A VAMPIRE'S CLAIM

Author: Joey W. Hill ISBN: 9780425226087 3/2009 PARANORMAL Publisher: BERKLEY HEAT

The daughter of two vampires, Lady Daniela is considered aristocracy in the vampire world. Still, she has to fight for what she wants—especially since what she wants is to depose a brutal territory overlord. For that she'll need the help of Devlin, a handsome, brave human who inflames her desire far more than any man or beast. Even though she could easily lay her claim and take Dev on as a fully marked servant, she resists the urge—especially since Dev is still tormented by something in his past. But when her enemy makes an unexpected appearance, Dev surprises them both by yielding completely to his feelings for Danny and showing her the devotion of a true servant—until she decides to take his freedom without asking...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Joey W. Hill sets her paranormal romance, A VAMPIRE'S CLAIM (third in the Vampire Queen series), in 1950’s Western Australia where Devlin has been living in the Outback, surviving on his own for months at a time. Alone because thieves raped and killed his wife, then killed his son when they broke into their ranch house. Alone because of the turmoil he feels now that the war is over. He’s a tortured soul and just ripe for picking by a seemingly fragile vampire queen. She’s never been too involved in vampire politics, but now that her mother is dead and her mother’s husband is looking to claim Lady Daniella’s land and power, she needs to grow up and take charge. For the last several centuries she’s been resting on her higher rank as a born vampire. In addition to having to fight to reclaim her property, she needs to battle for control of her region since the Regional Master has been enslaving orphans and using them for sport. She’ll need Devlin to profess his allegiance to her, making him her third-marked slave in order to pull this off, but he’s been a loner for a very long time and really doesn’t want to be tied down to anybody—human or vampire if it means he could have his heart broken once again.

Hill tells a very compelling story of lust, greed, desire and power. It isn’t pretty in any sense of the word. Despite Lady D’s supernatural power, her beauty is tempered by her vampiric inability to spend any time in the sun. She has all the money she needs, but it can’t buy Devlin’s love or even his loyalty. She’ll have to earn that the old fashioned way, and since he is loathe to be burned again, this will be very hard to come by. The bedroom scenes are nearly as violent as some of the political battles and some of those are gruesome indeed. I haven’t read the previous two books in this series, but A VAMPIRE'S CLAIM seems to stand very well without them.

Despite its inherent violence, A VAMPIRE'S CLAIM is an interesting love story dealing with power and control—giving and receiving it. So often couples struggle with this concept only to find that giving up control to their partner is really the most satisfying outcome. Readers who enjoy the bloodlust of vampire stories will enjoy Hill’s tale.

Susan Barton