc.

Auraria by Tim Westover

 

 

 

Five from NetGalley. I’ve been trying to resist but the April Carina Press books were posted, there was lots of SFR or SFR-ish, and I caved. And Pern was the first SFR I ever read, so yes, Sky Dragons does fit in this list.

Sky Dragons by Todd McCaffrey
Desert Blade by Ella Drake
Darkest Caress by Kaylea Cross
Zero Gravity Outcasts by Kay Keppler
Cruel Numbers by  Christopher Beats

 

 

 

 

 

And nearly last, one steampunk from Edelweiss

Tarnished by Karina Cooper

 

 

 

Last, but definitely not least, the big box I shipped from PLA arrived. I haven’t opened it yet, because, well, it’s under the cat. She thinks I got it for her!

Isolation

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

If someone offered me a one-way ticket to the next solar system, I would be so there. I probably, wait, I know I wouldn’t read the fine print on the contract.

Which is why I understand what motivates a character like Dana Sinclair to sign up to be part of mankind’s first journey outside Earth’s solar system in the first volume of A. B. Gayle’s Saa’ar Chronicles, Isolation.

In real life, one would expect exploring uncharted space to be a rough trip. One might not expect the kind of pre-flight corporate machinations to spillover into in-flight betrayal that helps make Dana’s story so compelling. On the other hand, the nastier bits of Dana’s adventure do turn out to have their…compensations.

Although this story takes place aboard a space ship, there’s a reason for that title. Most of the story takes place in isolation. Different kinds of isolation.

The ship sets out from Earth for the planet Sa’ar, with a mostly human crew and a few Saa’arians. Nearly everyone spends three months in suspended animation for a high-speed trip to Neptune.

When Dana wakes up, the situation has gone to crap in the recycling unit. Instead of being the second-in-command of the medical team, she’s in charge. Her chief is dead. It seems to have been a heart attack. But he wasn’t ill, and she’s not permitted to do an autopsy. All the Saa’arians are dead, and again, no autopsy is permitted.

The woman in charge of the expedition is a corporate bigwig, with no experience running an exploration mission or for that matter a diplomatic mission. Or much experience motivating people. The crew call her “the ice queen” for a reason.

But the second-in-commend, now there’s a man Dana wants to get to know better, if he could stand to spend two minutes in a doctor’s company ever again. But that’s a problem for Ethan Reilly. He was a bona fide war hero, until he deliberately stepped on a landmine to save his men. Now he has prosthetics from below the knee on both legs, and scars on half his face that he refuses to have healed. The prosthetic joints work so well, people forget he has them, but Ethan never does. And he’s had his fill of doctors in white coats. After months of rehab, he’d be happy to never see another one again.

Until he meets Dana Sinclair. And discovers there’s a smart, funny and sexy woman under that coat. One who doesn’t care about any of his scars, because as a doctor, she’s seen it all before. She only cares about the man inside. Not the hero on the Army recruiting posters that he used to be.

The ship is stranded near the planet Nebula, waiting for help to come from the planet Saa’ar to pick them up. The expedition leader wants Dana to declare that all the Saa’ ar on board the ship died of natural causes, by exposure to an Earth disease, and that the problem is solved. Dana’s not so sure. There’s too much pressure to rush to judgment, and too little data.

And there’s a whole lot of the antidote for Sarin gas on board.

Only one person is willing to help her investigate. Ethan Reilly. Or so it seems. Until he turns on her, and gets her locked up. In isolation.

But not until after he’s gotten her to fall in love with him. Has Ethan betrayed her, or is he keeping her safe? Can he find the answers to all the problems without her?

Escape Rating A-: I couldn’t put this down once I picked it up. It was easy for me to get sucked into Dana’s point of view.

The story here is really about how the crew bands together to solve the mystery much more than it is about the space travel or anything else. There is kind of a locked-room aspect to the story, since the ship is out by Neptune and they can’t go anywhere.

I want the next book now. I have to know what happens when they reach the Saa’ar planet.

 

Born to Darkness

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

I grabbed Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann because so many people have recommended her, but her Troubleshooters series is already on book 17, and if I liked it, well, the so many books, so little time problem reared its ugly head and spat at me.

Born to Darkness is the first book in Brockmann’s Fighting Destiny series. and the readers who recommended her books were right. Born to Darkness is terrific romantic suspense. For this reader, Darkness has some added appeal, because this new series has a futuristic paranormal feel to it.

Born to Darkness takes place in Boston, in a near future at around the same time as J.D. Robb’s In Death series. Except this is a different future.

