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“Ivan Drake is a hybrid vampire witch born with a great burden on his shoulders. Before his birth, his parents, a powerful witch and a vampire phoenix, mortal enemies, fell in love and conceived him. Unfortunately, they made a bargain, through no fault of their own, to give up their first born to Himself.
Twenty-one years after his birth, Himself comes to claim payment, taking Ivan's soul and appointing him the devil's fixer.
Seven years later, still a babe in years, but having seen and done things no mortal or immortal being should have to see, Ivan is well into his service as the devil's fixer when Himself comes to him with an assignment that will prove most vexing and enlightening. Himself wants the Grand Grimoire, a book of every witch's spell ever cast. Ivan must go through the keeper of the book, a beautiful and powerful centuries-old witch named Desideriel Merovech, to get it.
Dez lives on the outskirts of the picturesque and small town called Willow Cove. She runs a perfume shop and grows flowers, but after so many centuries of being on her guard, the solitude and exclusion is getting to her. She wants more than anything to be friends with the people in the town and not have them look and walk the other way in fear and revulsion when they see her. But the flapping lips of a would-be lover has ruined this little fantasy. Maybe if Dez weren't bound to protect the Grand Grimoire at all costs, bound to the book by her very blood, she could live a more normal life. Then again, with her background, maybe not.
When Ivan comes to town all smoldering charm and sensual heat such as she's never experienced before, not even she can say no to him. At least not when it comes to her letting him escort her to the Rose Club's bash in town. It's the first time she has been allowed an in with the townspeople, and she can't refuse the chance at the companionship. Not even at the cost of entertaining her mortal enemy in Ivan the vampire witch.
But soon Dez learns that she and Ivan have much more in common than either believes. Neither considers the other an enemy. How can they when Ivan is both witch and vampire and his parents have helped formed the Gray Council to mediate and end the escalating war between vampires and witches? If it weren't for one tiny little element, that being Ivan's status as the devil's fixer and his mission to try and get the Grand Grimoire from Dez, they could very well be at the beginning of a grand romance. But Himself has other ideas--that of using the young hybrid and the witch's greatest vulnerabilities and temptations against them to get what he wants.
Both Dez and Ivan were engaging characters with realistic motivations and well-rounded histories. I loved their chemistry and the subplots involving Ivan's parents and the Gray Council were a nice added touch.
This was an entertaining follow-up to Kiss Me Deadly and an enjoyable read. ”
Gracie wrote this review Sunday, September 27 2009.
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