"Master of Wolves" tells a good tale

In "Master of Wolves" by Angela Knight ($7.99, Berkley Sensation), something stinks with the police department of Clarkston, S.C.

And Bounty hunter and werewolf Jim London thinks he knows just what it is: death magic. How else to explain the death of fellow werewolf and best friend Tony Shay. Jim knows no mere human could've taken his friend out and the last place Tony was seen alive was in a cell at the Clarkston city jail.

Jim knows the cops won't talk to him and as the Clarkston police chief has already met him and knows he was Tony's friend, he decides to go undercover with the K-9 unit -- as a police dog.

Head of the K-9 department of the Clarkston Police Department, Faith Weston is new to the job and lately she's been noticing that something is not quite right with her fellow officers.

However, Faith has no complaints about the Rambo, the German shepherd a benefactor donated to the K-9 unit. He's just about the smartest police dog she's ever worked with and she can swear, sometimes, that he understands every word she says.

It doesn't take long before Jim figures out that there's a vampire in town and she's got most of the cops of the police department under her spell. Plus, it seems in the throes of death Jim bit one of his attackers, unintentionally making a rogue werewolf that Jim has to destroy too.

Faith's growing suspicions about her fellow cops puts her in the line of fire and forces Jim to reveal his secrets. Unfortunately, if they survive the mess in Clarkston, Jim has to worry about his boss' orders to kill Faith in order to keep the existence of werewolves secret.

"Dead and Loving It" is a laugh a minute

If you haven't read any of MaryJanice Davidson's books on the Wyndham Werewolves or Betsy Taylor the vampire queen, I wouldn't start with "Dead and Loving It."

Don't get me wrong, I myself laughed until my sides ached when reading "Dead and Loving It," but if you don't have any background on the werewolves and vampires that populate Davidson's world, you'll probably be lost.

A collection of four stories, the first tail, er tale, is "Santa Claws" the story of Alec Kilcurt, the most powerful werewolf in Europe. In "Santa Claws," he is in Boston to pay homage to American pack leaders Michael and Jeannie Wyndham's baby.

Feeling a bit jealous and out of sort, Michael goes for a stroll and meets the sidewalk Santa of his dreams, Giselle Smith.

In "Monster Love," vampire Richard Will meets Janet Lupo when he "rescues" her as she's about to be mugged. after Janet flattens Richard a couple of times ( he was just a little hungry), and he admits he's a vampire they make a date for the next night.

Unfortunately, Janet's pack leader calls her about an hour before her date so she has to head home. Richard, who arrives for their date just as Janet is about to leave, sees this as rejection and kidnaps her.

When Janet comes to, she reads him the riot act and tells him she has to leave, admitting she's a werewolf and when the pack leader calls you have to answer.

Well, of course, Richard knows there's no such things as werewolves, so Janet just bides her time until the full moon, when she warns him he's going to be in for a surprise.

In "There's No Such Thing as a Werewolf, " blind werewolf and doctor Drake Dragon left his pack years ago. There's not much tolerance for physical handicaps among the packs, so Drake lives his life among humans.

And he's doing just fine even though he's a little lonely. That is until he meets Crescent Muhn, a homeless woman with a predilection for leaping off tall buildings because she's convinced she can fly. And oh yeah, for some strange reason Drake can see her.

The last tale in "Dead and Loving It" is "A Fiend in Need" where fans finally find out George the Fiends. And Betsy, remember she's the vampire queen, and her friends discover that werewolves exist when werewolf seer Antonia comes to call.

"Dead and Loving It" is full of laughs, but a word of warning, if you like your romance book to leave some things to the imagination, this is not the book for you.

"A Hunger Like No Other" a satisfying read

In Kresley Cole's "A Hunger Like No Other" ($6.99, Pocket Star Book), Lykae king Lachlain MacRieve has been searching for his mate, the one woman made for him alone, for a thousand years. For the last 150 years, however, Lachlain has been a prisoner of the Vampire Horde -- brutally tortured, but unable to find release in death because he's an immortal.

Only two things have kept the werewolf sane: Thoughts of the revenge he will wreak upon the vampires and knowing somewhere out there in the world, his mate waits for him to find her.

Terribly weakened by a century and a half of torture, Lachlain is imprisoned in the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris. Only one thing allows him to escape, though miles beneath the surface, Lachlain scents his mate. He knows he can accomplish anything to get to her and he does -- breaking free of the chains that have kept him tethered for more than a century.

Half Valkyrie/half vampire Emmaline Troy has never been so far from her home in New Orleans. Normally sheltered by her Valkyrie aunts, Emma insists on traveling to France where she hopes to learn more about the vampire father who sired her.

What Emma doesn't expect is to have a half-mad werewolf run her down and abduct her. And Lachlain is sure he must have gone around the bend, because surely his destined mate can't be a vampire, his most hated enemy.

Emma the timid would be the first to admit she's a coward. She wants to survive without drawing her aggressive, remember they're Valkyrie, aunts into her troubles so she agrees to get Lachlain to Scotland (after being imprisoned for 150 years, he's never even seen an automobile) in return for her freedom.

Lachlain knows Emma, the most un-vampirish vampire he's ever met, is his mate, but he doesn't have to like it. But he does have to get the unwilling Emma to Kinevane, his ancestral Scottish home, by any means necessary where he'll have a chance to heal from his injuries and protect his mate from the vampires who are hunting her.

Cole's " A Hunger Like No Other," introduces the reader to the world of the Lore -- supernatural creatures (werewolves, Valkyrie, vampires, ghouls, witches, etc.) who have managed to convince mankind that they are only figments of the human imagination. While the Lore creatures war against each other on a regular basis, they know better than to draw the attention of the prolific humans if they want to survive.

"A Hunger Like No Other" is Cole's first full-length paranormal romance, but not her last according to the preview for "No Rest for the Wicked" at the end Emma and Lachlain's tale.

"Dark Demon" sheds some light on Carpathian troubles

Natalya Shonski is helpless to resist the compulsion that draws her to Carpathian Mountains in Christine Feehan's latest Carpathian novel, "Dark Demon" ($9.99, Jove Books).

However, Natalya isn't helpless about much else. With certain powers of her own, Natalya is a formidable foe of the vampires who have been stalking her. She also has a hate-on for Carpathians, those charged with stopping the vampires from preying on the innocent, believing that a Carpathian murdered her twin brother, Razvan.

Unfortunately for Natalya, Carpathian Vikirnoff Von Shrieder is on her trail, following her all the way from the states. Vikirnoff believes Natalya may be his lifemate and he's desperate to find her because he is too close to turning -- something all Carpathian males must fear unless they find their lifemate or seek the dawn in order to avoid turning into vampire.

Of course, Vikirnoff finds Natalya just as she's facing off with a duo of vampires who have set a trap for her. In the course of the fight, Vikirnoff is grieviously injured while trying to protect Natalya. Once the fight is over, Natalya feels duty-bound to help Vikirnoff, even though she thinks Carpathians are just as evil as vampires.

And that's before she finds out she is Vikirnoff's lifemate.

In "Dark Demon," fans will discover some of the answers to the mysterious uniting of the vampires against Carpathians not to mention another pair of lifemates who have to work through some, er, issues. Lots of gore and guts, betrayal and honor, and humor and pathos make "Dark Demon" another stunning chapter in the tale of the Carpathian race's struggle for survival.