CRATE & PERIL

Author: J.D. Warren ISBN: 9780505526991 10/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: DORCHESTER

She lost three years of her life to the mysterious shape-shifting race known as the Kin. But Samantha Dorringer is ready for revenge, and she fully expects Cor, the enigmatic leader of the Storm Ravens, to help. When they hear that a Hollywood agent is trying to smuggle his A-list clients into the Kin’s lands to keep them forever young, they rush to investigate. For Sam and Cor, mingling with the brightest stars and battling the darkest forces known to mankind is all part of the job. What Sam doesn’t anticipate is an old high school friend carrying Rosemary’s Baby, or a silver-haired rival stirring up secrets from Cor’s past. Together, the pair will let nothing stop them—including their red-hot attraction for each other—as they plunge headlong into the Lifestyles of the Winged and Famous.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Welcome back to the wacky world of the Peri, created by J.D. Warren in BEDLAM, BATH AND BEYOND. While that book kind of lost me toward the end, I definitely had fun with the sequel.

Samantha Dorringer was kidnapped by an evil offshoot of the Peri race, shapeshifters who have been known as fairies by humankind, and held captive for three years. She broke out and tried to rebuild her life in the previous book, in the process falling in love with Cor, one of the Peris. The romance continues here, seeming strong to begin with but then showing cracks.

This book has plenty of action, with old foes rearing their heads up again, and many secrets revealed from both Cor and Samantha’s lives. There is clearly more action to come as well when the series continues.

It’s hard for me to say if this book could be read as a standalone. It would probably be more fun to read the series in sequence. Either way, you’ll enjoy the Hollywood scene and highly entertaining secondary characters as well as the fast-paced plot.

Heather Hiestand