"British Vampires Descend on Ohio!"
RAPTURE IN MOONLIGHT is the sequel to Rosemary
Laurey's
PEARL Nominated Vampire Romance, WALK IN MOONLIGHT, and the
second book in the "Moonlight" trilogy (MYSTERY IN
MOONLIGHT coming in 2002). When Christopher (Kit) Marlowe, former 16th century poet,
playwright, and veteran vampire, saved his lady love, South
Carolinian children's librarian Dixie LePage, making her
as he was; he knew she'd need her native soil to realize
her full potential. RAPTURE IN MOONLIGHT finds the vampire
pair settled in the German Village section of Columbus,
Ohio. Dixie has set up a shop, selling books on vampire
lore as well as novelty items. Kit has taken it upon
himself to discourage petty crime in the neighborhood. The head of their vampire colony, Gwyltha, has sent their
old friend, Justin Corvus, to check up on them and to work
out territorial arrangements for their colony in the New
World. Justin doesn't relish meeting his old rival Vlad
(Dracula) "cap in hand" as Vlad, head of an already
established colony, had stolen Gwyltha, the love of his
life, away from him. After many centuries, Justin has still
not recovered from her loss, but he would do this for Kit
and Dixie. Stella Schwartz has more trouble than she needs already.
Single mother to eight-year-old Sam, she works for a dry
cleaner and is barely making ends meet. Her neighborhood
leaves a lot to be desired. Her mother is a habitual
criminal who had extracted a promise from Stella that she
would look after her house until she is released from
prison. Stella and Sam live there among young thugs and
drug dealers, hardly the place to raise a child. The last thing she wants or needs is to fall in love with
the handsome British doctor she meets one afternoon in
Sam's favorite shop, Dixie's "Vampire Emporium". Justin is
a gorgeous and gentlemanly, but he's only visiting for a
short time. Sam needs stability in his life. One look at Stella and all thoughts of lost love had fled
Justin's mind. Here is a woman he could spend eternity
with, but she is mortal and doesn't even believe in
vampires. He is mindful that he must return to England,
yet he doesn't have much trouble convincing himself that a
small dalliance would be mutually beneficial. Convincing
Stella is another story. It seems, however, that the attraction is too hard for
either of them to resist. Before long Stella and Sam are
firmly entrenched in Justin's heart and vice versa. He
becomes her self-appointed protector, and runs afoul of the
neighborhood hoodlums. When Stella falls prey to their
vengeance, Justin's rage knows no bounds. He may be above human law, but the colony had set strict
limits on vampire justice and Justin had helped establish
those rules. Breaking them carries the sentence of
banishment from the colony. His friends vow to support him,
but Justin accepting the inevitable, makes plans for the
care of his loved ones which don't include him. Vampires converge in Ohio, and while Justin awaits
sentencing by Gwyltha's tribunal, her lover Vlad has asked
him for an enormous favor which could mean trouble for all
of them. Vlad has acquired a pair of ghouls, two young and
beautiful females who have had their minds erased by their
creator. He wants Justin's New World colony to adopt them.
Gwyltha has strong feelings about the making of ghouls, and
neither Vlad, nor Justin want to raise her ire, but Dixie
has other ideas. When Dixie's on a crusade - look out, and
Stella has no intentions of letting Justin be railroaded
out of town, even if she has to face down the queen vampire
herself. Double trouble! Kit's old friend, Tom Kyd (also a former Elizabethan
playwright), arrives with the tribunal. Like his friend he
has every intention of supporting Justin. Tom has become
the colony's computer expert and is the one they turn to
for forged identification papers, passports and the like.
Tom is smitten with the ghoul who has taken the name
Angela, and becomes determined to ferret out her identity.
This sets the stage for book three: MYSTERY IN MOONLIGHT. RAPTURE IN MOONLIGHT continues Ms. Laurey's tradition of
providing strong independent heroines and passionate
heroes whose protective streaks may be a mile wide, but who
are also loyal, loving and supportive. Ms. Laurey has a
knack for weaving human reality into her fantasy, whether
it be 16th century writers caught up in the politics of
their times, or a modern day single mother struggling to
make ends meet in an unsavory environment. This allows
readers to relate to her characters, while drawing them
into the realm of the vampire. Copyright © 2001
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted October 14, 2001
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