Review! Don't Kill the Messenger by Eileen Rendahl

Don't Kill the Messenger
Eileen Rendahl
Berkley Trade 
March 2, 2010
ISBN-10: 0425232565
ISBN-13: 978-0425232569

The first in a fantastic new paranormal series about a messenger from the supernatural underworld. 

Melina Markowitz is a Messenger, a go-between for paranormal forces and supernatural creatures. Problem is, when a girl's a go-between, it's hard not to get caught in the middle...

When ninjas steal an envelope from Melina, her search leads her to a Taoist temple in Old Sacramento, where the priests seem to practice Zen and the art of mayhem. Melina learns from the handsome ER doctor (and vampire) who gave her the envelope that it contained talismans created by the priests to control Chinese vampires, who are attacking gang members to spark a street war.

Although he may look more like a surfer than a cop, Ted Goodnight is dead serious about investigating the surge in gang violence. At every turn he runs into Melina, a very attractive-and very mysterious-young woman. Can Melina enlist his help to battle something he doesn't even believe in without blowing her cover? 

Melina is pretty much a glorified message-girl but instead of being the go-between with lawyers or your every day fighting couples, she's the messenger for the supernatural world. Meaning, when a troll needs to send a special item, he goes to Melina, or a vampire needs a package picked up, you guessed it, it's Melina who gets roped into doing this type of stuff. She deals with werewolves and vampires and all those things that go bump in the night. Melina's job is definitely not easy and when she's jumped by a group of ninjas and the envelope she's supposed to bring to the vampire boss is stolen, she's not exactly happy. Well, I guess a kick in the kidneys will do that to anyone. Throw in the fact that now she has to find the stolen envelope or things are about to get really nasty, and fast. And because it seems like Melina really can't catch a break, now she has a cop sniffing around her business and that's seriously the last thing she needs. 

Ted Goodnight knows something is going on. When random gang violence starts erupting all over Old Sacramento, and a girl fitting Melina's description is suspected to having called 911 anonymously right before they find bodies littering the streets with pieces missing, he knows she's somehow connected to the whole mess. What Ted doesn't know is that Melina is right in the thick of it. Turns out that the envelope the super hot ER Doc, who by the way, also happens to be a vampire, gave her to drop off has talismans created by Taoist priests in it and those are used to control Chinese vampires. It wouldn't seem like a big deal if those same Chinese vampires weren't the ones being used to murder a bunch of gang members. And murder is putting it mildly, more like eat and rip apart.

Melina has to find who's controlling the Chinese vampires and why they're attacking gang members before it's too late and it's her being hunted next. However, Ted is not going away anytime soon and even worse, they might just be developing the hots for each other. Throw in a cranky werewolf, a horny witch, a pissed off vampire, a nosy roommate and two human teenagers and well, Melina's got her work cut out for her.

Don't Kill the Messenger is the debut novel by Eileen Rendahl and I absolutely loved it! Melina's a super awesome heroine. She's kind of stuck with this gig that she can't get out of and trying to make the best of it. Yeah, she can be a bit of a hard ass but she's also really lonely and vulnerable and that makes her a more three-dimensional character who's easily to care about. At first I wasn't so sure about Ted, he was being his very nosy-cop self and I kept thinking that he would just get in the way and be useless but he totally surprised me. I think Melina and him make a very good couple and are able to work well together and let's admit, the sexy scenes are pretty hot but I also wondered about Alex, the vampire, because it seemed like he wouldn't mind getting with Melina. I'm still a bit torn about who to cheer for but thankfully, this is definitely not the last we've seen of Melina and her world.

Rendahl has a really distinctive voice. Her writing's nicely detailed and with a little sarcastic wit thrown in, I felt was great. I think this series has the potential to become awesome and definitely one of my favorites. Don't Kill the Messenger is a fantastic debut that I thoroughly enjoyed and I'm definitely looking forward to Rendahl's next book!

4 Lushies!