So first up this time is Lynn Viehl, aka Jessica Hall, aka Gena Hale and the first in a new series for her, 
If Angels Burn: A Novel of the Darkyn (Signet Eclipse). As you may guess from looking at the title, this one is a vampire. Dr. Alexandra Keller has turned down a number of requests from Michael Cyprien to come from Chicago to New Orleans to perform his plastic surgery. He is unwilling to take no for an answer and has her kidnapped and brought to him. Strike one on Michael. After she performs the necessary surgery on him, restoring his face, he attacks and nearly kills her. Strike two on Michael. When she doesn't die, his associate returns her to Chicago, lacking several pints of blood and minus her memory. Strike three on Michael. I really enjoy Ms. Viehl's Hale/Hall romances, but I just couldn't like this one. Worse, the ending isn't really an ending, but a direct lead-in to the next book in the series, and I just couldn't buy the romance between Alex and Michael. I'm sorry to say I'm only giving this one two arrows.
Next up is Lynn Kurland's latest, 
Dreams of Stardust. Jake Kilchurn travels back in time and meets Amanda de Piaget. I'm not a Kurland fan, and this one didn't change my mind, with Jake hopping time periods. I'll stop there and just say this one gets only two arrows as well.
Finally, we have Nina Bangs's 
Wicked Nights (Berkley). Remember the Castle of Dark Dreams from the Men at Work anthology? Well, you get to pay a return visit, this time with radio host Donna Nolan going to check out the castle and try to figure out how all those odd things happen there. Vampire Eric McNair is one of three 'brothers' who live there, and determined to thwart her. You'll revisit some of the same secondary characters from the previous story, and learn a bit more about some of them, as well as the bad guy's reasons for being bad. On the other hand, it is a vampire story, which was a strike against it for me even before I started reading. As vampires go, I've read worse, but it didn't turn me into a fan either. Not a keeper, it's earned two and a half arrows.
Until next time, happy reading!
