CHAINS OF ICE

Author: Christina Dodd ISBN: 9780451412911 7/2010 PARANORMAL Publisher: SIGNET SELECT

Corduroy Mansions is the affectionate nickname given to a genteel, crumbling mansion block in London’s vibrant Pimlico neighborhood and the home turf of a captivating collection of quirky and altogether McCall-Smithian characters. There’s the middle-aged wine merchant William, who’s trying to convince his reluctant twenty-four-year-old son, Eddie, to leave the nest; and Marcia, the boutique caterer who has her sights set on William. There’s also the (justifiably) much-loathed Member of Parliament Oedipus Snark; his mother, Berthea, who’s writing his biography and hating every minute of it; and his long-suffering girlfriend, Barbara, a literary agent who would like to be his wife (but, then, she’d like to be almost anyone’s wife). There’s the vitamin evangelist, the psychoanalyst, the art student with a puzzling boyfriend and Freddie de la Hay, the Pimlico terrier who insists on wearing a seat belt and is almost certainly the only avowed vegetarian canine in London.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Christina Dodd sets her paranormal romance CHAINS OF ICE (Book 3 in the Chosen Ones series) in the Ural Mountains separating Europe from Asia, where John Powell, one of “The Chosen,” is in retreat from his job since losing most of his team in a volcanic flow. There are always seven Chosen and seven Others. The Chosen work under the cover of a company called the Gypsy Travel Agency. They have several missions—the most important is rescuing abandoned babies. All of The Chosen are orphans, and it is said that when their mother abandons them and they still survive, they will receive their “gift.” John Powell’s gift is the ability to push things with his mind.

Genesis Valente loves wildlife, but her father (an accountant who embezzled from the Gypsy Travel Agency) insists that she get business and law degrees. She balks because it isn’t what she wants to do and wonders how they’ll afford it. He tells her that for a small favor, there’s a company that will underwrite her education. When Genny graduates, her father gives her a dream trip to study Ural Lynxes in Russia. All she has to do is contact John Powell while she’s there and convince him to come back to New York. Will she be able to find him? Will she get to find the elusive Ural Lynx? Will she have to go back to the corporate world now that she’s gotten a taste of fresh air and freedom?

Dodd really has a knack for thrilling the reader! I was hooked from the first page and even though this is the third book in the series, I was never lost. Everything about this story is powerful—from John Powell’s gift enabling him to hold back the flow of lava, to the devastation of the village near his hut as he makes love to Genny. Now that he’s in love with her, will she be able to bring up the idea of going back? Will he trust her love for him? Oh, and don’t discount The Others to manipulate the situation to their advantage.

CHAINS OF ICE is a chilling thriller, a smoldering romance, and a heartwarming tale of love for Mother Earth. I am a new reader of Christina Dodd’s, and I guarantee that I’ll be looking for more of her fiction.