Instead of cops and robbers, the Fighting Destiny series centers around the Obermeyer Institute, a school for people with higher than normal brain-integration. In other words, people who can use more than 10% of their mental capacity at one time. Think of it as a different variation on the X-Men.

Except that a lot of the potential X-Men are X-Women, because of hormones, or they would be. The problem is that there’s a really nifty drug that can be made from the blood of these pre-pubescent “potentials”. That drug is called “Destiny” and it’s a humdinger. The Fountain of Youth in trade for instant addiction.  Eventually it drives them super-crazy-powerful insane, when they “joker”. Yes, Batman’s Joker. It’s like that. Then they die.

The men and women of the Obermeyer Institute (the good guys) fight the Organization that manufactures Destiny.

Born to Darkness introduces readers to those fighters, and the powers they use to fight Destiny, as they come together to rescue one young girl from the clutches of the Organization.

The romance in this romantic suspense, and is there ever a romance, is between Michelle “Mac” Mackenzie and Shane Laughlin.

Mac is a high-ranking member of the Obermeyer Institute. She’s an empath. She also has a nifty trick, she uses sex to heal herself. After a terrible incident with a joker, Mac goes out trolling bars, and picks up Shane.

It’s his last night before he reports to the Obermeyer Institute as a “potential”. And he really needs what he considers a job. Shane was blacklisted from the Navy SEALs for doing the right thing at the wrong time. He took the blame to save the careers of the men in his unit. But blacklisting means he can’t get any job anywhere. He’s broke.

Their intended one-night stand heals Mac’s broken ankle–and blows every circuit and light bulb in her building. Whatever potential power Shane has, besides the great sex he and Mac share, it’s not anything the Obermeyer Institute has ever seen before.

The only problem is, potentials are supposed to be off-limits, and Mac didn’t know Shane was a potential until after the lights blew. Walking away is what she’s supposed to do.

But she can’t, and neither can he.

Mac doesn’t believe any man could ever love her for herself, because part of her power is to make men love her. Only as long as they are in her presence. She’s sure love can’t be real. Ever.

Shane can only be genuine. He doesn’t know any other way to be. The sex may be earth-shattering, sometimes literally, but what he feels is real. Convincing Mac is harder than any mission he’s ever been on.

And no matter how much Mac wants to push Shane away, she can’t afford to. There is a little girl’s life on the line. And the Institute has figured out why all those lights blew. Shane amps Mac’s power. Real emotion amps power. And Mac needs that boost to find the girl. Before the Organization kills her.

If she loses Shane afterwards, Mac can survive the blow. Somehow.

Escape Rating A: This story is absolutely awesome. This was one I couldn’t put down. The paranormal elements are light, this is pretty much a romantic suspense story, but that’s just fine. It’s excellent.

The setup of the Institute for future stories is good. Although a secondary love story was also resolved within Born to Darkness, you can see who will be featured in at least one of the next books. I hope it’s soon, it’s a story that begs for an HEA.

If you decide to read Born to Darkness, it’s worth reading Shane’s Last Stand first. This is the prequel short story that explains how Shane winds up getting blacklisted. I highly recommend both Shane’s Last Stand and Born to Darkness. Be sure you don’t have to get up early the next morning.

Update: This review was reposted at Romance at Random on 3/21/12.

What’s on my (mostly virtual) nightstand? 3/18/12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

Back to back conferences are not a recipe for catching up to yourself. I’m so sleep deprived, I feel as if I left some of my brain cells back in Philadelphia at the Public Library Association Conference.

My feet are still sending me expletive (@!*#) messages about the Exhibit Hall floor. There are no shoes comfortable enough but I keep trying. Even as I sit here typing my feet are still reminding me that this is definitely an EPIC FAIL.

Speaking of epics, I have an epic list of books for next week. If any of them are epically long, I’m in serious trouble.

Last year I reviewed Guy Haley’s Reality 36 and enjoyed it immensely. Reality 36 is a futuristic noir-detective mystery with an AI protagonist. I’ve been waiting for the sequel, and Omega Point is it. I received this from Angry Robot as a member of their Robot Army.

The other one at the top of the “pile” is Robert Appleton’s Alien Velocity. I’ve been reading the science fiction first, and I’ve enjoyed Appleton’s previous work, so I’m up for another.

Speaking of books I reviewed…earlier this year, I reviewed an urban fantasy/paranormal romance titled Knight’s Curse by Karen Duvall. I had some mixed feelings about the story, but I wanted to see how it turned out. I have the sequel, Darkest Knight for review next week.

