| REVIEWED BY FROST |
| "Deep Water" by Stella and Audra Price |
| Rating: 5 Swords Deep Water **cover art unavailable at time of review posting** Stella and Audra Price Tease Publishing, 115 pp. Ebook Release Sept 15 2007 Print Release Nov 15 2007 Dragon Elementals Book 2 ISBN 978-1-934678-17-6 5 Swords Deep Water is another fine demonstration of the imaginative powers possessed by sister-authors extraordinaire Stella & Audra Price. Maintaining the Universes they create, keeping the various and sundry entities straight, and manipulating the characters, personalities, and capabilities is a vast job; yet the sisters as always accomplish it capably. Deep Water is intriguing from the beginning and nothing in the book disappoints. The appreciably improved editing in this volume also deserves commendation. The subtle trace of humour is much appreciated as well, as the authors deliver another can’t-put-this-one-down-till-the-end story. Ice demon Bryn is a low-power entity, so she’s not as affected by the tropical climates in which she’s been employed as would be many of her kind. Currently in the Virgin Islands, working as a resort diver, Bryn finds the climate more pleasant and tolerable than Mexico, her most recent location. When she encounters Kael, a persistent but gorgeous character who subtly taunts her with hints about his nature on which she doesn’t seem to pick up, she thinks he is just another randy male. Lustful he might be, though he despises all demons as a matter of principle, since demons were responsible for the destruction of his kind-water elementals. Bryn doesn’t realize his true nature, while Kael can’t fathom why he finds her so compelling. The Price sisters have a gift for intensifying tension in their stories, both sensual and in interpersonal conflict, and Deep Water proves no exception. As the erotic magnetism between Kael and Bryn mount, so does the tension between them, as they enter into a “push-me, pull- you” ballet of teasing and withdrawing, offering information and then concealing it, sexual involvement coupled with emotional repression. Deep Water is the kind of novel of which the reader needs to be advised in advance: turn your AC up high and keep an ice bucket next to you. You’ll need it from the first pages all through the book; and when the last page is turned, you’ll start back to the beginning just for the pleasure of reading it all over again. If you would like to be Reviewed by Frost, send an email to frost@jlfoster.biz or reviewed_by_frost@jlfoster.biz with the subject line "Submission." Include the author's name, title of book, publishing house, genre, page count, and an excerpt. |
