Friday, April 5, 2013

[Review] When Darkness Comes by Alexandra Ivy


Title: When Darkness Comes
Author: Alexandra Ivy 
Series: Guardians of Eternity (Book #1)
Published: January 15th, 2007
Publisher: Zebra
Source: I purchased a copy of this book from a local bookstore.
Blurb from Goodreads: It's been a hell of a day for Abby Barlow. In just a few hours, she's survived an explosion, watched her employer die, had a startling dream, and now she finds herself in a seedy Chicago hotel with the sexy, unearthly Dante, a man she both desires and fears. For 341 years, Dante has stood as guardian to The Chalice, a mortal woman chosen to hold back the darkness. A terrible twist of fate has now made Abby that woman. Three hours ago, Dante would have used all his charms to seduce her. Now she is his to protect. And he will do so until his very death. A terrifying plan has been set in motion, one that will plunge Dante and Abby into an epic battle between good and evil - and a desperate race to save their love...






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Review

My thoughts: When Darkness Comes is the first book of the Guardians of Eternity series and it is a Paranormal Romance novel intended for adults. 

I read this book a long time ago, when I was like fifteen. I read it again a year ago, and I still like it, but now I realize it wasn't as amazing as I though at first. There is a LOT going on in this story. It has almost anything you can imagine is related to paranormal. It has vampires, witches, it has some sort of goddess, demons and a lot of other things I've never even heard about before. 

The romance element is a little underdeveloped because everything happens really fast, like there's no time get into much details and getting to know each other with Abby and Dante,  because the mythology on the story takes on a huge portion of the book and the main characters are running non-stop from every single evil creature, since Abby seems to have a neon sign on her forehead saying "Come to get me, I'm the new Chalice", which is suppose to be the weapon against evil, so I guess it makes sense that everyone is out to get her. 

But, even if the romance happens too fast what it lacks in development, excels in passion. Dante is like the guy of every lady's dreams. He's sexy, hot, dangerous, mysterious, protective and even if it doesn't show that much, he's a good men at heart. 

Abby is a little annoying at times, because she's not the kind of female heroines I like the most. She starts off pretty low, I mean... She WON'T stop whining about being an abused child and about not knowing what to do, and just let herself being dragged around by Dante. She gets better after a while, but the real reason that kept me reading that second time was Dante. 

The other thing I really liked about this book, were the secondary characters, like Viper, the vampire and his super-hot bodyguards. They were like a moment of peace in the frenetic run that was the journey of the main couple.

Overall, the writing was good. I had a lot of fun and I laughed out loud several times with the witty dialogue and side comments. 

I would recommend it for: Lovers of an easy-read Paranormal Romance who are not very picky. Adults only because it contains explicit sex scenes. 

Rating: 


Quotes:


“Blood hell, what happened to you?" - Dante
The dark wisard and I had a mild disagreement." -Viper
What sort of disagreement?" -Dante
I thought he should be dead and he disagreed." -Viper”

“Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" she gritted. "The kitchen? The sewers? The fires of hell?” 

“This is a private home."
"And?"
"And I can't enter without an invitation." 
She jerked her head up. "You're kidding me?"
"No."
"You don't live in a crypt and you can't turn into a bat, but you have to have an invitation to enter a house?" Abby hissed.
A reluctant amusement softened the flat eyes. "You wanted me to be vampirish."
"Not when it's inconvenient.” 

“Keeping low to avoid the branches that blocked their paths, they scurried through the dark. Dante with his usual elegant silence and Abby crashing behind him like a bull elephant with a tranquilizer stuck in its butt.” 


About the author (from author's website):


I'm not exactly sure when I fell in love with books. Probably on my mother's knee listening to her read Dr. Seuss to me. I do remember that I was barely old enough to cross the street by myself when I discovered the delights of the local library. Could anything be more wonderful than spending summer days surrounded by stacks of Nancy Drew mysteries? Over the years I fell in love with Victoria Holt, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and J.R.R. Tolkien just to name a few. I read poetry, essays, biographies, and plays. In fact, I read anything I could get my hands on. 
Years later (no, I'm not admitting how many) I'm still an avid reader, and my tastes are still as varied as they were in my youth, which I suppose helps to explain why I enjoy writing regency historicals under the name of Deborah Raleigh, as well as my contemporary paranormals as Alexandra Ivy. For now that is enough to keep me busy, but who knows what the future might hold!
I do have a few other loves in my life besides reading and writing, the most important being my unbelievably patient husband, David, and my two sons, Chance and Alexander. Without their constant support and belief in me, I never could have been able to follow my dreams. They are truly my heroes.



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