Dr. Shea O'Halloran mysteriously suffers an attack of severe pain all over her body as if she's being tortured. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the pain stops. Soon afterward, she begins having a series of strange dreams of being summoned, of someone sending her images of a man she's never seen before, but to whom she feels deeply connected. Five years after the painful attack, 2 men come looking for She, convinced she is a vampire. Alarmed by their questions and insinuations, she somehow manages to escape these two men, and goes on the run for the next 2 years. Ending up in Romania, she finds the source of her dreams - and the cause of her painful attack 7 years earlier - a man named Jacques. From what he is able to tell her, Shea determines he is a vampire, but Jacques assures her he is not a vampire, but a Carpathian - there's a difference. From the first encounter between Shea and Jacques, they are strongly drawn to each other and to other Carpathians in the Romanian mountains in ways neither of them can quite comprehend. The two are drawn into a nightmare that has plagued the Carpathians for many years.
I found this book in the "urban fantasy" section of the book store. Urban fantasy is a variation of fantasy novels that - rather than being placed in an historical or future realm, or on a different planet - is placed on Earth, in the present day. However, this fantasy has slightly different twist to it. It adds the element of the good, old-fashioned bodice ripper. You know, the kind of romance where the main characters can't wait to rip each other's clothes off on their way to the bedroom. Christine Feehan doesn't get overly graphic with those details, she manages to leave at least some things to the imagination.
When I first picked up this book, I didn't realize that it was part of a series, or that it was, in fact, the 2nd book in that series. As novels go, this story stands well on its own, so I could easily stop here with book. But now I'm hooked, so I'm going to have to go back and read the first book to get caught up on what I missed. If I like that one, I may just be tempted to keep on reading the rest of the books in the series. Especially since this book left some unanswered questions.
For those of you interested in summer reading material, this would definitely make for a great entry on your summer reading list.
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