I love vampire stories, especially those with a twist. In Kate Hill’s Ancient Blood series her vampires are not the typical bloodsuckers. They are a long-lived alien race descended from Atlantean times. How they got here and how they live are stories from other books.

Handsome Bastard is the newest of the Ancient Blood series and yet has the least to do with the series as we know it. In Ancient Rome, Cyprian Augustus is a hunted vampire. The secret society known as We Who Serve Humanity have made Cyprian their target. After losing yet another hunter to Cyprian, the society has chosen another hunter, Leontine, a woman known to always get her man.

At the funeral of the previous hunter sent after Cyprian, Leontine learns that it was the society that killed the hunter, not Cyprian. The society is not very accepting of its hunters failing for any reason. Cyprian is more interested in seduction than killing. Cyprian seems to enjoy seducing the hunters away from the society.

Leontine begins her game of seduction having counted on Cyprian’s chivalrous nature. When Cyprian finds an abused slave woman left along side the road in the rain and mud, what is he supposed to do? Leave her there? He knows there is more to Leontine’s story but the strong willed beauty intrigues him in a way no other woman has in a very long time. So Cyprian begins his own game of seduction.

Who is going to come out the winner in this game? Is it truly just a game or is it a trap that will leave only one of them alive? Or will this web of seduction be more than a simple game; the beginning of a true love that will have both players bound to each other for all eternity?

Handsome Bastard may be a bit on the light side as far as plot and motives; it does have some very well written seduction scenes. Indeed Cyprian and Leontine scorch the pages with heat. So while I usually like my stories with a lot more plot and background detail I found this book easy to read in that it moved fast. The only thing is that for me, I could almost feel that Handsome Bastard had more story to tell that was omitted because of all the sex scenes. So while not the best example of Kate Hill’s work {and there are plenty} Handsome Bastard is still worth the time.

Reviewed By Theresa
© December 2006