Hunted

I've been reading Amelia Elias's work since her first book, Three Wishes. I own most of them, though I haven't read everything. This week, I read Hunted.

Explosions, car wrecks, assassins, escaped murderers, and a kidnapping . . . arranged marriages can really take their toll on a vampire.

Witness to a brutal murder, Sian Lazuro didn't count on the killer escaping moments after his conviction. Three years later, she's learned the hard way there's only one person she can trust--herself. When she wakes up in bed with a gorgeous stranger who claims to have saved her life, she's understandably wary.

Diego Leonides is like no one she's ever met before. Sensual, mysterious, and clearly delusional, he insists not only is he a vampire, but she's now his eternal mate.

Diego never dreamed he'd find his mate by getting hit by her car, and she's no happier about their sudden bonding than she is. The only survivor of a massacre that wiped out his entire Clan, he's spent the century avoiding taking a mate. Now he finds himself stuck with a woman running from a murderer just as the descendants of the vampire slayers who killed his family arrive in San Francisco to finish the job with him.

Arranged marriages are hard enough on a vampire without having to convince his mate that the real bloodthirsty fiends are the mortals . . .

Elias is one of those authors I think should get a NY publishing contract. Any day now. I give Hunted 4.5 out of 5.

One of Elias's strengths is in her characterization. I love Diego's protectiveness even as he wants to fight his growing feelings for Sian. Once he realizes what he feels for her, though, he doesn't hide it from himself or from her. There's something wonderful and sexy about that.

Sian's a strong character as well, a rare heroine who truly can take care of herself . . . at least in most circumstances. The world of vampires is an unfamiliar one for her, and I thought she dealt with the knowledge in a realistic way. She makes a frustrating choice toward the end of the book (just talk to him, OK?), but I still liked her overall.

Hunted is the first book in a series, and I'm looking forward to reading Outcast, the next book, which is out now.