Review: Oh Purr
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 9, 2013
Roman's Gold is a futuristic paranormal novel set in a dystopian North America where shape shifters have been outlawed and are being hunted by the government. The story is the first in the Underground Heat series by Ann Gimpel. The author packs action and a whole lot of sizzling hot sex into this fantastic novella.Cat shifters in particular are a personal favorite of mine, and mountain lion Kate Roman has all the makings of a feisty leading lady.  By day, she works as a sex surrogate. By night, she acts as an operator for the shifter underground, helping persecuted shape shifters of all types escape from government prison camps. Kate is smart, courageous and resourceful. Ann Gimpel puts a new spin on shifters: human and animal are "joined" but retain separate and distinct identities.  Human and animal share a telepathic link. Kate and her cat engage in some hilarious exchanges that really brings an added layer of humor to the story.Devon Heartshorn is a cop who hunts shifters for the government. He is half-Native American, and his mother was fifty percent shifter.  He has received blood infusions to make him a better bloodhound by enhancing his natural senses. However, the injections happen to have additional side effects that soon turn Devon from the hunter to the hunted.  Initially, Devon is something of a gray hero, because he has actively participated in helping the government round up shifters. However, he changes thanks to his attraction to Kate and tries to protect her prior to discovering the effect the injections are having on him.Kate and Devon share great chemistry. Their emotional bond is tender and compelling, and the sex scenes are highly erotic. One scene in particular, when the shifted cats continue to have sex, left me blinking in surprise, but mostly because it's not something I've encountered before even in paranormal erotica. (More, I believe, due to reticent publishers, than authors). The love scenes are detailed and tasteful. There are sex scenes involving the hero/heroine and others.Overall, the story doesn't delve too deeply into its futuristic setting, although, a couple things did throw me for the loop-d-loop. References to hover vehicles that seem to zoom through the sky like aircraft furrowed my brow. Likewise with the description of a concrete wall around Berkeley.  (I'm a resident of the SF east bay so I'm intimately familiar with the urban sprawl that is the Oakland-Berkeley area and I have trouble envisioning a wall containing the city.) Aside from a couple little nit-picky things, I had no trouble becoming completely engrossed in the story and following it through to the exciting ending.Ann Gimpel has a smooth, strong writing style. Each of her characters possesses a distinct voice and she employs good pacing, mixing actions sequences with sex in a manner designed to keep things flowing. It seems like the government of Ann's world must have created a real problem for itself by injecting so many highly trained cops with shifter blood, so I'm looking forward to finding out what the future of the Underground Heat series holds!So if you're looking for a red hot paranormal erotica novel, look no further.  Just make sure you've got a willing partner on standby... Or a really cold shower!I purchased my copy of Roman's Gold on Amazon. The author did not request a review.