The Taming of the Shrew meets Star Trek in Heart of a Peacekeeper, the latest installment in Angela Verdenius’ popular Heart and Soul series.

Head Peacekeeper Desdemona “Des,” AKA “The Demon,” has plenty to keep her busy. There has been a recent outbreak of increased outlaw activity centralized in Des’ settlement on the edges of the Outlaw Sector that seems as an attempt to get her attention. With blown up warehouses, attacks on the Peacekeepers, a mystery super-speed space ship, faulty communications systems, and a murderer on the loose whose modus operandi involves scalping women, Des needs no other distractions.

Enter Simon. Simon is a Daamen Trader known for the loyalty of his men, fairness in his business dealings, and enough charm to make the ladies swoon. When he comes to Tyron on his latest trading excursion, he never expected to fall into the middle of an apparent war between Outlaws and Peacekeepers. Even less did he expect to find his verbal skirmishes with beautiful but foul-tempered Des to be oh-so-appealing.

As activity escalates, it becomes even more obvious that something still more deadly is coming. Simon will do anything to protect the contradictory woman he’s coming to love. There’s a reason Des is known as The Demon and the outlaws haven’t seen anything yet. So why is the leader of the Outlaws, Canute, so determined to possess Des… alive rather than dead?

We have another winner from Angela Verdenius with Heart of a Peacekeeper. From the moment we are dropped into the latest scuffle between peacekeepers and outlaws, readers know they are in for a non-stop wild adventure ride. So many different things are going on at once that every time I thought I was going to get a breather, another whammy is tossed into the mix. Numerous times I found myself wishing I could just drop everything to continue reading and see what would happen next.

As with every Heart and Soul book, the characters are complex and richly developed, full of hopes and fears with plenty of personal struggles to face and overcome. On the surface Des is a bad-mouthed, bad-tempered woman without a lick of sensitivity. In actuality she is a very sensitive woman who hides her softness under a hard exterior. The relationship she has with her beloved lycats proves she has a soft heart, as does her strong relationship with her father. Simon is the good natured trader everyone knows and loves, but hides a dangerous side underneath the friendly nature. This becomes all the more apparent as he falls for Des and sees her in danger. Then he becomes ruthless, sworn to protect his woman at any cost. Then there is the supporting cast who all add different personalities and even more depth to the story.

The tension between Simon and Des is electrifying. Both are passionate people who are more than a little surprised to find how strongly attracted they are to one another. Des doesn’t comprehend that someone like Simon can be so attracted to her and Simon is amazed by the depth of his feelings for her when no other woman has ever made him feel that way. This provides plenty of conflict to because once a Daamen finds his mate his number one priority becomes protecting her at any costs. Des is a strong independent woman who chafes at Simon’s determination to keep her out of danger.

I have never been disappointed with a book by Angela Verdenius and Heart of a Peacekeeper is no exception. She has the technique mastered where you get snips of another plot line running parallel to the main story but you never know what is going on in that second story. You get the appeal of a mystery novel trying to figure out what is happening in secondary plot line and what it has to do with the primary one. Just when Verdenius has the tension ratcheted up as high as it can go, the secret is always revealed and you're amazed you didn’t think of it. And it's always something that seems so obvious after the fact. I LOVE that facet of her books!

© Kelley A. Hartsell, May 2007. All rights reserved.