Night's Master by Amanda Ashley

Kathy McKenna was a girl of the big city, before the war between the Vampires and Werewolves heated up. Looking for safety, she left the big city behind and moved to the small town of Oak Hollow in the Midwest. It seemed like the perfect solution: there was nothing in Oak Hollow to attract either Vampires or Werewolves, and Kathy could go on about her life without fear of being munched on by either side of the supernatural war.

But soon after she buys a house and opens a bookstore in Oak Hollow, Kathy learns exactly why Oak Hollow is so trouble-free. It's neutral ground for both Vampires and Weres, the site of their peace talks. She wants to move, but it's too late. And it's too late for her the night that Raphael Cordova walks into her store to buy a book. She's frightened of him, but she's also attracted to him, and can somehow sense that he is a vampire right away. He's perfectly polite to her, and buys the very expensive book she recommends as reading material. Since she hasn't had hardly any customers so far, she figures she might get a little something out of his entering her store.

The next night he's back, and he wants every book written by the same author she recommended to him. This results in a hefty sale for her, but she isn't entirely happy about it. And less so when the nezt day she has customers all in the double digits, and all vampires. When Raphael returns, she accuses him of commanding the vampires to shop at her store, which he could do since he's the leader of the Vampires of North America. He cops to the accusation, and asks her out for a drink, and she reluctantly agrees.

When the time for their date comes, she is so anxious, she's practically vibrating, but she soon finds herself enjoying the date, and the Filet Mignon he presses on her. She finds herself curious about vampires and asks him some questions. That night, he kisses her, and she finds herself falling for him.

Soon after, another handsome man enters the store, looking for an out of print book. Kathy can't help him, but he also seems attracted to her, and she makes him buy another book to offset her aggravation when he, too, asks her out. She has a feeling this man, Cagin, is a werewolf, but he claims he's not. He asks her on a picnic, and she agrees. But that night Raphael tells her that no, Cagin isn't a Werewolf, he's a Weretiger, and that many other sorts of Weres exist beyond just wolves.

Kathy wonders why the town is becoming such a hot place for those of both supernatural persuasions when her best friend, Susie, a young mother with three overactive, very rambunctious boys, disappears. She and Raphael go looking for her and find that she has been turned into a Werewolf by a strange man who simply got into her car when she stopped at a light. She's broken up about her new status, and her husband seems to be both afraid and hating her now, though he couches it in terms of him being scared of her to be around her sons. And though she had been pregnant when she was abducted, she aborted the baby when she changed the first time.

In the meanwhile, another man has come to town, named Travis, and he's a hunter here to "take care" of the local supernaturals. He, too, asks Kathy out, and she wonders why she had to move to the midwest before the hot men would notice her. She finds him arrogant, and she's afraid for Raphael, who she has come to love.

The clash of the three factions: Vampire, Were and Hunter, has come to Oak Hollow. But can Kathy survive those who wish to wipe out all the Supernaturals, leaving the humans at the top of the ladder, or will she end up being killed by those who consider her a traitor to her own kind for falling in love with Raphael? And can she save not only herself, but her friends and those she cares for as well?

This was an intriguing book. I found the relationship between Kathy and Raphael to be beautiful and realistic. Kathy undergoes quite a bit of a change in attitudes throughout the novel, from being repulsed by Vampires and Weres, to being afraid of them, and to realizing that they are really no different than humans, in their ways. Strange, maybe, but beneath, they live their lives out just like regular humans do.

She also finds herself slipping into new attitudes towards sharing blood with a vampire and coming to love one, thanks to Raphael's influence on her and their relationship. But while Vampires and even Weres come off good in this novel, the humans, not so much. Those that are Hunters come off arrogant and nasty, thinking that they can dictate how other races are supposed to live. Even Kathy came in for a bit of my scorn, due to a "I don't believe in Evolution, I can't see it happening" paragraph at the front of the book, which made me think of her as less than intelligent.

Thankfully, she managed to win my attention and sympathy back after that horrible beginning, so in the end I was rooting for her and Raphael to survive and thrive and marry one another, as they wished to do. Even though this book had some off-putting moments, I did like it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Supernatural Romance stories, or even just vampire stories. It's good and I'm not ashamed to admit it.