Master of Ecstasy
Nina Bangs
Love Spell, Feb 2004, $6.99, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0505525577

Ganymede provides vacation services that are a bit unique as one would expect when he runs a firm. He escorts customers on tours of the past. Currently, Ganymede and his feline pal Sparkle take a twenty-fourth century based tour group back to 1785 MacKenzie Castle in Scotland.

Vampire Darach MacKenzie is not a happy bloodsucker when the futurists arrive at his clan's castle. He realizes that the two guides are a bit more powerful than humans, but he plans to rid his family estate of them and their minions. Everything changes when he sees Ecstasy, Inc. employee Blythe amidst the "guests" because somehow she makes his blood boil. Believing he has found his soul mate, Darach wants to snack on her neck, but she has to prove to her employers that she can do more than just turn on every man's lust even if his fangs look so temptingly alluring.

Is there any author who does humor, horror and romance in one blending better than Nina Bangs does it? The key to Ms. Bangs' clever facetious novels is the cast never does what the reader expects; even a simple vampiric neck snack becomes a hilarious exchange between two attracted individuals separated by species and several centuries. MASTER OF ECSTASY combines vampires, time travel and that nutty Ganymede accompanied by as daffy Sparkle into an amusing romance that will lead the audience to read in one enchanting bite.

Harriet Klausner