Tempted Champions [School & Library Binding]

Y. Navarro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

Fallen Angels Buffy's shaken to learn that Celina, the new girl in town, is actually a vamp who's heard of Buffy's rep. She's here to challenge the Slayer and even Angel -- in L.A. -- is concerned that this time, Buffy may be in over her head. Celina's not the only monster skulking about the neighborhood. D'Hoffryn has returned to Sunnydale to offer Anya another chance as a vengeance demon. Can she give up her romance with Xander and the friendships she's forged as a mortal for another shot at immortality -- even if it comes with a horrific price tag? Dawn tries to explain to Anya that humanity is worth the occasional heartache, even as she has doubts of her own. Suddenly Buffy learns the terrifying truth about Celina: she's not just any vamp -- she was once a Slayer herself. Buffy has struggled with her own dark side enough to question the subtle distinction between "Slayer" and killer. If Celina turned Buffy, and Willow restored Buffy's soul, could she possibly find love with Angel at last? And, more importantly, would she still be a hero?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• School & Library Binding
• Publisher: San Val (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613633520
• ISBN-13: 978-0613633529
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,346,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born back in the early days when black and white photographs were considered normal instead of artsy. As a child I always thought I'd grow up to be an artist, and I was was convinced I'd spend my life doing line drawings of long, leggy models like the ones in the daily newspapers. Life, however, did not cooperate: a foul-up in grammar school resulted in a transfer to a local high school instead of the technical, arts-heavy one I'd planned to attend.

Following that was a move that really made things start winding around. By the time I returned to Chicago for the second time in 1981, I'd worked as a waitress, a nurse's aide, a bookkeeper and gift shop cashier, an accounting clerk, and a secretary in everything from office furniture stores to a hotel to a journalism society. In 1981 I came back to my old job in a Chicago law firm and settled down in the Windy City for awhile. In 1982 I tried to write because my mother said "You could do this." The seed had still been planted, and I sold my first story in 1984. Since then I've written around a hundred stories, most of which have been or are scheduled to be published.

My first novel, AfterAge, was published in 1993 and was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. In 1995 my second solo novel, deadrush, was published, and it also was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, this time in the category of Superior Achievement in a novel. Final Impact, the third solo novel, was published in 1997, and won both the Chicago Women In Publishing's Award for Excellence in Adult Fiction and the "Unreal Worlds" Award for Best Horror Paperback of 1997 from the Rocky Mountain News. Since then I've published several more solo novels, Red Shadows (a follow-up to Final Impact), DeadTimes, and That's Not My Name, her first suspense novel. That's Not My Name, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Paleo, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Willow Files, Vol. 2 all won at the Illinois State level of the IWPA 2001 Mate E. Palmer Communications contest (two first place and one second place, respectively), plus I somehow swept all three awards of the Short Story category with "Ascension," "Divine Justice," and "Santa Alma." I've also written a number of media tie-in novels, including several Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels, Hellboy, Elektra, and Ultraviolet. Full info about all her books can be found on her website along with a lot of free excerpts.

I moved to my beloved Arizona in 2002 and currently work on historic Fort Huachuca. in southern Arizona. Numerically, I'm up to about twenty novels and one non-fiction book, with those never-ending plans for more. I love heat, Godiva chocolates, and Great Danes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buffy the Slayer vampire, March 11, 2002

By 

Tommy (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tempted Champions (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Mass Market Paperback)

Celina the new vampire in Sunnydale has only one thing in mind,killing Buffy. Celina first trys to get Buffy's address from Anya. And she is not very nice about it. In fact Anya is so shaken up by the encounter, that when D'Hoffryn shows up with a once in a lifetime offer Anya jumps for joy.
At first Buffy doesn't think Celina is so tough even with warings from Angel. Untlil she discover she's a Slayer vampire from 1527. Will Buffy drive a stake though this cold Slayer's heart or will she become the next Slayer vampire? I thought the book didn't really hit the mark of the chacters. They were just a tad off. It had a good concept but the way it turned out was kind of disappointing. However the fight scences were great. And reading a novel set in season five was refreshing. The book wasn't Immortal, or The Book of Fours. But it was a hell of a lot better then Return to Chaos, or Resurrecting Ravana.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new vampire show up in Sunnydale looking for Buffy, March 10, 2002

