Love is Darkness
The Valerie Dearborn Trilogy, Book 1
The Valerie Dearborn Trilogy, Book 1
Caroline
Hanson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Host of the Hills
ISBN: 9781465819901
ASIN: B005JMJ046
Number of pages: 322
Word Count: 90,000
Cover Artist: Phat Puppy Art
Book
Description:
Valerie Dearborn wants a cotton candy life, but
it’s more like a puffer fish: pointy, unusual, and—if not prepared exactly
right—deadly.
In London for graduate school, Val knows she's finally free. Her father and ex-almost-boyfriend are back in California and she's out of the Vampire hunting biz for good. Or is she?
She draws the attention of Lucas, a 1600 year old Vampire, and King to his kind. He’s also wicked hot. As golden as Lucifer, and just as tempting, he makes Valerie an offer she can't refuse— help him find out if the Others (Empaths, Fey and Werewolves) still exist or he'll stop protecting those she loves.
Lucas tells her that Empaths were a Vampire’s biggest weakness before going extinct hundreds of years ago. While the Fey or a Werewolf might kill a Vampire, an Empath could enslave them, seducing or harming with emotions at will. The one detail he leaves out? Valerie is an Empath.
And after 1600 years of an emotionless existence, Lucas wants Valerie like a recovering alcoholic wants a wine cooler.
Can she keep those she loves alive, stop Lucas from munching on her, survive a fanged revolution and still find a way to have that boring, normal life she’s always wanted? Probably not, but boy is she gonna try!
This is a full length novel and contains adult content.
In London for graduate school, Val knows she's finally free. Her father and ex-almost-boyfriend are back in California and she's out of the Vampire hunting biz for good. Or is she?
She draws the attention of Lucas, a 1600 year old Vampire, and King to his kind. He’s also wicked hot. As golden as Lucifer, and just as tempting, he makes Valerie an offer she can't refuse— help him find out if the Others (Empaths, Fey and Werewolves) still exist or he'll stop protecting those she loves.
Lucas tells her that Empaths were a Vampire’s biggest weakness before going extinct hundreds of years ago. While the Fey or a Werewolf might kill a Vampire, an Empath could enslave them, seducing or harming with emotions at will. The one detail he leaves out? Valerie is an Empath.
And after 1600 years of an emotionless existence, Lucas wants Valerie like a recovering alcoholic wants a wine cooler.
Can she keep those she loves alive, stop Lucas from munching on her, survive a fanged revolution and still find a way to have that boring, normal life she’s always wanted? Probably not, but boy is she gonna try!
This is a full length novel and contains adult content.
Excerpt:
Decision
made, Lucas grabbed Roberto, biting into his neck before Roberto could defend
himself. Blood coursed into him with a hot rush. The taste was bitter because
it came from another vampire, but underneath that was a faint sweetness and
spice that infected him.
Just a taste and then I’ll
stop.
He
knew that for a lie. He’d stop only when the blood finished riding him.
Lucas
drank furiously, like he’d just emerged from the desert, some unknown amount of
time passing before he became aware of himself and his surroundings. Gathering
himself, he forced himself to slow his drinking, feeling a physical pain as he
released fangs from flesh.
He
threw Roberto from him and Roberto scrambled away, his hand at his neck,
holding the torn flesh together.
Lucas
paced away from Roberto, hand over his mouth. What am I doing? His hand was frozen, blood coating his lips and
now his fingers. He wanted to lick his lips, suck his fingers clean, go back to
Roberto and find more. What a mistake.
His
hand trembled, in moments he'd be overwhelmed.
His
whole body pulsed in time to his heart, the blood snaking through him, leaving
each nerve, blood vessel and cell altered and waiting for the magic to strike.
He
was a rod in a lightning storm.
Was
there even time to dispose of Roberto before he succumbed to the blood? He had
to kill him, couldn't risk anyone finding out about the daughter.
The daughter.
Swiftly,
he went back to Roberto, circling behind the crying man, hiding death for a few
moments longer. With one solid blow his fist punched through Roberto’s back and
into his chest, gripped the man’s heart in his hand and tugged it free, Roberto
dissolving into ash.
Lucas
felt caged, the need to move, run, cry, laugh and hurt all vying in him for
control.
No.
He
could control himself. After almost two thousand years he was his own master.
He was the oldest and the strongest. Lucas was his own law.
His
hands clenched.
Emotion
touched him like a cattle prod and he fell to his knees, dead heart pounding in
a staccato rhythm. His hand rose to his chest like he could catch the sharp
pain knifing from his heart outwards.
Then
it was gone. For just a second he thought that was it, that over the last four
hundred years he’d become so deadened and powerful that the magic touched him,
sputtered and died.
Then
there was a pulse.
It’s not over.
A
small kiss of sensation that was almost visible, like heat shimmering off
asphalt, tickled down his spine.
This was a fatal mistake.
