Jacquelyn Frank

Paranormal/Contemporary/Nightwalker series

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Ask any romance hero worth his washboard abs and he'll tell you true: It's not easy being larger than life.

There's that aggravating hank of hair always falling over the brow. If there's no heroine nearby longing to push it back into place, taming the be-damned thing can cost a fortune in hair gel -- or pomade, depending upon the sub-genre into which our long-suffering hero's been written.

With Herculean resolve, these brave men endure the ignominy of feeling like stripling lads as they magnificently, yet oh-so-tenderly usher into womanhood fetchingly blushing innocents.

And one can only imagine the hip and patellae issues our valiant warriors face in their golden years, having been brought to their knees so often and so dramatically.

These men don't ask to be heroes, they're just created that way. Sometimes they begin to resent the fact they're at the top of their heroic games, which makes for a wonderfully tortured male protagonist and a terrific story line like that of "Jacob," newbie Jacquelyn Frank's intriguing, intense and dynamically sensual first novel in her Nightwalker series.

Jacob is the Enforcer of the demon race, so feared among his people that demon mommies use tales about him to scare their children into good behavior. He is a lonely man.

For centuries he's been called upon to punish normally peaceful and moral demons who do the unthinkable: During the cursed full moons of fall and spring solstices, they slake their frantic and dangerous mating instincts upon humans who cannot survive the experience.

The current moon has brought unexpected evil, a necromancer who's captured another demon. While trying to find his friend, Jacob saves from a fall a beautiful, cat-loving librarian. Oddly enough, the human seems to know exactly how to thwart necromancers.

Yet Isabella didn't know she did anything special when she slay the beast threatening Jacob, nor does she understand why their potent attraction is anathema to Jacob's demon colleagues. And Jacob can't figure out why Isabella keeps coming back for more of his dangerous brand of passion -- yet lives to tell the tale.

"Jacob" is awfully fun to read and is written in a style that's accessible and imaginative. What makes it so good is the active dialogue and vigorous prosaic imagery Frank's created to convey her fresh, clever mythos and setting -- a demon world that's structured and moral, not the usual collection of hard-nosed paranormal characters begrudgingly doing the right thing for humanity.

Do the right thing for Jacob and for courageous romance heroes everywhere: Buy the Book.

www.JacquelynFrank.com

Next Week's Review and AuthorView: "I Gave You My Heart, but You Sold It Online," by Dixie Cash