3 Stars

Michelle M. Pillow and Mandy Roth

All Hallows' Eve

New Concepts Publishing

ISBN 1-58608-251-5

2004

ALL HALLOWS' EVE comprises a pair of vampire novellas linked by their Halloween setting. Each one offers a quick, sexy, romantic reading experience. Audrey, the heroine of Michelle M. Pillow's "Midnight Seduction," does not suspect the truth of her family background until the Halloween night when Porter, an irresistible lycan (werewolf) whisks her through a portal to a castle in an alternate dimension. There she learns that her mother, Clara, was half fairy, and her real father is master vampire Lord Dorian. To fulfill a prophecy that Audrey will bear a child destined to protect both the fairy realm and the human world from the threat of demon conquest, she must mate with a full-blooded supernatural male and become pregnant that very night. At Lord Dorian's urging, Porter yields to his hunger for her and offers himself as her mate. Pillow draws together these varied supernatural elements in a convincing, though brief and fast-moving, plot. Audrey comes across as a spirited, engaging heroine.

"Fate of the Heart," by Mandy Roth, begins in the eighteenth century with vampire Jean-Pierre's loss of his wife Elise to an angry mob. She dies before he can transform her, and he vows to find her again. The Fates grant his plea but predict grim consequences. In the present day, the reincarnated Elise is dying of a heart condition. Jean-Pierre, of course, rediscovers her. They come together at a Halloween ball he hosts in the mansion he has bought in her home town. Meanwhile, a local woman playing the stock role of vampire-hunting fanatic tries to slay Jean-Pierre and stop him from turning Elise, in a reprise of the way the original Elise was killed. I must confess that I don't care much for the now-familiar "vampire hunting for reincarnation of lost love" plot premise (which goes back at least as far as DARK SHADOWS). Nevertheless, I can enjoy such a story if presented with appealing characters, as "Fate of the Heart" is. Like "Midnight Seduction," this is an erotic romance with highly explicit sex, presented in a loving, tender context.

Although neither story contains any real surprises for readers familiar with contemporary vampire fiction and romance in general, both of these novellas provide lively, entertaining reads. Both heroines are delightful characters worthy of supernatural love, and the heroes have the ravishing qualities we look for in a vampire or werewolf lover. I especially like the epilogues of the two novellas, each one ending on a life-affirming as well as light and humorous note.

Reviewed by Margaret L. Carter