BE STILL MY VAMPIRE HEART

Author: Kerrelyn Sparks ISBN: 0061118443 4/2007 PARANORMAL Publisher: AVON

One look at her was enough to stop his heart... If it was still beating. Angus MacKay has been undead for almost five hundred years and it's not often something, or someone, surprises him. Until Emma Wallace. The sight of this luscious agent from the CIA's elite Stake-Out team was enough to stop Angus in his tracks. But then he discovers that she's a vampire slayer, intent on killing the "monsters" who killed her parents. And it's Angus's job to stop her. The only good vampire is a dead vampire. It's been Emma's motto since she committed her life to the destruction of these things. Now Angus MacKay wants to convince her differently. Sure, he's a sexy Highland warrior who seems to have stepped off the cover of a romance novel, complete with brogue, kilt, and sword, but he's also one of them. And it's her job to kill him.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

BE STILL MY VAMPIRE HEART is one of the many paranormal/vampire books that seem to be hitting the shelves these days. This is the first book I've read by Kerrelyn Sparks and it was pretty good.

We are all familiar with vampires, but little did we know there are good ones and bad ones out there and it looks like any truce there may have been between them is working its way out the window. Without a doubt there is war brewing, which will certainly culminate in a major decisive battle some day.

But for now, it's just intense dislike between the two. Lucky thing, since the bad guys seem to outnumber the good guys. Figures that they also have to deal with misinformed humans who think all vampires need to be destroyed. Emma Wallace is a government agent working to do just that in the name of HomeLand Security. She's even working on the side during her off-time, staking vamps and unwittingly providing possible instigation for the start of the vampire war.

Angus Wallace knows what is at stake. He is off to discover this slayer and hopefully diffuse the situation. Emma is the last thing he expected to find. Now, he is determined to change her mind, enlighten her to the truth and make her an ally instead of the enemy.

Not a bad storyline. Ms. Sparks's writing reminded me somewhat of Sherrilyn Kenyon's, but a comparatively mild version of hers. You won't find the intense battles and such that a Dark Hunter novel would have, but that's not a problem for me. The danger and life-threatening situations were still a part of the story. Her characters are strong and I enjoyed the dry humor showed in the banter between all of them. The author was also able create slight differences in her story from the majority of these books available. One of the minor characters lent a bit of twist and difference to the story. Phineas is newly made by the bad guys and converted to side of good by Angus. He has a lot to learn and is sure to keep the rest on their toes.

I could never say I regret reading this novel and was entertained by the story. Unfortunately, the market is being flooded by so many books in the paranormal style. Many are actually rather good, as in this case. The problem is, at least for me, the vamp stories have generally become generic. Authors have their work cut out for them if they are going to go paranormal and be original.

Kerrelyn Sparks is a good writer, but I'm afraid she'll be lost among all of the other vampire novelists, especially by those readers who read only vampire novels. To be very honest, and I hope this will be taken for what it is, I would be very interested in reading something from Kerrelyn Sparks in another style—anything non-vampiric—that would really show what she is capable of so she won't be dismissed as 'just a vampire novelist' when the bloody tide ebbs.

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