Bound by Blood

Ashley puts a paranormal twist on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in the capable sequel to Bound by Night. Recent college graduate Kaitlyn Sherrad, daughter of Bound by Night's protagonists Drake and Elena Sherrad and heir to the throne of the Carpathian Fortress, moves to a Lake Tahoe cottage and is immediately attracted to neighboring casino owner Zackary Ravenscroft, unaware that he is a 600-year-old vampire whose extended family despise the Romanian vampires of Kaitlyn's clan. When the Sherrads force Kaitlyn to come back to Romania, she and Zack must face both her family's enemies and her father's hostility. Though most of the plot is entirely predictable, romance and intra-vampire warfare mesh more smoothly than in the previous book, the charming Kaitlyn is a much less passive heroine than her mother was, and Ashley neatly wraps up some loose ends to leave her fans satisfied. (Oct.)