Novel: Queen of Shadows by Dianne Sylvan

I have a new favorite author!

I literally could not bear to put this book down and stop reading it.
I loved, loved, loved, Miranda Grey, the heroine of the story.
She is tiny and beautiful and incredibly talented. She is terribly vulnerable, but also incredibly strong. She starts off tortured by her powerful gift of empathy which she has no idea how to control. She's a musician living in the city of Austin, TX, and the only way she can bear her empathy is to channel it through music. But, she is so tortured by sensing other people's emotions that she is slowly being driven mad.

One night after performing in a bar, she is brutally raped and very nearly killed. If you are particularly sensitive to this sort of thing you probably won't want to read it. I found that it was a graphic scene and very upsetting to me.  But, she is saved by David, (the "Prime" male vampire in charge of the Southern parts of the USA) who takes her back to his vampire "Haven" in the Texas Hill country. There he patiently helps her to heal, and teaches her to control her gift of empathy. The two of course fall in love, but try with all their might to resist the attraction, very nearly to the end of the story. I gave the book extra bonus points for this factor. This isn't one of those stories with gratuitous sexual scenes oozing all over the place. It is definitely more about the story and character development which I prefer.

In the meantime, there is a deadly war among competing vampire factions to be fought. Miranda and David try a separation thinking that it will save her life. They do everything that they can to try and forget about each other for months (which thankfully, they finally realize is impossible). While David is trying everything he can to outwit his elusive enemies, Miranda works on her music, becoming ever more famous and successful, and she also studies Martial Arts. Having studied JiuJitsu during my University days I was *very* into Miranda's Martial Arts training.

By the end of the novel Miranda has been completely transformed from the frightened, mousy, nerve-wracked empath out of control to a supremely powerful force to be reckoned with. The end was a total triumph and I was standing up cheering for "Queen Miranda!"

Four Talons. A keeper. I won't forget this story, or it's author.