Haunted

Canadian writer Kelley Armstrong has risen to great popularity with her successful Women of the Otherworld series, which casts seemingly everyday female protagonists into paranormal and otherworldly situations. HAUNTED follows suit, as an immortal half-demon named Eve finds herself battling the Fates in order to communicate with her daughter. With such a tale of the fantastic to work with, narrator Laural Merlington delivers a powerhouse performance filled with rich characters, remarkable voices and dialects, and plenty of demonic fury. While fans of the genre will love what Merlington is able to do in her reading, other listeners will enjoy this entertaining romp of paranormal romance, which is as good as it gets in today's audiobook scene. L.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

May 16, 2005
Smart-mouthed Eve Levine, a witch with a reputation for breaking the rules, may be dead, but as she proves in this overstuffed paranormal romance (a follow-up to Industrial Magic
), she can still raise hell in the hereafter—which, in this case, is a curiously ordinary dimension in which ghosts like Eve and her also deceased former lover, a sorcerer named Kris, can bicker, have sex and use their paranormal powers. The Fates, three elusive sisters, are the rulers of this otherworldly dimension, and they have a job for Eve. If she can defeat a demonic Nix who's wreaking havoc in the human realm by inducing people to kill, she'll earn her wings—literally. The catch: she can't capture the Nix without the powers that angelhood affords. Eve surmounts this hurdle by teaming up with a hunky and humanlike angel named Trsiel, but her quest, which is fraught with obstacles as well as unnecessary distractions, is lengthy and meandering. In addition, Eve's kick-butt-ask-questions-later attitude, while amusing, can be wearying, and the rules of Armstrong's alternate world seem conveniently changeable. Still, those who appreciate heroines with a good measure of spunk, sass and strong-arm savvy will find this a fun if fitful read. Agent, Helen Heller
.