Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 1-59998-869-0
Fantasy Romance, 2008

Hurricane Omega is coming, people, and it’s a Category Five baby hot on its way to Matagorda. Brita “Breezy” Swift is staying put despite the storm warnings put out by the authorities because she has a personal reason to do so. So is Zeke Masters, her ex-boyfriend who is determined to document the hurricane. In fact, he’s the person Brita is looking for since the Master of Disaster, as he’s called, has a solid reputation of taking good photographs of natural disasters in progress. Zeke doesn’t really understand why Brita wants to stay behind and tag along with him, but he decides that he will let her do so if she will kiss him whenever he asks her to.

I wait for the hurricane to hit them, but oh my, it thoughtfully stays away until the two characters have time for a sex scene. Then the heroine whips out a magic cube related to spooky elementals and the story then turns into a disjointed and rushed paranormal story that comes and goes before I know what has hit me. And then Zeke reveals that he has some special powers, the two make up and have sex some more, and it’s the end.

Maybe if the author has expanded this story to allow a smoother introduction of paranormal elements into her story, Master of Disaster may be a more coherent, if not better, read. As it is, this one feels like a short story that tries too hard to be too many things. I think Ms Aames should have just stuck with her original premise of two ordinary reckless fellows chasing after hurricanes instead of trying too hard to make this one a paranormal romance.