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Fear the Darkness by Alexandra Ivy
ORDER A COPY: Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity)
Publisher: Zebra Paranormal
Publishing Date: August 28, 2012
Paperback: 377 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Her Visions Lead Her To Danger. Beautiful Cassandra is a Were, a prophet both vulnerable and defiant, blessed with visions that portend the fate of the world. A rare and delicate creature, Cassie must be protected at all costs. Enter Caine, a powerful cur turned pureblooded Were whose recent tangles with a demon lord have left him in serious need of redemption. Caine is duty-bound to keep Cassie out of danger—and that means resisting his potent urge to seduce her.
And Only He Can Save Her. As Cassie’s mysterious visions lead them in and out of danger, Caine believes he has found his true mate, the woman with whom he is bound for all eternity. Cassie is both charmed and frightened by Caine’s magnetism, and unsure if he—or her feelings for him—can be trusted. But Cassie can’t afford to doubt Cain now. A deadly enemy bent on destruction is closer than they realize—and only they can keep chaos from ruling the world.
This novel features Caine and Cassandra. Caine had started out in this series as a bad-guy. Caine was a cur (a human turned werewolf) and a cur, although stronger than a human with a longer life span, was still a mortal creature. Caine had been told a century ago that he would one day become a pureblood (or born) werewolf, stronger than a mere cur and immortal. Caine has been working toward finding a way to be come pureblood for decades, using whoever or whatever necessary to achieve his goal, even turning to modern science for a way.
As we have been following so far, when Caine finds Cassandra in the caves under the old church, being held by a demon lord (a minion of the Dark Lord), he fights the demon lord to the death and as Caine is dying, he absorbs the energy of a pureblood Were drained by the demon lord. Caine has finally fulfilled the vision and has been reborn as a pureblood, and now he knows why; to protect Cassandra, the missing pureblood sister to Harley, Regin and Darcy. She is also the first true prophet in centuries, and the most sought after being alive.
Now not only do the Weres and the vampires want to find the missing sister, but the Dark Lord is still lurking, trying to break out of his exile from this world. He wants his minions to bring him the prophet so she can prophesize his return to this dimension and his rule of the world.
I have been waiting for the story of Caine and Cassandra for some time now and was very excited to finally get my hands on a copy. I was 100 percent happy with Cassie and Caine’s story, but my only disappointment was that Caine and Cassandra pretty much disappear from their own book about half way through. Then the story focuses on the action between the Dark Lord, his minions and the vampires and Weres trying to find Cassie and Caine and preparing to fight the Dark Lord. So sadly, Caine and Cassandra’s love story ended up being more of a novella within Fear the Darkness.
Just be aware when you pick up your copy of Fear the Darkness that it is more like two novellas combined; one of our H/H Caine and Cassie and the other is an epic battle between our Guardians and the Dark Lord (but not necessarily the end??) . So judging them both, I would give them both 4 stars as both were good stories, I just would have been happier to know at the start that Cassie and Caine got relegated to the background of their own story just when things were getting real good.
Received ARC from Kensington Books. Thank you.
Favorite Scene:
With a frown of concern, Caine reached to cup her cheek in his hand, his warm touch the only anchor to this world. “Cassie?” he prompted.
“I’m sorry,” she said abruptly, her gaze skimming over his lean, finely chiseled features. He truly was a beautiful male with his pale hair shimmering like gold beneath the bright lights and his eyes as brilliant as sapphires. It was no wonder she could smell the desire coming from the numerous women staring at him with hungry eyes. “I haven’t been fair to you.”
His thumb pressed against her lips as he gave a shake of his head. “Don’t.”
She grasped his wrist, tugging his hand from her face. She had to speak now. Who knew how long her brief clarity would last?
“I become…lost in my visions and I have never truly stopped to consider what you’ve sacrificed to keep me safe.” Her fingers absently caressed the skin of his inner wrist, feeling the leap of his pulse at her soft touch. “Without you…”
His eyes darkened with a heat that Cassie felt to the tips of her toes.
“This isn’t necessary,” he growled.
Distantly she could hear the clanging noise of the machines and the deafening buzz of a hundred conversations, but in this moment she was aware of nothing beyond the man standing in front of her and the steady sapphire gaze that a woman could drown in.
“No, let me say this,” she pleaded.
His lips tightened, but he was smarter than the average Were. He knew better than to try and halt a determined female. “Okay.”
“For as long as I can remember I’ve been a prisoner.” She shivered, battling back the grim memory of the past thirty years. “I was not only held hostage by the demon lord, but also my knowledge that I could never survive on my own.”
He didn’t bother to protest. They both knew that she wouldn’t last a day without him. “That’s something you’re never going to have to worry about,” he gruffly promised.
She stepped closer, the sizzling power of his wolf calling to her most primitive instincts. Although she couldn’t shift, her beast still crawled beneath her skin, relishing the delectable male who had earned her trust. Something she would never have believed possible just a few weeks ago.
“If it wasn’t for you I would still be in that cave.”
“Don’t make me into a hero, Cassie,” He scowled. “We both know I started out as the villain of the piece.
Her lips twitched. She might not be worldly, but she knew that Caine was far more comfortable with his bad-boy image. And from what he’d confessed, he deserved the reputation.
But as far as she was concerned, he’d always be her champion.
