BLOOD SECRET – Sharon Page
Kensington Aphrodisia
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5095-7
April 2012
Erotic Paranormal Romance

London, England – 1818

When Lady Lucy Drake finds out her brother Jack owes the Duke of Greystone thirty thousand pounds from gaming, the only way she can think of to pay it is to offer up her virginity.  Of course she will be ruined; she cannot think of marrying or having children and be a ruined woman, but to save her two sisters this is what she must do.  But now His Grace wants her to stay for two weeks to pay off her debt.  Lucy is a shape-shifting dragon; all her family are dragons, and before their father died he was one of the leaders of the dragons.  But unknown to Lucy, Sinjin knows all about her family; her father kidnapped his nephew a year ago, and he will do anything to get James back, the only child of his dead sister.  But unknown to Lucy, he is a vampire…and also a dragon slayer.  As soon as he finds his nephew, Lucy and all her family will be killed.

Sinjin was turned by a man called the Prince and made into a vampire, but his real reason was to make Sinjin into a dragon slayer under his authority, and Sinjin has spent many years destroying dragons.  Lucy's father kidnapped his orphaned nephew James a year ago for some reason Sinjin doesn't know, and he has spent time getting her brother Jack's gambling debts in order to have leverage with him.  He is determined to find his only relative left after his parents and brother were killed by dragons when he was nine years old, leaving him and his sister alive.  He is surprised by Lucy's offer, and immediately makes plans to seduce her into telling him where James is, knowing that he will eventually have to kill her whole family.  But Lucy is like a breath of fresh air, and their sexual connection is something he didn't expect.

Lucy had a bad experience with a man she almost married who was a dragon and got so wild her brother Jack had to turn into a dragon and kill him.  But since her father died, Jack has spent his time gambling and in brothels, not taking care of the rest of the family.  He has even suggested that her younger sister marry a gross old man.  But when Lucy and Sinjin come together the sparks fly, and Sinjin has trouble thinking of killing her after finding James.  But when Jack hides out in a brothel, Lucy asks their servant where her father hid the boy.  Their mission finds James, who is in a bad way after being away from Sinjin for a year and also makes Lucy consider why dragons and dragon slayers have hated each other for so long. But there's no way Lucy can deny the lust she feels for Sinjin, not knowing he is a dragon slayer as well as a vampire.  She is about to place the safety of her entire family in the hands of a man who hates all dragons.

Sharon Page has written about two different kinds of creatures: a vampire and a shape shifting dragon.  Told from each of their points of view, Lucy has always tried to ignore her shape shifting self, trying to be a human woman.  But with the loss of her father and her brother owing money for gambling and hiding out in a brothel, Lucy takes it on herself to save her family.  Sinjin's only purpose in life is to get his young nephew back from wherever Lucy's father put him, and then destroying all the dragons who stole him.  But Lucy shows him a bright side of life, and her sweetness and peaceful attitude confuse him and in some way reduce his hatred for all creatures dragon.

Secondary characters are Jack, Lucy's wastrel brother, and the Prince, the leader of the dragon slayers and the one who turned Sinjin all those years ago.  James, Sinjin's nephew, is definitely hurt by his kidnapping, and has been existing in a sort of state of suspended animation; not eating or talking, just lying in bed.  James, despite Sinjin's dragon slaying abilities, is a dragon himself, and there seems to be something about his abilities that are different.

BLOOD SECRET has plenty of hot dragon/vampire sex and how they gradually come together to find James and build on their likenesses and not their differences.  There's lots of excitement with dragon slayers and other evil men seeking to slay the dragons.  If shape shifters and vampires are your cup of tea, then you can't do better this month.

Cece Johns