WICKED MEMORIES - Nina Bangs
A Castle of Dark Dreams Novel, Book 7
Berkley Sensation (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-425-25607-7
June 2013
Paranormal Romance

Galveston, Texas - Present Day

To pay off some of her law school debts, Kayla Stanley agrees to do one job for her father, but after five minutes in the Castle of Dark Dreams, she's beginning to regret accepting.  Sparkle Stardust has got to be the strangest client her father's private investigations firm has ever worked for, and Kayla is quickly coming to understand exactly what happens at an adult theme park.  But when Sparkle's cat, Ganymede, speaks to Kayla—in her mind—and Sparkle learns that the new amusement park that is blocking her view of the Gulf of Mexico is owned by a vampire, Kayla is determined to get out as fast as she can.  Forced into participating in a fantasy, Kayla is surprised to find herself drawn to one of the participants.  He may be jaw-dropping gorgeous, but something about his eyes catches Kayla's attention, and when she figures it out, her suspicions are aroused.

Thorn Mackenzie has waited a thousand years to get his revenge on his former lover, and ruining Sparkle's view of the gulf is only the first step in his plans to destroy her.  After luring three of her employees away from her, Thorn decides he wants to be there for the explosion, so he heads over to the Castle.  He's intrigued by the human woman working with Sparkle, and even when he learns that she's an investigator hired to find a way to shut down his park, he's still interested.

Welcome back to the Castle of Dark Dreams where all your fantasies can come true.  Except, in WICKED MEMORIES, it seems as if the focus has shifted to nightmares.  Thorn has hated Sparkle for centuries, not just because she left him, but because of the tragedies that happened as a result of her choosing Ganymede.  His plans to destroy her beloved Castle are moving along nicely, with the only distraction being Kayla and his surprising attraction to her.  Yet when both the Castle and Nirvana, Thorn's amusement park, are suffering from sabotage not attributed to the other, it becomes clear they have a common enemy.  Unfortunately for Galveston, this enemy isn't just trying to destroy the two parks; he is trying to take over the city itself.  In the middle of all of this, Sparkle realizes who Thorn is, and this causes chaos between her and her beloved Ganymede.  For two cosmic troublemakers, chaos can take on a whole new meaning.

Kayla is aware that her father's firm isn't afraid to bend the law, and even outright break it if the situation calls for it, so she's never wanted to be a part of it.  Having her first case include vampires, shape-shifters, talking cats, and sorcerers is way outside her comfort zone, but she adapts pretty well.  Realizing that she's slowly falling for a vampire is a little bit more to adapt to, but the attraction between them is too much to resist.  In the middle of games of one-upmanship, true danger comes to the Gulf and the nonhumans at the Castle will have to team up with those at Nirvana in order for any of them to survive.  Humor, the paranormal, and a few epic battles blend together to make WICKED MEMORIES an exciting read.

Jennifer Bishop