"Romance Laced with History and Horror"
1840: Magdelena Montgomery's lover is murdered by group
vampyre hunters which included her own father. The pair had
been experimenting with the theory that their love could
make him mortal once more. The effort had cost him his
existance and changed Maggie's life forever. Present Day: Murder and a trail of blood leads New Orleans
Detective Sean Canady right to Maggie's door. The owner of
an exclusive boutique, Maggie is an unlikely suspect, but
she has a secret. It doesn't take Maggie long to surmise that her soul and
Sean's are intertwined. She believes they have loved in a
past life, that Sean is the reincarnation of another Sean
Canady. His had been cut short, by one too evil to
contemplate. She is strangely drawn to him and he to her. As prostitutes keep turning up dead, Maggie begins to
suspect that it is the work of another vampire. The killer
has wreaked havoc throughout history, and his ripperesque
style had been infamous at one time. Knowing
that the murderer's M.O. could expose the entire vampire
community, Maggie is determined to work with Sean to
uncover the
killer's identity, and destroy him once and for all. But
matters become complicated when the Vampire King arrives to
remind Maggie of the code that they all must "live" by. She
cannot destroy the killer without consent of the vampire
community. Can Maggie and Sean get it right this time around? Can they
destroy their enemy and fulfill their destiny. Can Sean's
love return Maggie's morality. I will be the first to admit to not being a horror fan. I
love vampire romances, but if the romance edges too close
to the horror genre, it is probably not for me. BENEATH A
BLOOD RED MOON is classified as Romantic Suspense which
would indicate that a reader such as myself should proceed
with
caution. The prologue was a turn off. The brutal murder of Maggie's
vampire lover took place while they were making love. You
would have thought the shock of the whole thing would have
made the Maggie swear off men for life. Yet she readily
forgave her father and fell in love with one of the other
killers' (Canady) descendants. I didn't care for the hero, reincarnated or not. The man
was a borderline rapist. He forces himself on Maggie after
she say's no. Maggie winds up capitulating, making it
merely forced seduction, but then she tells him it was a
mistake. What does he do? He insults her, in an extremely
juvenile and vulgar manner. . Is this acceptable behavior
for a police officer or any man for that matter? The
Vampire King was too passive for my liking as well. I also thought there were too many extraneous side
characters. I could buy the reincarnation of Sean, but the
others didn't add anything to the plot. In fact the whole
crew of friends weren't much good for anything other than
hostages. If anything I would have preferred the reincarnation of the
murdered lover (hokey though it would have been); he seemed
to have been the only decent man in the whole story. Though
this particular story is not for me, it is part of a
trilogy, and I as I said before I love vampire romance so I
am willing to give this author another try. If you enjoy a
romance laced with horror BENEATH A BLOOD RED MOON
should fit the bill. October, 1999
Copyright © 1999
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted October 22, 2001
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