"The first super book in a mad cap paranormal series!"

When I read Anne Stuart I often ponder what she eats to stay so good from book to book. When I read Katie Macalister that never crosses my mind. I don't think she eats, they just plug her in! She's had 16 books (under Macalister and Maxwell pennames) in two years and shows no signs of slowing down! Most writers burning up the keyboards would begin to grown "less fresh, less original" with each book. Not Macalister. I think she just gets better and better with each novel! Her current release The Trouble With Harry, is my favorite to date, a brilliant tripping of the light fantastic with characters to warm your heart. But there I go again, as I do with each release, I have another fav! You Slay Me. A smart, sexy, smart-mouth, laugh out loud kick off to a new series!

You Slay Me, is another of Macalister's first person rants as her character muddles through life. Ordinarily, I shy away from first person books because they tend to numb my mind with I, me and mine to where I get focusing on seeing those three words till I want to scream. However, Macalister's Magic is I don't see those words when she does first person. She has such a smooth style you really don't notice it, other than it lends to giggles galore. You Slay Me is the first Aisling Grey novel, and after reading it, I am definitely eagerly awaiting more Aisling novels.

Aisling is an Irish name pronounced ash-ling and ASH-ling is starting her new job as a courier for her uncle's business. See Aisling HAS to have this job. The court has order her to pay alimony to her deadbeat surfer hubby so he can sit around all day and watch plastic-chested beach bunnies, a situation she is NOT happy about! Her first job for Uncle Damian (hum...one thinks of the Omen movies and instantly wonders if Sam Neil is Aisling's Uncle!) is to carry a six hundred year old gold dragon to a woman named Deauxville's in Paris. Getting through customs was nearly more than Aisling can handle - and that just dealt with trying to get the customs man to learn to pronounce her name right! So she is not happy after the nutty cabdriver drops her of at Ms. Deauxville's address and she finds her dead.

Naturally, Aisling is accused of the murder and the gold artifact is stolen. As she tries to clear herself, she learns she is a Guardian - that's Keeper of the Gates to Hell to the rest of us mortals. Aisling learns this from sexy Drake Vireo. Aisling thinks Drake is totally scrumptious - in his human form that is - because Drake (catch the name giving you the clue) is a real-life dragon. I am not playing spoiler - this revelation comes on the back cover! Drake stole the gold dragon - thus starting off a mad cap adventure.

Aisling's new career as courier on a bad foot, not to mention the murder rap hanging over her head. Drake also informs Aisling she is a wyvern's mate. What's a wyvern you ask? It's old French - a mythical animal with 2-legged wings and just happens to look like - you guessed it - a dragon! Aisling more than has her hands full being a murder suspect, conjuring a demon in the form of a shaggy Newfoundland, and fending off the amorous advances of the (...) wyvern, so we can see there will be a wealth of situations to mine in the Ailing Grey series.

It's refreshingly off-beat, with the quirky, laugh-till- you- hurt Macalister style, promising this to be one of the most original paranormal series since Melanie Jackson set loose those pesky Goblins to torment us! So here's to more adventures of Aisling and Drake.

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted September 1, 2004

Aisling Grey is a courier enjoying a free, work-related trip to Paris when she learns she's a Guardian. That's a keeper of the Gates of Hell, for those who don't know. She finds this out from Drake Vireo, who's scrumptiously sexy- at least in his human form. Now Drake has stolen the package Aisling was sent to deliver, and she must track him down, get the package, and try to resist the passion boiling inside her.

Summary

The first book in a sexy, humorous paranormal thriller series featuring Aisling Grey, an apprentice Guardian, and her sometimes boyfriend, sometimes foe Drake Vireo, wyvern (leader) of one of the four dragon septs. Aisling finds her true calling when she travels to Paris to deliver a medieval object that is part of a set sought after for the power it wields.

There she meets the handsome Drake, a man who is not at all what he seems. Implicated in the circumstances of two murders, Aisling, the demon she summons for help (and subsequently can't get rid of) named Jim, and Drake find themselves caught up in a web of lies and confusion that could well result in the demon lords of hell ruling the mortal world. The first book in a sexy, humorous paranormal thriller series featuring Aisling Grey, an apprentice Guardian, and her sometimes boyfriend, sometimes foe Drake Vireo, wyvern (leader) of one of the four dragon septs. Aisling finds her true calling when she travels to Paris to deliver a medieval object that is part of a set sought after for the power it wields. There she meets the handsome Drake, a man who is not at all what he seems. Implicated in the circumstances of two murders, Aisling, the demon she summons for help (and subsequently can't get rid of) named Jim, and Drake find themselves caught up in a web of lies and confusion that could well result in the demon lords of hell ruling the mortal world.