SOUL SURVIVOR - Katana Collins
Soul Stripper , Book 2
Kensington Aphrodisia
ISBN: 978-0-7582-9013-7
October 2013
Paranormal Erotic Romance

Las Vegas, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah - Present Day

The last six months have changed a lot of things for Monica Lamb.  For one thing, the angel-turned succubus used to only prey on those souls already bound for Hell.  After she lost her powers, slept with Drew, her boss and the man she loves but can't have, then almost died, and finally got her succubus powers back, Monica pretty much turned her back on her semi-good-girl ways.  The return of Drew's former girlfriend, Adrienne, a vice cop who died saving Monica's life then became an angel, only makes things worse.  Even though Drew doesn't know that she died and is now an angel walking the Earth, the two are trying to make things work.  To complicate matters further, Adrienne's partner, Detective Damien Kane, an elemental, has made his attraction to Monica very clear.

Monica would like to just ignore all of them, but Adrienne and Damien have asked for her help on a case they are investigating, and when Monica realizes one of the victims was branded with Monica's family crest, she knows she'll have to help.  She's not sure what her family crest has to do with a farmer in Utah, but she can't help but wonder if it is connected to the contract out on her life.  She'll have to work with Damien and Adrienne, as well as watch Adrienne and Drew rekindle their romance, and find who is behind the ritualistic slayings taking place in Salt Lake City.

The second book in the Soul Stripper series, SOUL SURVIVOR gives a little more insight into Monica.  She works part-time at Drew's coffee shop, and part time as a stripper at a club owned by Lucien, Arch-Demon of Las Vegas.  After an incident in her past, Monica would only have sex with Hell-bound souls, not wanting to shorten the life of someone headed for Heaven.  This has made her relationship with Drew complicated, as he is definitely Heaven-bound, and she knows one time would not be enough.  Her temporary loss of powers, happening at a time when Drew believed Adrienne to be cheating on him, created the perfect situation for one night of passion between them, but now with things back to relatively normal, she's back to distancing herself from Drew.  She's attracted to Damien, but as an elemental, sex with him wouldn't recharge her succubus powers, and she's not really sure she wants to go there with him.

Throughout the story, Monica has flashbacks to Ireland in the 1740s, which will play a part in what's happening now, as well as show how she was changed from angel to succubus.  SOUL SURVIVOR stands pretty well on its own, in spite of the fact that it's the second book in the series. Its complex heroine makes it a riveting tale.

Jennifer Bishop