I have more paranormal romance, too. When I applied to be a reviewer for Library Journal’s ebook romance column, I wrote a review of Amanda Stevens’ The Abandoned, the prequel novella to her Graveyard Queen series in the LJ style. Since I got the gig, I have fond memories of the book, even though I haven’t read the rest of the series yet. This is now a problem, because I have The Kingdom to review and I still haven’t read The Restorer.

Next is Heather Graham’s The Unseen. I’ve heard she’s good, and this is also paranormal romance.   Since it was available on NetGalley, I decided to give Graham a try.

I was surprised, and downright amazed, to see Lori Foster’s A Perfect Storm appear on NetGalley. This is book four in her romantic suspense series Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor. I read book one, When You Dare, but this just doesn’t seem like the kind of series where it will matter that I haven’t read the ones in the middle. I sure hope not.

Tessa Dare’s A Week to Be Wicked popped up on Edelweiss, and I decided to try her again, especially after Once Upon a Winter’s Eve proved so popular for Samhain when it was released as an ebook. But the reviews did say that it helped to read the whole series, so that means A Night to Surrender first.

And for pure devilish fun, Much Ado About Rogues by Kasey Michaels. The last of the Blackthorn Brothers will finally meet his match. I loved both The Taming of the Rake and A Midsummer Night’s Sin, so how could I possibly resist the final book when it appeared on NetGalley?

I’m not done.

Back to that Library Journal gig. My editor sent me Random Acts by Alison Stone. It’s romantic suspense, and my review is due on March 26. It would have been due sooner, but we were both in Philly for PLA!

On March 29 I will be reviewing Brightarrow Burning by Isabo Kelly as part of a review tour for Goddess Fish.  Brightarrow Burning is fantasy romance, one of the genres that I enjoy. And a review tour seemed like a terrific way to get my feet wet in the whole blog tour thing.

 

 

This nightstand is overflowing, so it’s time to stop piling books on it. One of cats is sure to try and knock them over!

There will be an Ebook Review Central tomorrow, and it will feature Dreamspinner Press. See you there/then!

 

In My Mailbox #1

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | In My Mailbox

“In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.  Every week (or so), book readers and bloggers get to share what books they bought, borrowed, or received.”

For this blogger, that “or so” is going to be every week. Let’s be real here, people!

I’ve been thinking about joining In My Mailbox for quite a while as a way to do a shout out to the books I’ve picked up but might not get to read for a bit, or might read but not review. I’ve always acquired books faster than I can read them, and it’s even more true now.

There are at least two shipments coming from PLA.  Yikes! But they aren’t here yet. They will be in my mailbox when they actually arrive. (Lalalalala)

These are this week’s actual arrivals:

The first of the many PLA pickups…(because it somehow ended up in my suitcase)

After Life by Rhian Ellis: print book giveaway at a lunch at PLA. For the librarians, this is the second book in the reprint series Amazon is publishing with superlibrarian Nancy Pearl, as one of her Book Lust Rediscoveries.

 

 

Only one from NetGalley this week. (It’s an addiction. But I’m trying to cut back.)

Railsea by China Miéville.

 

 

 

Jade Lee sent out coupons to pick up the prequel novella free for her new Bridal Favors series. I “cashed in” the coupon and got this book:

Engaged in Wickedness by Jade Lee.

 

 

 

 

For my reviewing gig for Library Journal, I received:

Random Acts by Alison Stone: ebook from Samhain.

 

 

 

Courtesy of the author I have the following ebook:

The Watchmaker’s Lady ARC by Heather Massey. I requested a copy from Heather because I loved Queenie’s Brigade.

 

 

 

And last but not least, I bought this ebook-only prequel novella from Amazon. I’m reviewing Brockmann’s Born to Darkness (finished this morning) and I just couldn’t start it without reading the prequel first. And yes, the prequel story is worth the 99 cents.

Shane’s Last Stand by Suzanne Brockmann.

 

Question: What do you think? Should I hope the boxes from PLA arrive soon, or should I hope they take a while in transit?

 

Motor City Mage

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

I’ve enjoyed every trip to magical Detroit so far, and Motor City Mage turned out to be another delightful journey to Cindy Spencer Pape’s paranormal version of Motown.

The mage in Motor City Mage is Desmond Sutton. He’s the representative of the Wyndewin League in Detroit, and a powerful wizard. But the incredibly insular Wyndewin League has a few problems with the way that Sutton represents them in Motown.

Desmond has been mixing with beings from the other magical races, the fae and the werewolves. His sister is married to a fae lord, his niece is half-fae; they’re family! Cutting off his sister just isn’t happening. And his brother-in-law has family of his own, and they’ve married into the local werewolves. More family.

