"Delightful paranormal romance"

The goal seems simple enough: rescuing her brother. Finding anyone capable of aiding her in his enormous duchy like pelazzo in the Alps is so formidable that everyone tells Isabella Vernaducci to go home. She has heard tales about the Don that strike fear in the hearts of the bravest souls, yet aristocratic Isabella obstinately continues her quest to find the enigmatic, more myth than man, Nicolai DeMarco.

When Isabella locates Nicolai (or perhaps it is more the other way around), she does not see the Don who allegedly controls the beasts to do his dirty work. Instead she sees a man haunted by a curse that the intrepid Isabella is determined to free Nicolai from it. When Nicolai offers to save her sibling on the condition she marry him, Isabella readily agrees as she knows she needs no stipulation to wed the Don. Still as she risks her life to save her tortured beloved, she wonders if she will ever gain his love even if she eliminates the beast that holds his soul.

More than just Christine Feehan fans will enjoy this delightful paranormal romance as the rarely used early nineteenth century Alps setting (almost Gothic in nature), the intrepid heroine, and the tortured male protagonist come together in exciting fashion. Though readers will admire and question Isabella's bravery at the same time, the audience will relish her efforts to emancipate the two men she cherishes from their respective "incarcerations". LAIR OF THE LION is a wonderful novel that readers will appreciate if they set aside the time to luxuriate in a one sitting read.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 5, 2002

Summary

Impoverished aristocrat Isabella Vernaducci will defy death itself to rescue her imprisoned brother. She'll even brave the haunted, accursed lair of the lion—the menacing palazzo of legendary, lethal Don Nicolai DeMarco. Rumor says the powerful don can command the heavens, that the beasts below do his bidding...and that he is doomed to destroy the woman he takes as his wife. But Isabella meets a man whose growl is velvet, purring heat, whose eyes hold dark, all- consuming desire. And when the don commands her to become his bride, she goes willingly into his muscled arms, praying she'll save his tortured soul...not sacrifice her life.