Emotion
crashed over him. Feelings of joy filling him until he wanted to laugh like
Roberto had, laugh like he was happy, carefree and mortal. But he couldn't
remember how to laugh, a rough sound erupting from him instead.
The
feeling changed, became a heavy pulse that left a deep throb in his sex. He was
suddenly hard, full to bursting, aching painfully. Desire gripped him and he
began to tremble in his need to—
No.
But
the blood twisted through him, invaded every cell and molecule of his being,
urging him onwards.
He'd
forgotten this power. The tide of emotion that even a small amount of blood had
upon him.
He'd
known and forgotten.
Lucas
remembered being a man, the pleasure taken and given. He could almost smell
feminine heat around him, what it was like to feel a woman's thighs lock around
his head in pleasure. The whimpering cries as he kissed her deeply. Once he'd
become a vampire, sensations and feelings had become muted, but not now. Now he
felt human again.
Desire
became a fire within him, consumed him so that he was nothing but need. He fell
to his knees, staring at his fisted hands. He swore, surprised to find his own
hand gripping his cock. His hips rose jerkily, body demanding release even as
his mind resisted.
And
lost.
His
whole body seized, feelings of pleasure twisting within him, the power
rebounding. He shouldn't fight it, he knew that, but it went against his nature
to give in, and so he tried to hold out against the blood's call.
His
breath sawed out of him as he remembered the blood's rich sweetness. He
squeezed himself reflexively, the memory of flavor flashing through his mind
and then his body.
Like
a landslide, the orgasm swept through him, his mental shields collapsing and he
felt the heavy spasm of his cock as he came. He breathed heavily, unable to
move as the aftershocks of pleasure gripped and released him.
An empath.
Stumbling
to his feet, Lucas went to his rooms, discarding his clothes haphazardly on his
way to the shower.
His
mind raced and he remembered the world as it had been centuries ago. An uneasy
balance of vampires, witches, werewolves, empaths and Fey. For centuries there
had only been vampires, the Others gone. But an empath had escaped. Maybe the
vampires were not as alone as he’d thought. Maybe the Others were scattered or
hiding. What if they could come back? Restore a balance to the world and keep
vampires under control. Could he find them? Did he want to?
The
thought was… intriguing.
And
then he remembered the dead empath had a daughter.
Interesting.
MY THOUGHTS
Valerie
Dearborn, as a child, witnesses her mother’s death in the hands of a vampire.
Since then, she is reluctantly dragged into her father’s vengeance. When she is
accepted to a college, Valerie sees a chance at living on her own, away from
her father and his vampire endeavor as well as Jack, her love interest. But
even running away seems impossible when she finds herself confronted by Lucas,
who is a vampire and soon gets entangled in a seductive romance with him, while
still reeling from her feelings for Jack.
I found this
book very hard to understand because most of the time, I didn’t feel any
connection to the story. I felt I was somewhat of a reading-robot. I’m not
saying that this book is bad either because I could definitely see the potential;
this book possesses different premise than other vampire fiction had offered. What
I didn’t particularly like was the confusing main female character that is
Valerie herself. I didn’t like her, honestly speaking, and thought she was
probably the shallowest female character I have encountered so far and I didn’t
understand her intense relationship with Lucas, her desire and longing to have
Lucas bed her. And did I like Lucas, as well? Hell, no. I liked Jack though and
felt terribly sorry for him. I’m so tired with love-triangle.
On a
brighter note, I loved the globe-trotting adventure, from USA to England and
Italy, instead of focusing on only one setting because it made the whole vampire
affairs sounded realistic. And also the
fact that the story became intense toward the end, that made me wanted to read more
of this trilogy. Perhaps, I will grow to like Valerie and perhaps Lucas in the
second book. We’ll see. Overall, the first book wasn’t perfect, but hopefully the
trilogy redeem itself in the second and third.
Feeling
cheated:
I guess I’m going to reread to book before moving on to the second.
Feeling
treated:
I adore the cover, it serves this book well.
Rating:
3
stars out of 5!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caroline Hanson grew
up in California and moved to London in order to dance and go to pubs.
Adulthood ensued and she returned to California, bringing back her very own
Englishman. After becoming an attorney she had two children and now tries to parent, read, write and play tennis. She's heard rumors that other mothers clean and cook but is trying valiantly to keep those rumors from reaching her family.
Caroline grew up listening to Brit pop and reading about vampires. As a teenager her favorite authors were Anne Rice and Jude Deveraux. Now she loves Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Laura Kinsale, Lisa Kleypas, Loretta Chase, Nalini Singh and JR Ward--that's the short list.
In terms of TV she's big into Game of Thrones, anything by Mr. Whedon, Ms. Plec or Ms. Rhimes because she likes a love story-- the more messed up and disastrous the better!
Her books have been on various Bestseller lists and she loves to hear from fans so long as they understand that Lucas is not real, she can't hook them up, and he CERTAINLY isn't chained to her bed.
Website: http://carolinehanson.blogspot.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/carolinehanson
Twitter:
Caroline_Hanson
