Dark Crusade

The misunderstood 'villians' of Guardian's Keep , get their own chance at love and redemption in Devoti's fourth full length entry in her Unbound series (also Unbound , Wild Hunt , Captured). Dark Crusade pairs the exiled rogue shapeshifting Garm Kerr Vik with the reformed formerly selfish power grasping traitorous apprentice witch Heather, as they are dropped through a portal into a world cut off from the rest of the nine worlds - a world where it's death to be a witch. As Kerr and Heather reconnect the sensual sparks fly. Soon Heather is getting her wish for more power but runs the risk of loosing her self to a powerful evil witch in the process and Kerr is torn between saving Kelly or saving the other 50 garm who followed him into exhile but who are now imprisoned with no hope for escape. Dark Crusade has less of the elements of the Norse myth than the first book, but Devoti expands her universe to include light and dark elves and opens the door to the possiblity of exploring other worlds beyond the portals in the first few books. The best part of Devoti's books for me are her heros, this time we are back to the Garm, the sexy noble shapeshifters who have a deep need to have something to protect. Kelly's plight awakens Kerr's protective instinct and awakens in Heather the possibility of actually trusting another person enough to make her connection with Kerr a powerful one. Also it helped that Heather, didn't drive me insane like Devoti's last witch heroine Kelly, it is hard to get past a irritating heroine. Along with openning up the possiblity for taking her series to other worlds, Devoti sets another garm apart from the crowd, along with another unusual cool and fiery ally, and gives them both a motive for hunting down the villianess of this book - revenge - and doing a great job of setting up for the next episode in the process, can't wait.

In Gunngar, witches are hunted as the lowest varmint on the place between worlds. Thus when witch Heather Moore finds herself trapped in Gunngar, she knows to rely on no one but herself as anyone could betray her. However, she also knows she has no prayer of escape and going home without help as the malevolent elf Marina wants all witches dead. Wolf shapeshifter guardian Kerr Vik offers his protection when he finds her hiding place. Heather wants to accept but fears her attraction to her wannabe guardian might be obfuscating his real reason for tender protection. She knows he works for Marina; so either he is preparing to betray her or his evil employer. To his chagrin, Kerr finds himself bewitched by Heather making him willing to risk his life to keep her safe from the wicked elf. The world of Gunngar comes across as a plausible dark grim place in which magic and the paranormal abound. Kerr is terrific as a champion caught between his duty and his love while Heather wants to believe her heart but all the facts point to one conclusion that her beloved will hand her over to Marina. Fantasy romance fans will appreciate Lori Devoti's latest Guardian thriller (see WILD HUNT, UNBOUND and GUARDIAN'S KEEP) as they along with the witch wonder if Kerr deceives Heather with a pretense of love as he has a greater mission to achieve. Harriet Klausner