'Blue Diablo' Corine Solomon #1 by Ann AGUIRRE

Received from the publisher

From the BLURB:

Right now, I'm a redhead. I've been blonde and brunette as the situation requires, though an unscheduled colour change usually means relocating in the middle of the night. So far, I'm doing well here. Nobody knows what I'm running from. Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border to Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover and her 'gift' - for Corine is a handler: she can touch something and know its history and sometimes, its future.

Using her ability, she can find the missing - and that's why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance... Chance's uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep. He needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas and the only hope of finding her is through Corine's gift. But their search is going to get dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies - and the blackest of black magic.

‘Blue Diablo’ is the first book in a new series by Ann Aguirre. Aguirre’s ‘Corine Solomon’ breathes life into the Urban Fantasy genre where vampires are the norm and werewolves are old news. Corine Solomon is a ‘handler’ – she touches an object and knows its history. But for every touch, there is a price. Corine feels extreme pain when she uses her ability that also leaves her hands scarred. For years she worked her gift alongside her boyfriend, Chance, who is blessed with ‘luck’. Chance and Corine used their powers to find missing persons, but after their last case went horribly wrong Corine fled the country. When we meet her she is running an antiques store in Mexico... and Chance has just tracked her down after 18 months apart.

Chance wants a favour... he needs Corine’s help in finding his mother, Yi-Min-Chin, who Chance suspects has been kidnapped. Corine is all set to turn Chance down, until she touches Min’s pewter Buddha and knows she is in danger.

Corine and Chance’s investigations lead them to Laredo and Jesse Saldana, a CASPER (crimes against persons unit) cop and a mass of complications (emotional and otherwise) for Corine...

"My hormones gave a little skip as I gave him the once-over: an intriguing mix of long, tall Texan in battered boots, touched with Latin heat. He had legs that stretched forever in jeans faded almost to white, not the kind bought with designer "wear" but Levi's washed till the seams and creases got thin. He'd clipped his badge to his belt in plain sight.
As I checked out the rest of him, I admired shoulders showcased by a rumpled white shirt and a forest green blazer. He had a striped tie stuffed in his right jacket pocket, probably to satisfy the letter of the dress code. Nice face, I decided, if scruffy and unshaven. Frosting the hunk cake was a tousled mess of tawny, sun streaked hair."

I loved this book. It is a breath of fresh air on the fantasy scene and a unique idea amidst a lot of ‘same-same’ supernatural thrillers. ‘Blue Diablo’ is also a ‘whodunnit’ page-turner and generally impossible to put down.

The romance is subtle, but steamy. When we meet them Corine and Chance already have a complicated back story and a lot to work out. It makes for quite a bit of sexual tension and repressed lust between the two. It’s an interesting love story for our heroine to have – rather than starting with ‘boy meets girl’, Corine and Chance’s romance is more what happens after ‘boy loses girl’.
Throw in a charming, flirty cop in the form of Jesse Saldana and things get ‘triangled’ and intensified.

I also loved the fantasy element, particularly Corine’s ‘handler’ abilities. It’s an interesting concept, but as fascinating as the history of things may be Corine’s payback for her gift is even more fascinating. Like the fact that any repressed memories Corine may have can come back at her in full technicolour if she touches a trigger object. Her ‘gift’ makes for a rather fractured character, deep down, and I look forward to reading more in this series and seeing how much damage her abilities can reap.

I love, love, loved this book. I can’t wait for the second instalment ‘Hell Fire’, and third (slated for 2011 release) called ‘Shady Lady’. This is a tantalizing new addition to the ‘urban fantasy’ genre and an absolute must-read for fantasy book addicts!

5/5