TEST
Warning! Master of the Night may spontaneously combust. Sit next to an open window or fan to keep cool! It’s a testimony to this author’s talent that she managed to insert an interesting plot between the scorching sex scenes. 
Forget all you think you know about Merlin, Arthur, and the knights of the Round table. Merlin is really an alien being from a parallel universe called Mageverse, who came to Earth to create guardians to save the planet. When Merlin and his love Nimue came to Earth, they found a magical race of beings already inhabiting the planet, the fairy Sidhe, who inhabited Mageverse Earth, and the regular humans, inhabiting Realspace Earth. Merlin and Nimue created male guardians called the Magi, or vampires, and female Majae, or witches. The males need to drink the blood of the females in order to survive. The Majae can perform overt feats of magic, but needed the Magi to siphon off the extra magic, in the form of blood. The children of the Magekind known as Latents are born mortal, but have the potential to become vampires or witches with three sexual exposures in adulthood to a Magus’ or Maja’s powers. Knowledge of Magekind must always be kept from Realspace humans who wouldn’t understand the essential mission behind their existence. Each country has its own champion who works with mortal governments to prevent catastrophic war, strife, etc.
Reece Champion has worked with the U.S. for centuries. He is the (secret) head of a powerful corporation. Openly, his corporation is run by his descendants and he portrays a middle corporate executive. Although he desperately wants to feel connected to a woman, he dares not take chances with any Latents. Reece lost two of his best friends during the Revolutionary War when his vampire friend attempted to turn his Latent love into a Maja without the consent of the Council. The Council knew Lizzie was not prepared to become a Maja. When Thomas turned her, she went crazy and killed him, and Reece was ordered by the Council to kill Lizzie. It was an experience he never wants to repeat again. However, he is unprepared for fascinating and beautiful Latent, Erin Grayson.
Erin Grayson is a former FBI agent who now works for an agency called the Outfit. According to her information from the Outfit, Reece and his company are a front for a death cult that killed her partner, and lover, David. The FBI never believed Erin’s accounts of the night David shot himself during their cult investigation. She left the Bureau in disgrace; though the Bureau couldn’t prove that she killed David, though they suspected her.
Once Reece and Erin meet, the pages start sizzling, and I’m not exaggerating one iota. Although they have wild, crazy sex shortly after meeting, somehow this author makes it work in relation to her universe paradigm. The language is on the explicit side, there aren’t any fluffy body part euphemisms here. If graphic sexual language bothers you, consider yourself warned.
The plot here is fairly complex. When Erin and Reece are captured, the fate of the world is literally in their hands. During their captivity, Reece is forced to explain to Erin exactly who and what she is and what will happen to her if they continue to have sex. To her credit, Erin is a strong heroine who examines the situation logically and realizes death faces her whether she becomes a Maja or not. As a Maja, they at least have a fighting chance to defeat the demon threatening humankind. Reece does his best to provide Erin with a choice, even though he is nearly overwhelmed by desire for her.
Characters from a previous short story in the Hot Blooded anthology, Grace and Lancelot, make a most helpful appearance here, although it is not necessary to have read their story to understand the plot line of this one. There are also other interesting secondary characters, such as the king of the Sidhe.
This book was not without its faults, and it seemed that some characters only made brief appearances in order to manipulate the readers’ emotions. There are also, as I mentioned, frequent sex scenes, which tended to grow tiresome after a while.
Still, I was pleasantly surprised that a book bordering on erotica had such an engaging and absorbing plot line. Erin and Reece are a strong and dynamic couple, who worked through their difficulties as a team. I’ve already ordered a book from this author’s backlist after I finished this one, and I will be on the lookout for further offerings from her. I always enjoy adding a new author to my repertoire, and Angela Knight is definitely one to watch!
Grade: B
Book Type: Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Burning
Review Date: 13/10/04
Publication Date: 2004
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.