Cameron Dean, Passionate Thirst

Passionate Thirst

Cameron Dean

Ballantine, Nov 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 0345492536

Candace Steele and Ash met in a San Francisco pub a year and half ago; for both it was lust at first sight. As time passed, she realizes their relationship is very odd as they never see each other during daylight. She decides to surprise her lover so she goes to his office to offer him a picnic lunch, but is turned away to her chagrin. That night she confronts Ash; he leaves her, but soon returns to explain everything. Ash stuns her with his revelation that he is a vampire.

Soon afterward during love making, he loses control and bites her neck. Candace nearly dies from blood loss, but recovers. She wears a tattoo cross to cover her scar and moves to Las Vegas where she joins the security team at the Star Hotel. One side benefit from Ash's bite is that Candace can uncover vampires, which enables her to kill those who drink human blood.

Candace is a bodyguard to singer Temptatione McCoy, but her senses tell her that Dru, the entertainer's manager, is a human-blood drinking vampire. Ash suddenly arrives wanting time with her. However, though she desires him, a vampire's wife is not the life for her. When Candace's life is endangered, Ash tries to keep her safe in the hopes they will have a chance to be together forever.

Most paranormal romances focus on the love story line, but The Passionat Thirst centers more on the action. This enables the audience to understand the heroine's ethics as a vampire slayer loving a vampire but changing over is repugnant to her even though Ash is her soulmate. The storyline is fast-paced as Candace kicks butt, but it is her human morality that makes this tale several bites above the norm. Cameron Dean is a wonderful storyteller who will appeal to readers of many genres

Harriet Klausner