Devil's Gate by Thea Harrison

Paranormal Romance Novella

Thea Harrison has a good publishing mix going with her Elder Race books.  Berkley publishes her Elder Race novels and Samhain Publishing releases her Elder Race novellas as eBooks.  There is always a gap between novels but the novellas help fill the gap.

Here is what Amazon says about Devil's Gate.

When it comes to love between a medusa and a Vampyre, it’s every man, woman, and snake for themselves.

A Novella of the Elder Races

As a coroner, medusa Seremela Telemar has always felt more comfortable chatting over a dead body than over drinks. But when her wild niece, Vetta, runs off to Devil’s Gate, a lawless town that has sprung up overnight in a modern-day gold rush, she knows she has to extricate her before the rebellious girl gets into real trouble. Though she’s confident in her head snakes’ ability to defend her against attackers, Seremela is still a bit nervous about braving this modern-day Wild West by herself.

Vampyre Duncan Turner is not about to let his new co-worker go into that chaos alone. His Vampyric power and lawyer smarts make him the perfect ally, and the fact that he already had his eye on Seremela for more…personal reasons, doesn’t hurt matters. Any romantic thoughts pull up short, however, when they arrive at Devil’s Gate and learn Vetta is set to hang by morning.

In order to save Vetta and themselves, Seremela and Duncan are going to have to fight fire with force and magic with fangs. And pray they make it out of Devil’s Gate alive.

Characters:  There are mentions of characters from the Elder Races novels but the main characters here are unique to this story.  I would never have picked a women who had snakes instead of hair as the main character but it does work.  The snakes are almost an independent character.  They have their own personality and in their way are charming.  .Seremela is used to people being uncomfortable around her and loves the fact that Duncan likes her as she is.  While there is not a lot of time for character development I did get a very good picture of both main characters.  Side characters were important and there was enough information to make them real.  The Tarot cards are an inanimate character and make another appearance.  They seemed to point to the next character to be featured in a novella.

Plot:  It is fairly simple.  Seremela must go to Devil’s Gate, an out of control tent city to get her niece.  It is to dangerous to go alone so Duncan goes along to help.  There is a big problem when they get there.  (See above)

Tension:  There is some but there is so little time in a novella and the tension comes near the end of the story. 

Writing:  Thea Harrison manages to get a good mix of new characters along with tie-in from the novels in there novellas.  Devil’s Gate is no exception.

For fans of the Elder Races series Devil’s Gate is a good reading fix while waiting for the next novel

Samhain Publishing, Ltd. Published Devil’s Gate by Thea Harrison in 2012.