In Touch The Dark, Karen Chance crafts a complex and intriguing paranormal underworld populated by vampires, faeries, pixies, demons, were-creatures, witches and mages. For good measure, she stirs in some Greek mythology then gives us a headstrong and resourceful heroine with a destiny. Altogether, it makes for one heck of a read.

Touch The Dark is written in first-person in the voice of Cassandra Palmer, a young woman with a clairvoyant gift, or curse depending on your perspective. She sees ghosts in all shapes and sizes and can converse with them, and she has a gift for Seeing things from the past and future. She’s also in hiding, trying to stay off the radar with the vampire world as her former master has a price on her head. Unfortunately, fate has other things in mind for Cassie and before she knows it, she’s embroiled in a battle between powerful factions and herself the prize.

Romance takes a backseat to the action and mystery in the book, but there are some serious sparks between Cassie and a very powerful master vampire, downright erotic in fact, and I am hopeful this will be explored more in future volumes in the Cassandra Palmer Series. Their relationship has incredible sexual chemistry and potential for much more, including love.

Have you read Touch The Dark? If so, feel free to post a comment and let us know what you think.

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(25 votes, average: 4.04 out of 5)

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Karen Chance ups the ante for Cassandra Palmer in Claimed By Shadow, as the young heroine must embrace her destiny even though it’s the last thing she wants to do.

Action picks up in Claimed By Shadow not long after events in Touch The Dark.

Cassie is on the run from everyone now, having abandoned her vampire “protectors,” unsure of who to trust. She learns, while on the lam, that her vampire master has put a “geis,” a magical territorial claim that warns would-be lovers away, on her. Meanwhile, her powers continue to grow, enabling her to better control her shifts through time. Many plots are afoot, however, and it’s up to Cassie, chosen to be the world’s most powerful clairvoyant and guardian of time, to sort everything out and to make sure that things turn out for good. It’s not a charge she wants, but it is one she has to face, along with the implications of the geis, her vampire master, and the friend who betrayed her.

The Cassandra Palmer series reminds me of Keri Arthur’s Riley Jenson Guardian series — they are urban fantasies where romance, love and sex are found, but getting a couple with chemistry together isn’t the central goal. Rather, those elements play a part in a bigger story, and often times help define the character on a personal, intimate level.

This is a well-written series with a broad and intriguing mythology, melding varies figures and stories of lore from around the globe, and I am interested to see where Ms. Chance takes Cassie next in Embrace the Night (4/2008).

P.S. If you don’t find this series (or Keri Arthur’s) in your local bookstore’s romance section, make your way over to the fantasy/sci-fi shelves. You just might find them there!

Have you read Claimed by Shadow? If so, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

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(15 votes, average: 3.73 out of 5)

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