Scarlet Night by Megan J. Parker

I didn't bother to read the book description before requesting a copy of this book to review. My decision was based solely on the cover art and the author's name. Although I've bought books by this author, I'd not yet gotten around to reading them. The cover art is reminiscent of the Crimson Shadow series, so I followed a hunch that proved right.

Scarlet Night is set in the world of Nathan Squiers' Crimson Shadow. As soon as I saw there were therions in the story, I knew I'd hit gold. Yeah, I've really got it that bad for this series. This story moves fast. Real fast. Something is always moving - the action, emotions, dialogue. Serena, the daughter of the leader of the Vail clan of vampires, left home after a disagreement with him. She's accompanied by the ghost of her boyfriend, Devon. They've been searching for a body for him so they can be together again.

Someone from her father's clan has found her and is demanding she return with him. Serena has quite the talent for annoying commentary guaranteed to anger who ever the unlucky target may be. She does a good job of it with Zane until he tells her he is there because her father has died and she's inherited the mantle of leadership for the clan.

Because of a curse that was set on Zane several years ago, he transforms to a monster when his anger becomes too great. Unfortunately for him, his body isn't designed to handle that transformation, so when it happens too often, he's in trouble. Serena manages to get him and Zoey back to the clan home after a fight in public before the police show up to make things even more interesting.

Now Zane is laid out in bed while a medical technician is running off at the mouth about his condition. Serena, pretty much fed up with the lack of tact from the technician, just lays into him with some of the funniest, sharpest, sarcastic commentary I've ever been fortunate enough to read. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face.

Give me something set in this world and I'm a happy person. I started reading this book toward the end of my shift and seriously debated whether to go home when my relief came in, or staying to finish the story. He was in a bad mood so I went home. Even so, that was a tough choice. I so wasn't ready to stop reading. This story has everything I've come to expect from this worldscape - tension, conflict, people breaking all the rules and making their own and a bit of romance.

This story fit seamlessly into the world Squiers created. The characters were wonderful, the writing is excellent and the editing nearly perfect. But I have to say... what the heck is that at the end?! She left me hanging with my head was reeling. 4 stars

I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.