Dark Need (Book #3) by Lynn Viehl. © 2006 Signet. ISBN 9780451218663. Paperback. Paranormal Romance. 304 pages. $7.99 US. [ Purchase ]

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From the publisher: “Homicide detective Samantha Brown is a tough, highly decorated cop. But twelve lonely years after she nearly died of a gunshot wound, she aches with a deep inner longing. In pursuit of a deranged killer, her only clue is a medieval cross inscribed “Lucan”-the name of the owner of a new nightclub near the murder scene. Drawn into a seamy underworld, Samantha falls for Lucan-who believes he’s a vampire and Samantha is his reincarnated first love. Now, she must save this mysterious, seductive man who seems beyond redemption if he is to fulfill her deepest, darkest desires.”

Part three of the Darkyn series, and in this book we learn a little more about the war between the Darkyn and the Brethren.  We have repeat appearances from Alex and Michael and Alex’s brother John.  The poor man can’t seem to stop himself from getting in the middle of things…

In this story we also have murder and mayhem which is tied into the hero’s past, if you hated Lucan in previous books you might like him a little better now, since we know WHY he is the way he is.  Again the romance was the shaky bit of the story but I decided after book one not to look at it as the main thing in the book rather a side story that is not really important to the whole scheme of things.  The thing about this story is that from the start you are not sure if Lucan is a good or bad guy.  What is different about this book is that it leaves you with a cliff hanger and you need to have the next book handy to read through.  Another enjoyable part of the series as a whole.

Private Demon (Book #2) by Lynn Viehl. © 2005 Signet. ISBN 9780451217059. Paperback. Paranormal Romance. 304 pages. $7.99 US. [ Purchase ]

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From the publisher: “Night after night, Jema Shaw’s dreams have become a haven for Thierry Durand. But his nocturnal visits have placed her in danger and brought her between two ancient enemies: the Brethren and the Darkyn.”

Jema is a delicate sickly heiress, who works in a museum (and owns it), while Thierry had just been put together by Dr. Keller from If Angels Burn and is not completely sane yet from all the torture and betrayal he suffered.  This is Part two of the Darkyn series.

This book was a delight to read.  The romance between Theirry and Jema was slowly developed, and the suspense and action in the story was nicely done.  We got a continuation from the first story in the series which also helped us get to know the players from that story and how they impacted upon the hero and heroine of this story.

I think the author found her rhythm in this book, she finally settled on this series being a mixture of romance and paranormal with the romance playing a secondary yet influential part in the story.  There are many surprises in the story which always keep you on your toes.  The themes in the first book are developing in the second and the stories are a continuation of each other. Very dark, gritty, modern, but with elements of the past deftly woven into the framework, this story stakes its claim on the vampire paranormal romance, giving us a different kind of vampire lore.

If Angels Burn (Book #1) by Lynn Viehl. © 2005 Signet. ISBN 9780451214775. Paperback. Paranormal Romance. 304 pages. $7.99 US. [ Purchase ]

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This is the first of a series by Lynn Viehl about vampires which she calls Darkyn. Alexandra Keller is a reconstructive plastic surgeon with a practice in Chicago and Michael Cyprien is a millionaire from New Orleans, with a dark secret; he is a Darkyn. The story mainly revolves around the three main characters who are Alexandra, Michael and Alexandra’s brother, John.

I’m going to start with the most unconvincing part of the story which is the romance between Alexandra and Michael. To put it bluntly, there wasn’t one. There are instances where they were attracted to each other and one instance of sex but they went from I don’t like you to I love you in 2 seconds flat which was really not believable. I believe that if the author had a little more time to develop the relationship it would have been easier as it is but the other parts of the story took over. Read the rest of this entry »