Embraced by the Shadows
Mayra Calvani
Twilight Times Books
ISBN 1933353899

Sadash first saw Alana in Istanbul, when she was still at an innocent age of ten, too young.

Twelve years later, after graduating from college in the States, she found herself managing a restaurant, La Cueva del Vampiro, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she dressed up as a vampire. Her dream job since, while growing up, she had an obsession with the occults, werewolves, and witches, and was intrigued by blood. She'd dismissed it as mere boredom, or perhaps something to do with loosing her parents at a young age. She frequently experienced dreams, nightmares about a creature, a panther. Finally, she and her best friend Valerie, twin souls, were sharing an apartment, and working their way through life in jobs they enjoyed, just like they always wanted as children.

Then she saw Sadash at the opening of the restaurant and club, and she couldn't get him out of her mind. Then she meets the ravishingly handsome man with the hypnotic eyes and her life changes forever as they embark on a steaming vampiric relationship. Whether it is a change for the better, or for the worse, is yet to be seen. First the ghosts, and secrets of the past must be revealed, and Alana needs to deal with what her life has become. And, will her intimate relationship with a vampire destroy the loving friendship of the twin souls?

Embraced by the Shadows' subplot, which deals with Alana's past, is neatly and smoothly intertwined with the primary plot like a mystery to be unraveled. The secondary characters do a fairly good job in the supporting roles. The primary character, Alana, was somewhat inconsistent in behavior. Although her confusion and changes her charater goes through, as the character develops, accounts for some of the conflicting behavior; it becomes a bit much. Otherwise, this is a good enjoyable read for readers of vampiric novels.

Reviewed by
Katherine Maria Scott