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tempted Champions (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Mass Market Paperback)

WARNING! WARNING! DO NOT READ THE BOOK DESCRIPTION ABOVE OR THE BACK COVER OF THIS BOOK! YOU WILL REGRET IT. HEED MY WARNING MORTALS OR KNOW A HANDY WICCA WITH A SPELL OF FORGETFULLNESS!

Talk about having a book spoiled. I should have known better, but I looked at the back cover of "Tempted Champions" before I read it and it ended up spoiling my enjoyment of Yvonne Navarro's latest "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novel. Usually I am smart enough to just pick up a book and start reading, but unfortunately this time that was not the case. This is important because not only does Navarro have a first rate twist for the vampire that shows up in town hoping to put the bit on Buffy, but also she saves the revelation for the climax of the novel. If the author has a surprise for the reader when they are more than halfway through the novel, then the people assigned the job of writing the tantalizing description on the back of the book should not give the game away, including the heroine's big dramatic choice at the end. Sheesh.

Ironically, "Tempted Champions," which is set during the LAST part of the show's fifth season (not the beginning as the historical note claims), hit the shelves the same week that we saw the "Hell's Bells" episode from season six. This is ironic because in both D'Hoffryn shows up in Sunnydale and offers Anya a chance to go back to work as a vengeance demon. We might be wondering what sixth season Anya will say but obviously we know what fifth season Anya told her former demon overlord. However, Navarro does an excellent job of having Anya work out her feelings. Anya has been the most problematic character on BtVS; when she first turned human she still had an edge to her, but then she was flunking math and was going with Xander to the prom, and by the time she showed up in that bunny outfit she had become the show's comic relief. Often I find the character overwritten, especially in terms of her preoccupation with sex (I am talking strictly the writing her, I find nothing to fault in Emma Caulfield's captivating performance). However, in "Tempted Champions" Navarro presents a more fully developed characterization of Anya that is a strength of the book, albeit the major subplot.

The main plot involves the mysterious Celina who has arrived in Sunnydale to take down Buffy. Celina has crossed paths with both Angel and Spike in the past, although under different names, but with nearly fatal results for the guys in both instances. What is Celina's secret? Well, hopefully you will discover it when you read the book (and avoid the spoilers), because it makes their final confrontation quite dramatic. As she did with Anya, Navarro manages to crystallize Buffy's thoughts at a critical juncture on some rather heavy subjects. Angel shows up in Sunnydale to help Buffy weather this particular storm and at first I thought it was an unnecessary crossover. But Navarro surprised me by making it integral to the story's climax. She also deals explicitly with one of my biggest concerns for this particuarly story, which is why Celina agreed to be turned into a vampire, obliterating my reservations about the character. "Tempted Champions" is Navarro's finest BtVS novel that compares favorably to "The Lost Slayer" serial novel. I only wish I had been able to fully enjoy it without the specter of that stupid back cover.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book!, March 14, 2002

By 

"crazedgreeneyes" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tempted Champions (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Mass Market Paperback)

Okay to start, not the best written novel, nor the best historical one(Ex-No Glory, Gunn or Angels dealings with Darla or the b/a meeting of forever) but other than that, the plot was interesting, and had very good character anaylis, but reading this right after seeing "Hells Bells" made me cry cause Anya is not with Xander and we have no idea what her answer to D'Hoffryn is as of this moment. If you want to now how Buffy and Angel deprived a girl can get... I got this late Thursday night, read it every spare moment in high school classes on Friday took my 4 hour week re-engerizing nap, and finshed it that night. While the B/A scenes are scarce they're there, I recommend this to you even if you hate the buffy/angel relationship. Had some good scooby/intereaction, and some Buffy introspect, taking a interesting turn on what a vampire slayer vampire might be like, I had after all alaways wondered.