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Stephanie Burkhart was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. Wanting a great adventure, she joined the Army when she was 18 and spent 7 years overseas in Germany. She earned a BS in Political Science and left the military in 1997. Now she works for LAPD as a 911 dispatcher. Her favorite football team is the New England Patriots. She's been married over 20 years and has two young children.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
The Secret Door by Stephanie Burkhart takes place in Hungary in the late 1920s. While it is Part 4 of the Budapest Moon Series, this work stands alone and can be read by itself. It's a historical novel that is also a paranormal romance, with plenty of action and adventure thrown into the mix. The main characters are Zoltan Kristos, a werewolf nobleman, and Sophie Varga, the human child of werewolves. We first meet Zoltan as he's fending off an attack by a rival werewolf who is intent on abducting Inna, Zoltan's witch. Zoltan's party is on its way to Zolturn Manor, the ancestral home of the Vargas, Sophie's family when the attack occurs.
Burkhart creates an interesting and plausible mythology for her werewolves, who are able to control their animal natures and recover from the transformation with the aid of herbs and other natural treatments administered by their personal witches--people trained in herbal arts and healing. Zoltan is an intriguing character whose strength and character is well-matched with Sophie--a strong-willed woman who is not afraid to stand up to their foes. Their battles in defense of Zolturn Manor and attempts to overthrow the tyrannical werewolf, Marcus, make this very much an action and adventure work that moves quickly and made the book hard to put down.
The Secret Door is well-researched and brings post-World War I Hungary alive in the reader's imagination. As someone who enjoys werewolf and paranormal literature, I was quite pleased to find an original take on the werewolf mythology and was impressed by the author's choice of location and historical accuracy. The Secret Door is a fun read and is highly recommended.
