By day, Margrit Knight works as a lawyer for people who cannot afford one. By night, she jogs in Central Park, trying to infuse mystery and danger into her bland life. Her on-again off-again boyfriend, Tony, is a detective on the New York City police force. She lives with her two best friends in a tiny apartment. Life couldn’t be more normal…until she nearly runs into a suspected murderer.

Unbeknownst to Margrit, Alban Korund has shadowed and protected Margrit from harm during her evening jogs for years. It’s against his peoples rules to reveal himself to her, but loneliness and a false murder claim has him turning to the only human he feels can help him—Margrit. Man by night, stone by day, Alban’s one of the last of the Old Races, a gargoyle.

Someone’s murdering women in Central Park and has been for hundreds of years. The latest ones, though, have begun to take on a noticeable resemblance to Margrit. And all of them have a connection to Alban. To save Alban and herself, Margrit’s forced to pit herself against a dragon mobster and über rich vampire businessman. Add a sleek, mysterious vigilante with a soft spot for street kids, a nasty djinn bodyguard, and a single selkie mom in need of help, and Margrit has her hands full.

Of course, there’s a little wiggle room for a tall, blonde, sexy gargoyle…

Heart of Stone is heavy on plot, light on romance, which, given it’s Harlequin’s Luna line, is meant to be. That doesn’t mean the romance reader should pass it by. This story reminded me of the long defunct TV series, Beauty and the Beast. On the series, Katherine was the plucky lawyer who represented the oppressed and Vincent was the half man, half lion who lived in the sewers below New York City. There was always this thick romantic tension between the pair and after every show, you’d be left screaming at the blank screen, “Kiss her already!” This has the same angsty, sexually-frustrated tension to it. There are plenty of unexpected twists to the story and just when you get to its end (and think quite smugly that you have it all figured out), C.E. Murphy throws in a few unexpected punches. Heart of Stone’s plot will capture your imagination but Alban will capture your heart. Hurry out and grab yourself a copy.