This has to be one of the worst books I’ve read, the worst! I don’t even know where to begin.The writing style is horrible and extremely boring; the repetition gets to a point where I know what to expect before I even read it.I will try to state few things that I hated most in a neutral way or it will be just an angry review, even though I am angry I have wasted my time on this book that I had to finish just because I started.-One of many things I hated about this story is how the writer describes the characters, and repeat the same description over and over as if it was the first time she tackle this particular subject. For example she described Aidan eyes the first time and that was an ok description, then later she repeats the same description using the same WORDS again and again almost in every paragraph.-His voice is black velvet OK WE GOT IT it’s a A BLACK VELVET for god’s sake stop saying it in each paragraph and after each sentence said by the male charachter! BLACK DAMNED VELVETTTT. Later on we will encounter yet another velvet other than Aidan’s voice and I will leave that to those who will read the book. -And what with the disturbing breast feeding image you are creating here Ms. Writer? You want to be creative, bring a new idea different than drinking blood from the neck. Well let me tell you this. With vampires, no one can be creative anymore the topic had been tackled from all sides and it’s just silly trying to be creative with it. But feeding from the breast area and creating this disturbing image like a mother is feeding her baby. I have no words to say to that but the writer own words"Shh, Aidan." She put a finger over his mouth. "You have no need to blame yourself. Come to me. Take what you need to do this thing, to get Joshua back." She was slowly pushing aside the silk shirt she wore, her slender arm circling his neck, bringing his head down to her breast."I will hunt. You have need yourself." He clenched his teeth against the hunger beating at him.WHAT?! Really? Seriously what?! Why would you create such scenes and when he feed “FEED” her also from the beast area!!! Sometimes going classic is the way to go. If you don’t have creativity don’t try to create. -I could have skipped chapters and chapters without missing a thing as the plot did not progress an inch since the main male character “Aidan” was thinking and rethinking how he couldn’t believe he finally has his own family and how he could finally feel and see colors.-and then there is the Alexandria and her trauma and her repeated action. She can’t accept this, she needs to return to her normal life, which was horrible by the way, she can’t breath, she needs to stop these feelings for Aidan. All this was repeated in the same way everything else was repeated, consuming most of the book’s pages.- “SO” this dreadful little word at the beginning of almost every adjective, not that there were a variety since the vocabulary were limited to velvet, liquid heat, creamy heat, velvet, velvet, VELVET. add the “SO” before them and you got yourself a so, so velvety heated scene. I promise, the use of the word SO, so many times, so very much, shows a lack of vocabulary so much that you can’t describe something so beautiful or create a scene so intense without using the so. I so hate this so much it can kill me!-Aidan’s muscles, rippling, solid, hard, taut… etc it felt like the writer was writing an adjective, right click, choose a synonym and add the word muscle after. Once or twice you remind us that he is strong and handsome with muscles were more than enough.- predator, say it once describing Aidan’s character it will be cool but repeating it the way it had been repeated in this story shows the writer is disparately trying to tell us her main character is SO cool, SO big with muscles, his eyes are SO golden, and his voice is SO SO SO velvety and he is So scary the predator in him is just beneath the surface. - Oh, let’s not forget the way Aidan walk and talk. He never once in the book walked he ether glide easily towards the kitchen or floated up the stairs. What kind of image can I form with a character that moves like a ghost! - another thing, one of the things I like about reading is that sometimes you can almost hear the character speak, that every character has their own style, their own voice while in this book every one speaks in the exact same way the 800 years old Carpathian Aidan and the young American Alex. They all talk using the same structure, where they not?! Do you not agree?You are not afraid, are you?You caught up with the vampire, didn't you?You’re very dangerous, aren't you?I think I have made my point; all the questions are the same exact structure. All the sentences in conversation could’ve been said by one person. -For some reason this book screamed quantity over quality, as if the writer was trying to reach a certain number of pages regardless what she fills them with. Why? Because one, the repetition mentioned above. And two there weren’t any contractions in that book at all. Every not was spelled, every had been, have been, is not, do not… etc Why would you do that even in a conversation? No one speaks like that. You were trying to write more words, were you not? “Winks”At last if not for spoiling the story I could write it all without missing a thing in one page if I eliminated the repetition and if I used contraction.And I will never buy or read another book by this writer, shame I bought dark magic along with dark gold I thought the idea and concept were good. But with this bad writing I can never read another book like this one. This was my opinion and maybe others won’t feel they were repelled and disturbed by the things I mentioned, and they will enjoy the story.
