Katie MacAlister Blow Me Down

Blow Me Down

Katie MacAlister

Signet, Nov 2005, $6.99, 368 pp.

ISBN: 0451216394

Her sixteen year old daughter Tara believes her single mom, Amy Stewart, needs some recreational time as she is always working. She persuades her mother to play the virtual reality game, Buckling Swashes, created by a local resident. To shut up her nagging teen, Amy agrees to try the game. To her surprise, Amy as Earless Erika is quite good at the game. Soon she and blood thirsty pirate Black Corbin must meet on the virtual seven seas as both have become "locked" inside the game. Amy expects to defeat her foe as she has already bested him with swords, but deep inside she hates war, and worse is attracted to her deadly foe.

Corbin Monroe is stunned how good his opponent is, as he was the best player in the game he created until Earless Erika arrived on the scene and defeated him. However, someone is trying to destroy Corbin on the real plane as well as in the virtual game. Corbin believes he needs to persuade Amy that they must team up if they are to identify and stop the swashbuckling villain who has "trapped" them in virtual reality. Besides that, he must convince the new champion that they belong together in the real world too.

BLOW ME DOWN is an amusing "pirate" romantic suspense thriller starring a swashbuckling financial accountant and the most dangerous computer programmer on the high seas. The storyline is fast-paced whether it occurs in virtual reality or in the not so mundane realm. Fans will appreciate this fine tale, while wondering if love found over the web can be the real thing.

Harriet Klausner