Erica Orloff, Urban Legend

Urban Legend

Erica Orloff

Silhouette Bombshell, Aug 2004, $5.50, 296 pp.

ISBN: 0373513224

In Manhattan, Tessa van Doren, owner of the Night Flight Club, drinks blood to survive. However, Tessa is very particular as to who her victims are. She selects drug dealers to take them off the street.

NYPD Detectives Tony Flynn and Alex Williams investigate the disappearance of a missing drug dealer last seen making the scene at Tessa's club. Surprising both of them, Tessa and Tony are attracted to one another, but neither plan to follow up on these feelings as he feels she is way above his lifestyle and she believes a vampire and a mortal cop do not make a match in heaven. However, the twosome is forced to work in close proximity when they learn that her "dad" is planning to introduce a designer drug to the mean streets of the city.

This action-packed vampire romance never slows for even a nanosecond as the lead couple race through Manhattan to try to save the day (night?) from a new illegal drug. The storyline keeps readers on the edge of their seats, but that also takes away from character development; this makes it difficult to see Tony and Tessa working together and, even more unlikely, falling in love. Still, fans of paranormal romances will appreciate the frantic pace as the vampiress and the cop battle her sire and their attraction.

Harriet Klausner