Reviewed by Shirley ~ 4.5 starsThis is a very engaging story, one that you want to quickly reach the end to see how it will all turn out. Delaney James is a cracker of a character. I loved her spirit and spunk, a no nonsense person who will stick up for anyone who means a lot to her.
Her counterpart character is the luscious Hugh Ellingham, who, unbeknown to Delaney is over four hundred years old and a vampire to boot. Poor Delaney, after stumbling in and witnessing a murder by her restaurant boss, who is quite possibly a mobster, she has had to run for her life, as the thought of him or any of his thugs catching up with her didn't bear thinking about as she would be next. She ran up and down alleyways to get away and then she ducked into a shop called Eternamate which was to change her life forever.
Just taking enough clothes, a few personal things and her beloved cat Captain Underpants she jumps in her car and finds herself driving to a place called Nocturne Falls in Georgia, hopefully far enough away from Brooklyn where her boss Rastinelli was. Nocturne Falls was a town to behold. It celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. When Delaney reached it and was driving through she couldn't believe her eyes. There were witches, vampires and werewolves all mingling with the tourists, having their pictures taken with them. They looked so real, and the buildings were geared up to look like a Halloween film set. Delaney thought to herself...
“This place was kitschy and crazy, but in a very cool way.”
She made her way to the address she had come by and was amazed by what she saw, Mansion, Estate came to mind. Ravenswood was the home of Hugh, who was going through his own personal hell due to what his Grandmother, Didi, had arranged for him. A Bridezilla came to mind Hugh thought when he heard that Didi had arranged for him to spend a month in his own home to get to know a strange woman in the hope of marriage at the end of it. Hugh was fuming, but because of the threat that Didi was holding over his head, he had to agree. Thinking he just had to get through the next thirty days being polite and then he could send her on her way no harm done, simple, but that is where this delightful story begins for real, the meeting of these two people.
You will read that this arrangement was anything but simple because of secrets being held by both parties, it was not going to be easy, but the story gets very interesting in how the attraction grows between Delaney and Hugh, with Delaney thinking when she first met Hugh...
“an ass, but a very good looking ass and a bone-melting English accent.”
and undeniably sexy.
And the more Hugh got to know Delaney he couldn't deny the chemistry he felt between them and he couldn't help himself one evening...he had to taste her, he took her in his arms for a first kiss.
“He drove his hands deeper into the silk of her hair, holding her close, savouring her warmth. His body responded the way it normally did when he kissed a beautiful, available woman, except there was more to it than the usual reaction. Something stirred within him, something deeper than just the tightening of his body and the burn of desire. He broke the kiss and stared at her. "Witch," he whispered.”
This story has a great supernatural feel, with mobsters raring their heads, to an ex of Hugh’s who is a right shrew causing trouble in her wake, but the book is about Delaney and Hugh and their fight for love which they both richly deserve.
Loved it. I can see a great series starting from this first book. Well done Ms Painter.
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