Review: Devil's Gate by Thea Harrison

Devil's Gate 
Book 4.6 in the Elder Races series
Author:  Thea Harrison
Publisher:  Samhain
Format:  ebook
Length:  Novella
Release date:  6/5/12
Author's website: Link

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.
 

When I first read about the character of Seremela in one of the earlier books in the series, I instantly wanted to know more about her because she is a Medusae.  It's just one of the reasons why I love the Elder Races series, as I get to read about so many different paranormal beings.  In Devil's Gate Seremela's young niece has gone missing.  With the help of Duncan Turner who happens to be a vampire, they work together to track her down and make plans to get to her as quickly as possible.  Along the way, Seremela and Duncan get to know one another better.  There is an undeniable attraction between the two of them and I enjoyed the insights into the characters feelings about the other person.

I was quite fascinated with the snakes that are on Seremla's head as the seem to have minds of their own.  They were just as excited as Seremela to be around Duncan and their interactions with him where quite amusing.  I loved that Duncan accepted them because they are a part of Seremela.  He was also quite smitten with Seremela and I loved that he was willing to do whatever was in his power to help her.  

I'm giving Devil's Gate a rating of:

 

Once again it was great to visit this series with this quick, entertaining read.  Thea Harrison's characters never fail to entertain and it's nice to be able to learn about the other characters in this series.  I love that her novellas give us a peek at others in between the full length books.  It's great to see how all of them combined tie into one another.