I loved the first book in the series so much that I was seriously disappointed in this story, most of the problems was a heroine who was TSTD.The heroine is supposed to be an independant American Woman, career minded, dedicated to her family (of one six-year-old brother). But independance is not another another word for stupid. The heroine and her brother are living in poverty. At the opening, the heroine has to attend a job interview at a resturaunt -- at night?-- and the babysitter is too drunk to watch her brother so she leaves him in the care of a homeless man living in a park.A job interview at a resturaunt? At Night? She's not even a bit suspicious that this interview might require physical intimate communication to land the job? Really. TSTD.Leaves her six year old brother in the park, in the dark, at night, even after the homelss guy warns her that bad things are going on, things so bad even the police don't get involved. Really. She should be shot!Then, miracle of miracles, she meets the hero, handsome, caring, willing to provide her and her brother a life well above poverty. (Okay, so he accidentally turned her into something not human, but he's really sorry about it.) Does she try to compromise or negotiate? No. She lives in denial, throws temper tantrums, thinks only of how life as she knows it is over, bla bla bla. Hey TSTD heroine. Free rent. Free food. Free 24/7 sober babysitters. Free designer clothing. Free private school for the little brother. Free car. Only work if you want to. Handsome hero, who doesn't have any romantic attachments, wants you as his lifemate. Go from nothing to everything.How does she respond? She wants her normal life back, wants to be human again, real slow on the uptake that she can't go back to the way things were. What did she have to go back to? If she really loved her brother so much, certainly she could have worked for a compromise instead. She seemed more in love with her independance than her brother. Independance doesn't mean being alone, neading no one, without a safety net, friends or loved ones having a say in our lives. Alpha females are not loners. They are leaders.Yeah, and then there's the problem of her being hunted by vampires. Does she seek the help of the hero who so obviously wants to protect her? (She can read his mind to know he's telling the truth.)No. She demands her independance, leaves the house without protection, puts herself into danger (like running into the sun to prove that he's lying, only to suffer burns, or going dancing at a night club without an escort, or dating a man she thinks of as a shark, or escorting her brother to school, or going to an isolated spot near the ocean to enjoy the view, or...Of course, the hero has to come to her rescue because she's TSTD.However, I did finish reading the story and I'll try one more in the series just in case...
What do You think about Dark Gold (2007)?
I had initially skipped this one and went straight to book 4 (Dark Magic). I'd been wanting to read Gregori's story and Aidan didn't seem all that interesting to me. I'm glad I went back because I ended up really enjoying his story.Aidan was one of the more reasonable of the controlling Carpathian males. He was definitely alpha, but he made an effort to understand where the heroine was coming from. By Carpathian male standards he was practically evolved. He had lived with generations of the same human family for centuries and that kept him a bit more grounded.He found Alexandria when she and her little brother - whom she was raising - were captured by a vampire. Alexandria had psychic powers, which made her attractive to both vampires and Carpathians because psychic human women could be turned. Aidan initially took her for a vampiress since the vampire had been attempting to turn her and had forced two blood exchanges. He was going to kill her when he realized he could see color and she had to be his life mate.The book does follow the usual pattern of the heroine fighting for her independence and refusing to acknowledge her bond with the hero. Which, granted, does get a bit old at times. We all know where it will end up and sometimes I feel this portion gets played too far. However, there were some differences with this book that made it fresh. One being Aidan, who tried hard to take the heroine's trauma into consideration and was wonderful about accepting and protecting her little brother.Alexandria is also one of my favorite heroines in this series. She seemed to have some common sense that I found lacking in some of the previous novels and I just liked her. She was brave and did find herself in trouble a few times, but she wasn't a "foot stomper". She didn't run off into danger just to prove what a strong, smart, independent woman she was. She knew when she was in over her head, especially once she accepted that she wasn't going crazy and this was her new reality. At first, she did get herself into some trouble, partly because she wasn't so sure that Aidan was telling her the truth or that she wasn't hallucinating or becoming psychotic. I think it's reasonable that you'd question your sanity if you were suddenly thrown into this world.I also liked that the fact that all the action/drama did not center around the evil human society of "vampire hunters". The Society didn't make an appearance in this one, which was a nice break. It seems like there is always a sexual sadist somewhere in most of Feehan's books, and the men in the Society seem to be using vampire hunting as a thinly veiled excuse to torture women. Spoilerish - (view spoiler)[ I kept expecting Alexandria's prospective boss to fit that mold and found it refreshing that he was your more run-of-the-mill arrogant rich man who thought he could have whatever he wanted and he - of course - wanted Alex. However, he wasn't a sick freak. He was just arrogant and kind of a douche bag. (hide spoiler)]
—KatieV
Aidan Savage and Alexandria HoutonAidan is one of the strongest Carpathians along with his twin brother Julian savage. Julian savage's story is in Book 5: Dark Challenge. This book is about a rescue that infuriates strong independent Alexandria. The characters come together wonderfully that gives you hope and faith in real life situations. Others say that Christine feehan's books are alike and they are correct. They revolve around different people finding their life-mates but each book is different in its right mind that deserves credit for every individual book. You are introduced to different characters then later on to their children and i find it so fascinating that Mrs Feehan's mind because she is a genius. The Carpathians lives for century's until the dark side takes over if they do not find their life-mate. This book introduces two people that have been lonely and worried for the future that come together and learn to trust and depend on each other. Its a wonderful book. I recommend all should atleast read it once.
—Stephanie
I wanted to clarify my previous poor review.I had too many problems with this book. First, the author immediately throws me out of the story by jumping between Point of Views in the same scene. Second, she never really engages me with any of the characters, because they are the same damn characters from every "Dark" novel -- overprotective "alpha" male and gentle, compassionate woman.Plus, though the women are always portrayed as being independent, they are only independent as much as their male lets them be. *tears hair out*The two characters life-bond pretty early on (how's that for a trope? Instead of, you know, getting to know one another or even going out on a date.) and the rest of the book is waiting for the woman to accept her fate at this guy's lifemate. And, of course, her resistance looks stupid, since he's really rich and takes care of her and her poor orphan brother when before they lived in the slums of San Fransisco. (And, the author had to keep reminding us this was San Fran, since it never FELT like San Fran.)I kept reading in the hopes of a decent sex scene at least. However, that went on to disappoint. I just don't find drinking blood erotic, and I don't find total independence on one's lover appealing. And the inappropriate use of the word "creamy."All in all, a dismal read.
—Epeeblade
