Saturday, February 19, 2011

Review + Giveaway of Night Falls Darkly by Kim Lennox






Death is inevitable.
But there are some souls, more wicked and disobedient than most, who defy Death’s claim.
Rebellious souls who must be called to heel.

ARCHER, Lord Black, returns to England at the behest of Queen Victoria to immerse himself in the dark, hellish streets of London’s East End. Among the immortal Shadow Guard, he is the most prolific and cunning of the Reclaimers. He revels in the hunt of his current prey: an ill-mannered, reluctant soul reviled in the daily newspapers as Jack the Ripper. Archer has only one weakness … one distraction … the young woman he spared from death two years before.

ELENA WHITNEY has never wanted for anything — not since coming under the protection of her mysterious and absent guardian, Lord Black, who has gifted her with everything a young woman of quality could ever hope for, including an enviable address, an unlimited income and entrée into the drawing rooms of high society. But now, after nearly two years of indifference, he believes he can sweep into her life and rid himself of her by marrying her off. If he knew anything about her — anything at all — he’d know she had greater aspirations than that.

This is a Paranormal Romance (PNR) that I won through Bookends Literacy Agency’s 12 days of Christmas Contest. This is the first time I’ve read anything of Kim Lennox’s work, though not my first foray into PNR. As such, being a romance there are certain elements that must be in play and leave little room for suspense and true concern for the characters. No matter what, you know Elena and Archer will end up together, survive the bad guy and come out on top. That is the definition of a romance.
BUT, the true test of a writer comes when you can read a formulaic book and still enjoy it. That is what Lennox has done with Night Falls Darkly. The twist at the end, although I suspected it from the beginning was satisfying and I was happy to see that it didn’t all end well. (I’ll say no more as that would spoil things!) This was a great book for a quick read and as it is the first in a series, I think the characters and premise is strong enough to carry through the rest of the books.

Overall, I would give this a 4 star and recommend it to all romance readers, and most readers who love urban fantasy or paranormal period books would really enjoy this.

If you’d like to win my very slightly used copy of Night Falls Darkly, tell me the most memorable romance book/scene in a book you’ve ever read. Remember, memorable doesn’t have to mean your favourite! I'll take comments until Wednesday February 23rd before drawing a winner.

For an extra entry, as always, follow my blog and I’ll throw your name into the bucket twice. Good luck and happy commenting.

5 comments:

Ju Dimello said...

Hey,

My most memorable romance is "Secret Seduction" by Susan Napier ;) since it was the first romantic book I read.

Following you now!

judimello@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I think the most memorable romance scene I can remember is from The Amber Spyglass in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. It's the one where the two protagonists are finally alone together for the last time and, even though it's not a particularly indulgent scene as far as romance writing goes, its poignancy and simplicity has stayed with me from the moment I read it.

Macbella2 said...

My most memorable scene in a novel has to go to the last book in the House of Night series when The Red One (Stevie Rae) stands up for her true love...a Raven Mocker...named Rephaim. It's the ultimate lesson that under any evil, if you look deep enough, one might find good afterall. That one can always choses its path through redemption. For me, that was THE moment in that entire series.

Sheree said...

Gosh, those are such good romantic scenes!

My favorite has my favorite line from "Lord of Scoundrels": "There have been times I've been convinced I didn't marry a female, but an incendiary device."

follower

Shannon said...

I couldn't resist my own challenge :) My favorite romantic scene isn't a scene so much as a series. Jacqueline Carey writes beautiful, poignant love scenes which is amazing as a great deal of them are s&m/bondage type. You forget that though with how she puts it all together.

Sheree- Love that line!

Rebecca- Thanks for entering, of course, this is my way of making a TBR list so I am looking forward to the amber spyglass now :)

Judi and Macabella- Welcome to my blog and thanks for entering. Hope you enjoy what I've got to say on here ;)