March 20, 2006
Rowe carves out her very own niche—call it paranormal romance adventure comedy—with this freewheeling series kickoff. The novel introduces Justine Bennett, the immortal guardian of the Goblet of Eternal Youth (an espresso machine named Mona), and her former bombshell of a roommate, Theresa Nichols, now an 11-foot-tall fire-breathing dragon. They've watched over Mona for 200 years, but now hunky pretzel mogul Derek LaValle is certain that beheading Justine and taking Mona will break the family curse that leaves every LaValle man dead at 31. If Justine fails to protect the Goblet by killing Derek, she'll face the Chamber of Unspeakable Horrors and her mother will be sent to hell as Satan's eternal love slave. Naturally, Derek and Justine fall for each other and start a rocky courtship full of he said–she said and "who tried to kill whom first" arguments. The leads spar winningly, and Rowe's lusty, maudlin Satan is hilarious. The plot gets tangled at times, and a share of the jokes—as well as the adult material—are straight up groaners (including sex-starved Justine fighting off the advances of an army of evil, gorgeous men called Penhas—say it out loud for full effect), but Rowe's wit and imagination make this a strong start for what should be a refreshing series.
Starred review from April 1, 2006
Thanks to a two-century-old curse, for four generations all of the men in Derek LaValle's family have departed this world as soon as they have lived for 31 years, 46 weeks, 4 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, and 5 seconds. Derek's male relatives have been killed by everything from babies to lemonade to pet hamsters, and not only is Derek less than thrilled about his date with Death, he's worried about his twin, Quincy. There is only one way to break the curse--behead the Guardian and steal the Goblet of Eternal Youth--and Derek has only one week left. Justine Bennett has been the Guardian for two hundred years, and she's mighty tired of being celibate in New York City with only the shape-shifting goblet and her best friend, Theresa, who has been turned into a dragon, for company. Rowe's laugh-out-loud paranormal romance has a breakneck plot, delightfully bizarre situations, and the quirkiest of quirky characters: a lovesick Satan, a pretzel-addicted femme fatale dragon, and a goblet that changes into an espresso machine. Magically mirthful!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)