Review: Raphael and Isabella are Hot!  The Novella is a Page Turner!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2012
This is one HOT novella centering around the two primary characters - Raphael and Isabella.  The story takes place in Venice, Italy hundreads of years ago during Carnival.  Isabella saves Raphael from drowning in a canal where he was pushed by a someone.  She dives into the canal with a rope tied to her waist, finds Raphael then they are hauled up by her servant.  Soon she has taken him home, stripped off his wet clothes and washed the canal water from his body.  After a while, one thing leads to another and our heroes become a couple.  Of course, unless you're a Borgia you can't go around sleeping with whomever you want to, no matter how sexy or hot.  So there are definitely challenges in store for our couple even though they rarely leave the bedroom.tdroom.There are other problems ahead for our couple of a different nature.  Raphael is a Vampire - his brother Dante too, as are all his friends, but Isabella is merely human and Venice is filled with Vampire killers called the Guardians of the Waters.  They've killed some of Raphael's friends and probably tried to drown him too.  And then there's Massimo, the arrogant, demanding BIL who is always searching for signs of impropriety in Isabella so he can ruin her then buy the family business cheap - because what does a woman know about business?  According to Massimo, the business should have been Massimo's after Isabella's husband drowned in a canal.  Wait, that's funny.  Where have we that before?Relations with our couple between the sheets are smokin hot - so incredibly steamy and yet people either want them dead or ruined.  What if Isabella finds out that Raphael bites people to eat and is hundreds of years old - it's too much to think of.The ending wraps up nicely with a murderer, a bit of bondage and some incredible in the bedroom.  Our two heroes in this story - Raphael and Isabella were done so well, both individually and as a couple.  Since they makeup the majority of the book then I can easily say the characterization was genuine and credible.  They never acted out of character or resorted to just furthering the plot along.  The dialogue was realistic for the time, and when they were in the bedroom the dialogue became particularly steamy.  This novella is definitely not for the faint of heart or anyone under age 18.  The pacing starts rapidly during Raphael's drowning, and doesn't let up even for a nanosecond until the very end, when everyone is spent.As paranormal romances go - this one's a winner.  As a historical romance, this one's a winner too.  Now, as a paranormal,  historical romance - it's a hand's down winner.  And btw for those of you who like plain old human Roman - check this one out.  You might just have found yourself a new genre starting right here.  I would rate this 4.5/5 stars if I could.  And yes, this romance writer is that good.  Highly recommended !