cover image Bedeviled

Bedeviled

Sable Grace. Avon, $7.99 mass market (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-196441-1

In Grace’s follow-up to 2011’s Ascension, a checklist of tropes takes the place of a coherent story. When half-vampire, half-werewolf Kyana Aslan saved her best friend Haven’s life by turning her into a vampire, she usurped Haven’s place as the heir of Artemis. As various unsavory supernatural creatures wreak havoc, poor Haven is possessed by the vengeful spirit of Cronos, who plans to overthrow Olympus. Kyana spends most of her time feeling guilty, missing shoe shopping with Haven, resenting the loss of her leather pants, and lusting after her demigod bodyguard, Ryker, while running, driving, and teleporting from place to place. There’s some interesting conflict as Kyana longs to save Haven while knowing she will probably have to kill her, but Grace (a shared pen name for Heather Waters and Laura Barone) squanders this conflict in favor of another peek at Ryker’s glistening abs. Agent: Brown Literary Agency. (Jan.)