And his new relatives are very effective at helping him manage the demon threat. Some demons have crossed to the earthly dimension and are distributing very potent, and very lethal, drugs to the human population. College kids just see it as a new way of getting high.

But his boss only sees Desmond’s family as dangerous elements. Wyndewin are not supposed to mix with the other magical races or with non-magical humans. They’re supposed to be superior. Desmond is beginning to wonder whether or not its all a load of unicorn pucky, but he also wants to keep his job.

However, there’s a woman that he shouldn’t be interested in. Because Lana is not only not Wyndewin, she’s a werewolf. But she’s the only woman who can stand up to everything he can dish out. And dish it right back. Lana is so wrong for Des, and so very, very right.

That drug problem he’s investigating, Lana not only wants to help, she’s the ideal person to help. She’s a part-time student, and, as a werewolf, she’s got her own built-in set of weaponry if the investigation turns nasty.

But their investigation takes on a dimension that neither of them expects. Literally. Their sting operation on the demon drug distributors sends Des and Lana out of Detroit and into one of the nearby demon dimensions, where they have no one to rely on except each other.

And a demon.

Escape Rating A: Cindy Spencer Pape’s entire Urban Arcana series deserves an A rating. If you enjoy paranormal/urban fantasy romance, just start at the beginning with Motor City Fae and plan on rolling right on through to Motor City Witch, and Motor City Wolf before reaching Motor City Mage. (I loved them all. My review of Motor City Wolf is here)

I just wish it looked like there were more, but Motor City Mage matches up all of the original “cast”. Is it too much to hope for Motor City: the Next Generation?

Ebook Review Central, Carina Press, February 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Just kidding! But if it feels like all that “springing ahead” this weekend for daylight savings time has you running behind, welcome to the Carina Press February 2012 feature titles at Ebook Review Central.

There was never any question which title would be the number one featured title this month.

The first featured slot, undeniably and without a doubt, goes to Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey. Not only is this the second title in her Kowalskis series, it’s the second month in a row that Ms. Stacey and her series has been the first place finisher at ERC for Carina. The Kowalskis series is a contemporary romance series with an engaging cast of characters–not just the lead romantic couple in each book, but the extended family that surrounds them. Readers love the whole Kowalski family. Some reviewers had mixed feelings about the girl who marries into the Kowalski family in Undeniably Yours.

Cinderella goes to the ball again in the second featured book. A Waltz at Midnight by Crista McHugh is a sweetly romantic play on Cinderella. A former Southern belle turned housemaid (very Cinderella-ish) works in a school for ladies. One of said “ladies” pays her to write letters for her to an unwelcome suitor. The lady in question wants Cinderella, oops, I meant Susanna, to let the suitor down. Instead, Susanna and the wealthy suitor fall in love with each other through the letters. But when the wealthy suitor wants to meet his correspondent, Susanna has to reveal her duplicity, she is the maid and not the rich young lady he thinks he’s been corresponding with.

The final featured book this month is the cyberpunk science fiction romance Synthetic Dreams by Kim Knox. Synthetic Dreams takes place in a future world that looks a lot a fully immersive version of Facebook. Or perhaps a version of the Matrix where all the players are not just conscious that the mental universe they are living and working in isn’t really real, but are actually counting on that knowledge. One Corporation controls the best, the most expensive, the most immersive Mind Tiers. But what fuels the layers of those Tiers? How does it all really work? One genius hacker is determined to find all the Corporation’s secrets. Why? Because the Corporation destroyed her life. Now she needs to destroy them. Because they are out to get her. Again.

Take a look for yourself at the Carina Press list for February. What would your top titles be for the month?

And don’t forget to come back next week to see the featured titles for Dreamspinner Press for February 2012!

What’s on my (mostly virtual) nightstand? 3/11/12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

The Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference is winding down. The final sessions are this evening, March 11. The conference has been absolutely awesome, and I’m definitely planning to do it again next year. I’ve learned so much.

However (cough, cough) my to-do list for the next couple of weeks has grown by leaps and bounds because of all the good information I’ve picked up.

And it is definitely conference season. This week, March 14-16, we have the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia. We meaning I’m going to Philly. And since public librarians purchase a lot of fiction, there should be a lot of Advance Reading Copies available on the exhibit floor.

The good news is that because my husband works for a library vendor, I discovered at ALA Midwinter I can ship the ARCs I pick up back home with their booth. The bad news is that I can ship the ARCs I pick up back home with their booth. Those of you who are addicted to books know exactly what I mean.

Because of PLA, I am pleased to say that the nightstand for the upcoming week is not quite as covered with books as it might be. Catch up time!

