#Review - Dead Heat by Annabel Chase #Fantasy #Paranormal

Series: Crossroads Queen # 7

Format: Kindle, 302 pages 
Release Date: September 5, 2024
Publisher: Red Palm Press LLC 
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Urban Fantasy

It isn’t easy being the liminal deity of a multirealm crossroads, as Lorelei Clay can attest. There are the typical issues, of course, like a wayward god stumbling into Wild Acres, and then there are the more pressing ones…

Like an incubus who wakes up with a mysterious mark on his chest and a timer on his life.

And the demon with an urgent message for Kane.

And the mysterious flying monsters with vengeance in their hearts that threaten the peace and tranquility of Fairhaven.

And last, but definitely not least, a visit from The Corporation’s latest minion, who might finally make Lorelei an offer she can’t refuse.

Dead Heat is the Seventh installment in author Annabel Chase's Crossroads Queen series. Lorelei is Melinoe, the reborn goddess of nightmares, ghosts, and terror. She had been hiding her goddess powers until she traveled from London to Fairhaven, where she decided to purchase a worn-down castle in a backwater town in Pennsylvania. This is a literal money pit. Fairhaven just happens to have a magical crossroads that leads to many other realms and dimensions. 

After meeting some of the residents of the town, including Demon Prince from Hell Kane Sullivan & Werewolf Alpha Weston Davis, she became the guardian of the gate. She also has the Corporation continually coming after her. The corporation is a group of people putting other God entities into human proxies. The corporation has a warehouse filled with unstoppable weapons, and they are entirely focused now on Lorelei since they now know who she is, and who her parents were. 

There is a lot going on with the Corporation still trying to get Lorelei, and now Hestia and the Furies are trying to get her to accept the throne and rule over the underworld in her parent's continued absence. With more supernatural sightings in Fairhaven, including Anubis, the group decides to come clean with Chief Elena Garcia and her deputy and let them on the secrets. On top of all that, Alessandro, an Incubus, is cursed, so Lorelei goes on a journey to Helheim to retrieve the spirit of a lover of the witch who cursed him in order to free him of his curse before he dies. 

In the midst of all this, the relationship between Lorelei and Kane deepens. In fact, they go on an honest-to-goodness date, knowing that things are going to change quickly for both Kane and Lorelei. As with previous books, the author adds new characters to the mix while continuing to watch others, like ghosts Nana Pratt and Ray Bauer, grow and expand what they are now capable of doing. I especially liked the walk down memory lane as Lorelei meets some really cool characters from her past, which she seemingly has embraced. 

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