The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires: Katie Macalister

Portia Harding is a physicist who has no time or patience for anything that can't be explained. She spends her life debunking myths and hokum for the fallacies that they are so when her best friend, Sarah, invites her on a psychic tour of England, Portia is more then happy to tag along and bring some sense to her friend. What she doesn't count on are the myths springing to life in the middle of a fairy ring and chasing her half-way through heaven and hell in search of redemption.

Portia was raised by a God-fearing cult and as an adult she has shed those beliefs in favor of science and truth. She agrees to accompany Sarah but she doesn't believe in any of the things Sarah does, not the seances, the psychics, or the ghost tours. When Sarah leaves Portia at the fairy ring to run back to the hotel for her camera, Portia sifts through a sheaf of spells, muttering some of the words that she isn't sure are even real latin. Unfortunately they're real enough. They summon Hope, a troubled weather virtue who bestows her "gift" on Portia and then disappears, leaving Portia bewildered and convinced that she has inhaled some of the fungus that is inherent with fairy rings. Hard on the heels of Hope is Theondre, a nephilim who needs the pardon of a virtue to be accepted into the Court of Divine Blood and he wants Portia to do it. It will take quite a bit of convincing, a leap from a moving car, and several blood tests before Portia will believe that she isn't hallucinating and that all of this is really happening. What's even harder for her to accept is when she begins to fall in love with Theo, and the lengths that she will go to for him after his soul is stolen by the Prince of Abaddon, turning him into a vampire. Will Portia be able to save Theondre and finish her trials in time to keep the Court of Divine Blood from collapsing?

In the usual style of Katie Macalister this latest effort features a hard-nosed and brainy female who is forced to come face-to-face with the world of Other and the stubborn yet oh-so-hot men that inhabit this world. Fortunately for the author it's a formula that works exceptionally well. She invests her characters with a sense of humour that never seems forced and there is a heat and sense of affection between the lovers that is almost palpable. Any Katie Macalister fan will love this book and those who haven't read her yet should start.
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Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Signet (April 3, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0451220854
ISBN-13: 978-0451220851
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