Humans and demons. Not the pitchfork-wielding kind...in this case, "demons" are actually aliens. Our setting is in the future (I think), but the city of Avvar is actually quite a bit like Victorian-era London, complete with cobblestones and street urchins and Victorian sexual morals. Somewhere in the middle of all this is a love story with a bit of political intrigue and a hint of danger. I was more than a little confused, but it's a good kind of confusion since this is a lightweight read and the gaps in the storyline and unexplained technology doesn't matter.

This isn't a vast, world-building sci-fi/fantasy, but I had to stick it into this category because it reeks of a different world. Really, it's just a love story between Inspector Adrian Phillips and Roxanne McAllister. He keeps the peace between the humans and the demons, and to make him stronger, he accepted demon implants. It was his own decision, but it made him an outcast...he lost his wife and family in the process. And most people consider him less than human. She is the daughter of a famous singer (Mom was quite the slut. What a role model.)

One rainy London Avvar night, Adrian and Roxanne are brought together when she finds Adrian on her roof...practically bleeding to death from an earlier fight with demons. Naturally, she takes him in and nurses him back to health. Victorian morals be damned...they make love at every opportunity since he's been without a woman for what seems like eons. Which is more or less true, since everyone screwed back then. You just didn't talk about it. Kinda like the 1950's.

As it turns out, Roxanne is more than she seems but doesn't know it. Her tarty mother had a one-night stand with a demon, and Roxanne was the product. It's not supposed to happen, since humans and demons are so genetically different as to rule out any babies showing up in the wrong places. Roxanne literally is one of a kind, and the demons (aliens) want to get their mitts on her for "testing." Sounds like a crazy alien-abduction theory, of course.

But eh, who cares. It's fun. I loved it, and I expected no less from Emma Holly. So far, I haven't read anything from her that I've disliked, and it's a diversion from her previous contemporary erotic novels. Maybe I'll even pick up one of her historical romances too.