Darker Than Night Book

The heroes past and his life of tragedy and guilt has shaped him into a gruff and very antisocial immortal. Devoted to his position as ravenmaster and little else, can cares nothing for mortals or anything besides duty and responsibility. So when he's assigned guard duty over the once unconscious but now awake heroine he is furious- furious and frightened that these desires for her will cloud his judgement. Previously, she saved a lot of lives by taking that darkness of the enemy within her and now, he-like the rest of the immortals- question her ability to deal with the consequences. If she a murderer or an innocent? That is not for him to decide, all he needs to do is keep her under strict surveillance until her guilt can be determined. The heroine awakes from her sleep confused and devoid of a lot of her powers and personality. Once she was vain and ruthless, now she is vulnerable and horribly lost in the world. Her brother is gone off his with new wife and her only female friend can not be around her unless the heroine is proven stable. Her only companions are 2 rambunctious raven warriors and their leader. The hero is obviously very put out by his assignment and she hates the fact that she cares about his low opinion of her. He is distant and remote and she struggles to understand why. If only she knew how badly she affected him perhaps her questions would be answered. But despite his intense longing for her, he can't allow himself to become emotionally attached to anyone let alone a woman who could turn out to be his enemy. Their sexual attraction only heats up when she is proven innocent of the crimes she was accused of but while he may surrender his body to her in a heat of passion, he stubbornly remains emotionally vacant. He can't let go of the past and as such, can't allow himself any future. His jealousy towards her attention from other males, her every movement driving him crazy with desire- these things are wearing his calm. He doesn't know how long her can hold out before he is lost.

The rating for this book can be broken down like so. Characterization- including personality, back story and motivations behind behavior? 4 out of 5 stars. I adored the heroes rough and gruff personality which portrayed him as a respected but not warm man. I adored the heroine whose experiences in the previous book shaped her from a character I didn't much like to one I very much liked. She became vulnerable and more human with this weakness. Chemistry? 5 out of 5. The sexual tension between these characters was intense and present from even before the start of this book straight through to the end. Regardless of circumstances, regardless of beliefs on right and wrong, the characters wanted each other so badly that the fire nearly leapt off the pages. Plotline- including story development and intrigue? Sadly this is where the story fell extremely short. 1.5 out of 5. This story was set in an idealic countryside with charming secondary characters and not much else to excite the reader. While the battle raged in London, the author had these characters sitting on their asses basically stewing in their own repressed feelings for each other. It was like having them in a buddle and all the action and adventure happened around them but they were immune. I was horribly confused as well by the jarring scene skips, thinking I had missed a page of something. Over all, I was very unimpressed by the plot and lack of progress to the overall Shadow Guard storyline. While on the flip side, I loved the complicated and tense dance the hero and heroine partook in throughout the book. I was rather disappointed in this book and this this series in general. It seems like the 2 books following the first could not live up to the fire and wow factor. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.