George Taylor, new private investigator and former cop, drifts into her orbit. They’re immediately attracted but Zoë knows that, what with her powers acting up now that she is getting to magic age where she gets to make a choice, this would be a very bad time to try any kind of intimacy. George is just looking to make his new business fly. He wants a normal life with a normal girl - and a librarian looks about as normal as they come - but he knows Zoë thinks he’s scum for investigating her co-worker.

I enjoyed this book, although often the plot and characters seemed as out of control as Zoe’s powers. Zoë is always working to save the day, although she is never sure if she can or how she is going to do it. Zoë bounces off thirty story buildings, blows out light bulbs in the height of - umm-sexual ecstasy and has to have a showdown with her evil cousin - the one who is out to overthrow the bureaucratic process the Protectors have embraced in their work of saving mortals. After all, why save mortals anyhow? Why not crush them?

One big difficulty is George. George is a great guy with Protector instincts all his own, but it’s hard for a mortal guy to match up against a superheroine, even one who doesn’t have all her powers under control. While George recognizes this as a problem, the author doesn’t give him much to work with. Zoë saves the day, George is her loyal sidekick. Somehow just having a good body and being able to make a heroine sizzle - literally - in the sack isn’t enough. I don’t enjoy that in heroine and I don’t in a hero. George is macho, but in the story he’s made to look a bit weak. That’s a dangerous thing to do in a romance.

In addition, sometimes the humor isn’t as funny as it was meant to be. Sometimes you wonder what in Hades is going on. There are all kinds of little fun asides that don’t really do anything but are just amusing to think about - Zoe’s brother, for example, has a job as a romance cover model. That doesn’t lead to anything but a chuckle.

So why do I like this novel? Well, it’s different. Very different. And the energy and the ideas are fun and keep going strong through the story. If you don’t like one plot twist there’s always another one coming up soon.

Stay tuned for the sequel. Same Bat time, same bat channel. Or something like that.

--Irene Williams