“If you were a villain, then you wouldn’t be here with me,” she pointed out softly.
Bound by Darkness by Alexandra Ivy
See my interview with Alexandra Ivy to enter to win a copy of Bound by Darkness, courtesy of Kensington Books. Giveaway ends Friday, December 16th. 18 years and older please!
ORDER A COPY: Bound by Darkness
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publishing Date: November 29, 2011
Paperback: 566 pages
Rating: 5 Stars
The Sylvermyst have a reputation as sinister cousins to the fey, and none are more mysterious than Ariyal and his tribe. To save his people from banishment, he sold himself to the evil Morgana. Finally free, he faces a new challenge: Jaelyn, an elite vampire warrior sent to capture him. By rights, he should kill her on sight. Yet he cannot bring himself to hurt her—or to resist her…
Jaelyn is stunningly beautiful, utterly lethal—and always alone. Until Ariyal. From their first encounter, she knows that what’s between them is more dangerous than simple lust. And as they unite to thwart a terrifying prophecy that will mean the end of his clan and of the world they know, she will risk everything to fulfill her destiny by his side…
The Sylvermyst are the dark cousin to the fey and servants of the Dark Lord. When the Dark Lord was banished from this realm, the Sylvermyst were banished with them. But some made a deal with Morgana La Fey to serve her so they would not be banished and would no longer have to serve the Dark Lord.
After centuries of abuse at the hand of Morgana, Ariyal is not about to let his people be mislead into releasing the Dark Lord back into this dimension. He will not bow to another master and he will do anything, including killing the child that the Dark Lord is trying to inhabit, to keep him banished.
Jaelyn is a Hunter and the Commission has hired her to catch the evil Sylvermyst. Although she also wants to stop the Dark Lord from returning, she will not allow Ariyal to kill an innocent child.
Can she go against the Commission and work with Ariyal to stop the Dark Lord without loosing her heart in the bargain?
This was a great addition to the Guardians of Eternity series. Ariyal is one hot, sexy fairy, and the scenes between Ariyal and Jaelyn sizzle. The sylvermyst are an interesting addition to the vampires and weres of this series.
We also spend some time with the vampire, Santiago, who is searching for the Weres Caine and Cassandra (who will be the focus of her next Guardian of Eternity novel). He is working with Nefri, who is an Immortal, to locate them.
Although several of her stories in this series can be read individually, we are now delving into a continuing storyline and I would say that anyone who hasn’t read the Guardians of Eternity series (and you should!) that if you don’t want to start at the beginning that you at least go back to the last book Devoured by Darkness so you don’t feel completely behind in this story.
If you like paranormal romance, you should have Alexandra Ivy’s Guardians of Eternity on your shelves.
Favorite Scene:
“He’s getting away, you know.”
The disembodied voice sliced through the air a mere second before there was a whiff of brimstone and Yannah suddenly appeared directly in front of her.
Jaelyn yelped as the grabbed her shotgun and pointed it at the intruder. Her finger was ready to squeeze the trigger when she belatedly recognized the heart-shaped face and black eyes that shimmered like chips of ebony in the moonlight.
“Dammit.” Jaelyn shoved the gun back into its holster, glaring at the creature, who calmly stroked her hands down the white silk robe. “You scared the bejeezus out of me.”
“Did I?” Yannah blinked with exaggerated innocence. “I thought Hunters were trained to never be caught off guard?”
“I wouldn’t be caught off guard if you walked around like a normal demon,” Jaelyn protested in cold tones, hiding her embarrassment behind a layer of ice. It wasn’t her fault she’d allowed herself to be dangerously distracted, was it? If Ariyal would stop being a pain it the ass then she could concentrate on the important stuff. And he wasn’t the only one to blame. Yannah and her mother Siljar certainly had their share of guilt. “You should wear a bell or something. It’s no polite to just pop in front of people like that.”
Yannah arched her brows. “Well, aren’t you the fussy one?”
“You would be fussy if you were forced to play babysitter to that…” Jaelyn snapped her lips together, words failing her.
“To that delectable, gorgeous, completely edible…”
The words returned in a rush. “Tempermental, stubborn, egotistical Sylvermyst.”
“He’s a man.” Yannah shrugged. “They’re all a pain in the backside.”
Well, wasn’t that the freaking truth?
“Some more than others,” she muttered.
“I suppose so.” Yannah appeared to consider the various flaws of the male sex before heaving a deep sigh. “Still, it’s a pity.”
“What is?”
“You cost me one thousand latinum.”
Jaelyn frowned. Had the demon made an appearance just to mock her?
“Which might make sense if this was Star Trek and we were both Ferengi.”
“I made a bet with my neighbor, but Mother won’t allow me to wager with real money.” She wrinkled her tiny nose. “Besides, Jinns are touchy about their treasures.”
Jinn? Holy crap. Just what neighborhood did this female live in?
She dismissed the inane thought as she concentrated instead on the suspicion she was being led into a trap.
“What were the details of this bet?”
“I said you would have the Sylvermist leashed and properly house-trained by the end of the week. Maric said you would kill him before you ever reach the baby.” She pointed a finger at Jaelyn. “Neither of us thought a mighty Hunter would simply throw in the towel. It’s a grave disappointment, I must say.”
Jaelyn narrowed her gaze. Yep. Definitely a trap.
