Midnight Enchantment [Paperback]

Gerard Pasquale is hanging out in an unfurnished, overgrown mansion in New Orleans. Unfortunately he has left his fortune in the hands of a law firm that has just been bought out by an ambitious young shyster named Percy. Said young shyster climbs the gate to Gerard's mansion, tells Gerard that he had used Gerard's power of attorney to put his fortune in an account unreachable by anyone but himself and tells Gerard that his only way of escaping exposure and loss of his forturne is to marry the Shyster's sister, Laure.

The first thing to remember is that none of these characters would test very high on a WAIS-3. In order to foil the blackmail scheme all Gerard would have to do is revoke the power of attorney, have the young shyster charged with theft by conversion and let the law take care of him.

And the blackmail plot is soooo unnecessary. Young shyster is in complete control of the cases of the firm including all of Gerard's fabulous fortune, and has been busy rifling the accounts, evidently not considering that he could earn substantial funds and prestige by doing what every law firm does-- billing for work done. A few years of industry and he could legally transfer quite a bit of Gerard's money into his own pocket. However, maybe he missed that day at law school.

Finally, the heroine. I just wanted to smack some smarts into that girl. Her step brother finds one beau for her. Alain savages her, breaking her arm and some ribs. Now her brother has found another suitor for her, a man that her brother lets her think is elderly, ill and lonely. When she finds out Gerard is none of these things, does she realize that her brother does not have her best interests at heart? No, she continues to blab every stray thought that crosses her mind to her brother. Even after she has had plenty of opportunity to find out what a dastardly fellow her brother is, she still trusts him. Of course if she didn't there would go the rest of the plot....

Drag in some of the vampires from the other books by the author, including the one who advises the heroine that pregnancy is wonderful because a woman doesn't have to watch her figure. ( How does a vampire watch her figure? Dine on anaemics?) Stir in some vodun, a little witchcraft and some sex and there you are-- a vampire romance.

Some things I liked about this book: the author is really good at describing Gerard as a vampire. High points for not making him a goody two shoes like some other vampires I could mention. I also loved Gerard's temper tantrum after he gives into the blackmailing young shyster. This could be effectively done on screen. In fact, I liked Gerard in general even if he doesn't make very good choices. He was about the only thing I found more than mediocre in this book.

The action takes place in the span of a few days---making it difficult to believe the "eternal" love that manifests suddenly in the last chapter.

There are far too many questions unanswered about these characters to develop any attachment to them--- and as a result the choices they make seem arbitrary and disjointed.

There may be great potential in the series if the characters are "fleshed out" a bit---but I withold judgment until further reading in the series.