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varjohaltia
To but it bluntly, it's yet another paranormal fantasy book. The setting is somewhat different in that it's set in a law firm, and the protagonist isn't a leather-wearing tough-as-nails PI/mechanic/biker but rather a young lawyer with no particular physical skills beyond equestrian experience. Consequently — and refreshingly! — the cover picture is a straight-on shot of a woman in a business casual suit, rather than a midriffy weapon-lugging over-the-shoulder looking stereotype. But, really, all things considered, it's exactly what you'd expect to get in the genre.
The unfortunate need to name-drop brands and demonstrate technical cluelessness does little to ease the gender or genre stereotypes. Still, the offenses were sufficiently minor and infrequent that they did not bother me for long. Still, I wish publishers had proper editors to fix these things.
Mind you, getting what you expect can be a positive. The book really is pretty good, certainly among the better ones in its genre. When it gets to sex, the prose doesn't hurry and is tasteful in its explicitness. Hints are dropped at multiple longer story arcs, but the main story is properly self-contained. The characters are reasonably interesting, and the world, while containing vampires, werewolves and elves, doesn't feel like a carbon copy of so many others.
In summary, there's little here that would make one wave the book around and rave, but I found myself really liking it quite a bit, and putting Ms. Bornikova on my "to read" list.
Three out of five, just for guilty pleasure.
