Seduced by the Night    by Robin T. Popp Order:  USA  Can Warner, 2006 (2006) Paperback Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Martina Bexte This second in the Night Slayer series, continues where Out of the Night left off. This time though it's changeling (half human-half vampire) Dirk Adams who finds more trouble than he anticipated while patrolling the darkness for rogue vampires. Researcher Dr. Bethany Stavinoski has been targeted by Dirk's ex-colleagues - Patterson and Harris, former SEALs who were turned into vampires while on the same mission as Dirk. They are desperate to find a cure, as otherwise they'll eventually turn into mindless killers. Unbeknownst to Beth, her fiancée, Miles Van Horne, has made a bargain with the vampires to create a serum in exchange for eternal life. Beth soon suspects Miles is keeping secrets, but never imagines he's dealing with vampires. When Dirk rescues her from a kidnap attempt by Patterson's minions she learns that Miles has lied to her and, more important, what Dirk really is and what kind of organization he's involved in. This sudden turn of events terrifies her. Even more startling however, is her immediate and undeniable attraction to Dirk, feelings he reciprocates tenfold. When Dirk appoints himself as Beth's bodyguard to keep her safe from Patterson's single-minded quest to kidnap her and force her to create a serum, denying her growing feelings for the virile changeling becomes more and more difficult. Using the urban legends surrounding the South American chupacabra to create a mythology is definitely an imaginative high point for this series. There's plenty of action as Dirk and Beth evade repeated kidnapping attempts and more explanation is given about the origins and the agenda of the Night Slayers. Popp does a nice job portraying her secondaries. Harris, in particular, is a driven, often ruthless, but still sympathetic character whose bond with the full-grown chupacabra that created him is believable, as is his single-minded desire to find a cure and return to the life he planned to have after leaving the SEALs. The two leads however, don't fare as well: while there's plenty of sexual tension between Beth and Dirk, both come across as rather two dimensional, particularly Dirk, whose uber-alpha attitude over Beth's relationship with an older man was a bit hard to take sometimes. Even so, Seduced by the Night works well and I look forward to the next installment of this nicely written and intriguing series. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Romance books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews