ZEN AND THE ART OF VAMPIRES

Author: Katie MacAlister ISBN: 9780451225603 12/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: NAL/SIGNET

WHITE PICKET FENCES CAN BE DANGEROUS TO VAMPIRES. SOMETIMES A WOMAN'S GOTTA CHOOSE.... Pia Thomason doesn't have a typical life, but she wants one: the husband, the kids, the house in the suburbs. With her fortieth birthday looming, she decides to do something drastic, and takes off on a singles' tour through romantic Europe. But the few guys on the trip leave much to be desired—unlike the two men Pia sees in a small Icelandic town. They're handsome, mysterious, and very dangerous .... Just the sight of them puts her in a dither. When their paths cross again, Pia knows one thing for certain: Where vampires are concerned, love isn't the only thing at stake.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

ZEN AND THE ART OF VAMPIRES is another book in the Dark Ones saga I'm sure fans will be happy to read. Although I consider myself one of those fans, I have to say this one is not one of my favorites. I like the hero, although he does not know he is a hero, and the romance that I want for him and the heroine. But my list of don't likes grows as I type this up. Mainly, my issue is the heroine.

I admire Pia's pluck, but at times she acts dumb. Yeah, yeah, we can all act dumb, but I really dislike dumb heroines. It's that whole reading to escape reality thing I have going on. But, since I don't quite dislike Pia, and by the end of the book I admire her a bit, I guess I will call her naive instead of dumb. And loose. Well, not exactly loose, but she is more easy with her favors than I like a heroine to be. It's not entirely her fault... well yeah, I suppose it is. Lets just say I do not like that entire part of the book, but I will get over it I'm sure.

Okay, so I'm waffling a bit in this review and realize I may have a couple of more problems with the heroine that distract me more than I want to be distracted from the overall book, but honestly, this one is okay. Not MacAlister's best, but okay. Okay enough that I want to find out how it ends because I like the hero enough to see it through.

Shannon Johnson