by Dianne Duvall
Series: Immortal Guardians #1
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Source: Purchase
Purchase*: Amazon *affiliate
Heat Level:
In this dazzling, sensual novel, Dianne Duvall beckons readers into a world of vampires, immortals, and humans with extraordinary gifts…where passion can last forever, if you’re willing to pay the price… Once, Sarah Bingham’s biggest challenge was making her students pay attention in class. Now, after rescuing a wounded stranger, she’s landed in the middle of a battle between corrupt vampires and powerful immortals who also need blood to survive. Roland Warbrook is the most compelling man Sarah has ever laid hands on. But his desire for her is mingled with a hunger he can barely control… In his nine centuries of immortal existence, no woman has tempted Roland as much as Sarah. But asking her to love him is impossible—when it means forfeiting the world she’s always known, and the life he would do anything to protect...
Darkness Dawns by Dianne Duvall is the first book in the Immortal Guardians paranormal romantic suspense series. I actually came to this series with Darkness Rises, book four, and have since read five, and six. It was good going back to the beginning. Darkness Dawns was a hot, action-packed story that delivered the perfect escape read.
I know people complain PNR romance is dead, it is predictable and so forth, but since I read a variety of genres, I am not burned out and thoroughly enjoyed Sarah and Roland’s story.
Darkness Dawns is the first book in the series and is very light on the world building. I grasped things quickly but it was weaved into the tale instead of the typical information dumps we find at the beginning of some of these series. Duvall followed a tried and true formula and it worked. Her characters are interesting and I loved the banter and snark between fellow Immortals and the humans who side with them.
Sarah Bingham was a hoot. I love strong, independent, kick-ass, take no shit woman. Sarah fits the bill, but is still sweet, perceptive, and compassionate. She is a music professor, who lives alone in rural North Carolina. Up before the birds she is turnings soil over to create a garden when something moving very fast breaks from the woods and knocks her down. By the time she uprights herself, she dismisses it as hunters chasing a wild animal. As she continues to turn the earth, she hears the hunters and realizes they are about to kill a man. Instead of running to get help, she grabs her shovel and sets out to aid him. Annnd right away I like Sarah. Roland the victim soon finds himself trapped in Sarah’s home and from there our tale unfolds.
I adored Roland from the onset. He is of course gorgeous, and I appreciated the descriptions Sarah gave as she tended his wounds. Roland of course is an Immortal. He is a little anti-social, has trust issues and owns a cat which made him adorkable. He can cook, decorate and has a healing touch. I wanted to bite him. Roland is also a fierce warrior and seeing him in action was riveting. *sighs* The romance is typical of PNR and fast-moving, but Duvall made me feel their connection, the heat and friendship as it developed.
Darkness Dawns focuses on attacks directed at Roland by an unknown predator with an army of minions as well as a few side mysteries that proved to be interesting. I enjoyed the overall arc of the Immortal Guardian series and found thw secondary characters interesting.
Darkness Dawns was a delightful paranormal romance with plenty of suspense, interesting characters and a romance to make your toes curl. The next book is Night Reigns and books three through six are available now. Book seven will release this year.
Read and Excerpt of Chapter One
A strident screech pierced the predawn quiet.
The hair on the back of her neck rising, Sarah Bingham surveyed the meadow around her. The sky had gone from black to charcoal gray, a harbinger of sunrise that did little to alleviate the gloom. In the nine months North Carolina had been her home, she had heard some creepy animal calls, but that one had sounded downright human.
Couldn’t have been. She lived way out in the boonies with no nearby neighbors.
Struggling to shake off her unease, she impaled the soil with a shovel, turned it over, then repeated the process that would ultimately culminate in a vegetable garden. The unseasonable heat she had hoped to avoid by starting early added a glimmer of moisture to her skin as she grappled with the drought-hardened ground.
Oh yeah. A few hours of this and she would definitely collapse into an exhausted slumber. Screw you insomnia! The spring semester was over. Her students were gone. She was going to sleep tonight if it killed her.
Loud snarling, growling sounds abruptly split the air, accompanied by cracks and thumps and the snap of branches.
Starting violently, Sarah gripped the wooden handle of the shovel and stared at the heavy undergrowth in front of her with wide, unblinking eyes.
