Candace Steele has a serious grudge against vampires. An undercover agent in a Las Vegas casino, her job is to provide the guests security against vampires. It’s a job she enjoys; seducing them and at the critical moment driving a stake through their hearts.

It all stems back to the love of her life, and the relationship that almost killed her. Ash, an incredibly sexy vampire, was the love of her life until the night a moment of passion almost lead to her death. Not only did the incident leave her scarred emotionally, she now senses vampires when they are near.

Her latest assignment is personal security for Temptation McCoy, the hot singer headlining at the casino. At the welcome party, Candace feels a cold, tingling sensation which means there is a vampire as part of the young diva’s entourage. To make matters worse, Ash is suddenly back in town and Candace finds she isn’t as resistant to him as she had hoped.

Cameron Dean’s debut novel Passionate Thirst is the first of her Candace Steel Vampire Killer trilogy. A number of publishers have started to publish new series “back-to-back” (one a month), presumably since readers are impatient for subsequent volumes and to take advantage of the voracious appetite readers of paranormal romances have for the genre. (Keri Arthur’s debut series, “Riley Jenson Guardian,” is also being published this way beginning in January 2007.) The other two installments in Dean’s trilogy, Luscious Craving and Eternal Hunger, were published in December and January respectively.

Candace Steel is a delightful heroine; she has a troubled fashion sense, she’s grumpy, she can kick serious vampire butt and she’s still in love with her ex – even though she has something special going with Detective Carl Hagen. Essentially she’s flawed yet lovable and readers will quickly be rooting for her to win.

Readers expecting steamy scenes á la Laurell K. Hamilton should look elsewhere. Passionate Thirst balances sex scenes with action and plot development, while never quite delivering as much “steam” as the cover suggests. Dean has provided an interesting introduction to her trilogy and it will be exciting to see how the series develops over the next two volumes.

Read the review at Curled Up with a Good Book.

ISBN10: 0345492536
ISBN13: 9780345492531

Mass Market Paperback
301 Pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: October 31, 2006

tags: books book reviews Cameron Dean paranormal romance vampires Candace Steele