Set in Victorian England, the day to day life of Princess Angelica Shelton Balanov shows glimpses of how a proper lady would spend her time… and also how a intelligent woman can rebel without losing her grace and charm. Angelica’s days take an interesting turn, however, when she discovers that there are others like her who can read minds. The difference between them? The mysterious man she meets is a vampire.

Mina Hepson’s UNDER THE BLOOD RED MOON is a new twist on a vampire story, throwing the stereotypical myths out the window. Prince Alexander, the visiting leader of the Eastern Clan, can walk under the sun and doesn’t appear to need a coffin or native dirt. Visiting London to hunt down a rogue vampire who is breaking the laws by drinking human blood, Alexander’s carefully controlled life is disrupted when he meets Angelica, and finds that she is the first human that he has met who is a mind-reader. Unlike other humans, he cannot easily erase his existence from her mind… so what will happen if she discovers that he is a vampire.

This novel is a wonderful combination of romance and the paranormal, without going to the extreme with either. I finished the last page believing the the characters could actually exist, unseen because they are a “normal” part of our world, hiding their uniqueness behind closed doors and strict laws. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who is burned out by the seemingly sameness of romance novels, and also to those who enjoy a bit of magic in their lives… Mina Hepson brings originality back to fans of both romance and the paranormal.