I have loved Lena Austin since the moment I spoke to her at a romance group chat. Lena Austin is direct, unique, and saucy, and her books - contemporary and fantasy alike - reflect her personality.

After the Flood 1: Blood and Magic begins a new series based in Unicorn Valley, the site of Austin's first three-book series. The unicorn mage, Tanne, sees the vampire Kella, and senses that she has a tremendous amount of uncontrolled magic. Tanne is responsible for her magic due to the blood transfusion he gave her mother at Kella's birth. He is barely able to control his own lust for her; however, he is the only being in the valley strong enough to teach her to control her magic. He must become her teacher, and he cannot take advantage of a student.

The other vampires shun Kella. She has no friends except her teacher. Her mother is concerned only with Kella's younger half-brother. Like Tanne, she is a healer but she uses plants rather than magic. Vampires are lusty creatures, and Kella has waited so long for a male to cover her. She is thrilled to be Tanne's student, and she wishes this beautiful male to have carnal feelings toward her.

This book introduces danger and suspense to the romantic element present in the previous series. As in the other books set in Unicorn Valley, the charm is two-fold. Each type of creature has well-defined physical abilities, and each character has a personality independent of his or her (and even his/her in the hermaphrodite) species/form. This enchantment does interfere somewhat with character development. And for this reason, I do not rate this book as high as the earlier ones. Nevertheless, I'll be reading the new installments in each of Ms Austin's Unicorn Valley series.

Reviewed by Catherine H.
© December 2004