Hunting Diana

Having seen all the Dracula films but never read a vampire book I wasn't sure how a vampire could be a hero. Fortunately, MS Orsini gave me a good grounding in the first few pages of Hunting Diana. Once I understood the premise I read with interest and growing enthusiasm!

Lucien is a Champion d'Angelique, a protector of all innocents. He must defend others as well as his own race, but he is being called upon to destroy a young woman in the name of vengeance. Diana's father is Frank Nostrum, a man seemingly dedicated to destroying all vampires. The community is in uproar over the painful death of Marek in Nostrum's pen, his flesh frying in the daylight. Marek was Lucien's stepbrother, which leaves him torn between his duty to someone he loved and his duty as a defender.

He is ordered to give Diana just one drop of his blood, which would be enough to condemned her to an eternity of hunger and need that would be forever denied. However, he has a week to decide whether she is the bait Nostrum uses to draw vampires into his pen. Watching her, seeing her dance naked in the waves, entering her mind to discover she is fresh and pure and innocent, Lucien is drawn to her in a way that tells him she is his soulmate. Diana has remained a virgin because she too looks for her soulmate – but can they ever hope to find happiness?

Someone is determined to create havoc and bring evil back to the community. Can Lucien save Diana and his people or will he too be destroyed in the fight?

Lucien has just enough of the original Dracula to make him dangerous, but when I watched the tender way he brought a kitten that had almost been drained of life by another vampire back to life, I was hooked. This is highly sensual, passionate, enthralling from start to finish. MS Orsini is a master storyteller and holds her readers from start to finish. I loved it and will now look for other in the genre. Award five red roses, Anne