First up is Haevyn by Darcy Abriel. This is the second book in her Humanotica series, after Silver. And just like Silver, I have also promised to review this for Book Lovers Inc. Haevyn is due out on March 20, and I need to get them my review before then. Howsomever, when you read my review and/or my thoughts about Silver, although it was interesting, you’ll see that it wasn’t my favorite book. It’s SFR, which is why I took it, but Silver was not a main character with agency. Thankfully Silver isn’t the point-of-view character for Haevyn. I’m hoping for more worldbuilding and a main character who moves the story under his own steam instead of waiting for thing to happen to him.

My other title is Suzanne Brockmann’s Born to Darkness. I haven’t read Brockmann before but I’ve heard tons of good things. This title is the first in a new series, and it’s military-based paranormal. I’ve really enjoyed the military-based romances I’ve read recently (The Night is Mine, SEAL of my Dreams, and military sci-fi titles too numerous to mention) and I adore paranormal, so this seemed like a great way to try some of Brockmann’s work. There’s a prequel e-only short story for Born to Darkness titled Shane’s Last Stand. Completist that I am, I’m going to read that first. Of course.

As far as last week’s nightstand goes, I finished Motor City Mage, and it was a treat! I think this might be the last we see of magical Detroit, because this is the last couple to be matched up in this group of otherworldly and magical beings. I’m sad to see this one end.

It looks like Apocalypse to Go and The House of Velvet and Glass are going to be my “airplane books” for the trip to Philadelphia. I always take at least one print book for the plane, so I have something to read when they make me turn of my iPad. Those will be it.

Reading Reality‘s blogoversary is coming up! April 4 marks the one year anniversary of the blog. It’s the day before my birthday, too. But I’d like to do something special to mark the blogoversary. Because of the two conferences, I still have my thinking cap on.

I would love to hear ideas for the blogoversary from readers. I’d love for you to help me celebrate!

But until the party starts, it’s still a regular week. Ebook Review Central is tomorrow. See you bright and early with featured titles from Carina Press.

 

 

Heart of Perdition

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews

Heart of Perdition by Selah March is a short, chilling gothic story. And I do mean chilling. The ending was very eerie, and I got the shivers. Not from cold, but from the creepy-crawlies. In a good way.

Heart of Perdition takes place in a steampunk-style world, but the story isn’t steampunk, and that doesn’t matter. Steampunk can be a setting, just as an alien planet or near-future apocalypse can be a setting, while the story is another genre entirely. That’s how we sometimes get genre-benders like futuristic romance or historical mysteries.

So the steampunk setting of Perdition allows the use of airships and clockwork servants, but doesn’t drive the story. What drives the story is an ancient evil creature named Xaphan, and a terrible curse embodied by one lonely young woman.

Elspeth Shaw lives alone on the Greek island of St. Kilda. It’s a very bleak island, and it’s better that way. Elspeth suffers from a terrible curse. Every living creature who becomes emotionally attached to her, dies. Every creature, not just humans. Elspeth can’t even have a pet without watching it die horribly of her curse.

Elspeth only allows herself one human servant, a housekeeper whom she pays well and treats just barely tolerably, guaranteeing that the woman never forms any attachment to her. It’s her only way of keeping the woman alive. All of her other servants are automata.

Poor Elspeth’s own feelings don’t enter into the curse, she can love anyone she likes. Or not. What matters what they feel about her.

The curse is the result of an evil bargain her father made the night she was born. Her father tried to cheat death. To do so, he stole a powerful artifact that had been safeguarded by a church. That artifact controlled an evil spirit named Xaphan. The bargain her father made was that the curse would be visited on his first-born child. Elspeth’s father assumed his first-born would be a son. He was an egotistical scientist in the Victorian era, he was like that. Instead, his firstborn was Elspeth.

Her father was not killed by the curse because he never loved her. He lived a normal life-span.

But as he died, an old bitter man, he decided upon one last act of horror. Dr. Shaw died in the house of James Weston, Earl of Falmouth. Weston was a young man dying of congenital heart disease. Contemporary physicians could recognize it, but not cure it.

With his dying breath, Dr. Shaw directed Weston to go to Elspeth, and to release Xaphan. Knowing the evil would grant the dying young man his wish of restored life, at the cost of releasing that terrible evil back into the world.

The inevitable result is tragic and horrible and incredibly chilling.

Escape Rating B+: I recommend Heart of Perdition if you like your romances with a side of eerie. You will gobble this story right up–but don’t gobble this one up alone in the dark with your ereader. The ending haunts.