The foliage began to thrash and sway. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
Oh crap! Weren’t there bears in North Carolina?
Branches and leaves exploded outward as a massive dark form, moving so fast she couldn’t see it clearly, charged toward her.
Too panicked to even scream, she dropped the wooden handle and raised her arms to protect her face, head and neck.
A heavy weight crashed into her left side. Feet flying up, she hit the ground hard on her back two or three yards away. Dry soil and twigs abraded her hands as she threw them out to the sides. Something tore through her right shirtsleeve and cut her elbow. A painful throbbing invaded her ribs.
Rolling onto her stomach, Sarah jerked her head up and looked around wildly in time to see the trees that bisected this end of the meadow envelop . . . whatever had barreled into her.
Quiet settled upon the clearing.
Wincing, she pressed a hand to her aching side and scrambled to her feet.
The growls and thrashing resumed, even louder than before.
Adrenaline surging through her veins, shortening her breath, speeding her pulse, she grabbed the shovel with shaking hands, turned it upside down and held it like a baseball bat.
She didn’t know what that thing was, but if it came back, she was going to knock it six ways from Sunday.
“Where’d they go?” a voice called out breathlessly.
Sarah jumped and glanced at the trees that bordered the meadow on her right.
“That way! Straight ahead! Don’t lose ’em!”
Two figures, mere shadows amidst the dense, dark brush, moved as quickly as they could in the same direction as the . . . thing. Only visible for a brief moment before the trees swallowed them again, they didn’t appear to have noticed her. The long-sleeved green shirt she wore over a black tank top and sweat pants must make her blend into the dim scenery.
The growling ceased. So did the thumps and thrashing.
Sarah took a cautious step backward. Then another.
“Ah man!” the first voice blurted. “I think I’m gonna puke!”
“Don’t be such a wuss.”
What the hell was going on? Had those guys been chasing a bear?
It had to have been a bear, right?
“Aren’t you gonna kill him?” the second voice asked.
“Let the sun finish him,” a new voice, deep and full of malice, sneered.
“What do you want us to do?” the second countered.
“Stay until it’s over,” the third instructed, his words softened by a British accent, “then bring me whatever is left of him.”
Sarah continued to inch toward the wall of greenery that separated the meadow from her backyard, trying not to make any sound that might alert them to her presence.
Who were you supposed to call when you thought someone was torturing wild animals? 911? Animal control?
“Is he gone?” the first voice asked uneasily.
“Yeah,” the second responded.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah-yeah. He’s gone. He’s gone.”
“Dude! That was the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”
“Didn’t I tell ya?”
Wasn’t torturing animals the first step toward becoming a serial killer?
“Hey, what are you doin’?” the first asked.
“Cuttin’ his clothes off.”
Sarah froze, ice filling her veins. His clothes?
“Dude, that’s so gay.”
“I’m not gay, asswipe. I wanna see what the sun’s gonna do to him.”
“Oh. Cool.”
“Get his boots.”
A man? That couldn’t have been a man that had knocked her down. It had been huge, had growled and had crossed the clearing way too fast to have been human.
Yet, it sounded as if their victim was a man, not an animal.
And, apparently, they weren’t through with him.
Spinning around, she took three quick steps, intending to hurry home and call 911.
“Hey, Bobby,” the second said, “you ever stabbed anyone before?”
She halted.
“No.”
“Check this out.”
Thud.
Grunt.
“Dude!”
Crap! Reversing directions, she crossed the clearing as quickly and quietly as she could. Her stinging hands tightened around the shovel handle. Sweat beaded on her skin. The bitter taste of fear invading her mouth, she entered the trees and crept forward.
This is crazy. This is crazy.
She was a music professor, not a police officer!
But it would take too long for the police to arrive. She lived so far from town . . .
“You wanna try it?”
“Won’t they be pissed if we cut him up?”
“Not as long as he’s still breathin’ when the sun hits him. And if he’s not, who cares? How’re they gonna know?”
The trees weren’t as thick here as she had thought. After just a few steps, Sarah stood at the edge (with any luck, still concealed by their branches) and peered anxiously into the next field.
A whiff of rank body odor struck her.
There were three men. One, whose face was hidden from view, lay on the ground on his back, what she could see of him bare. His arms had been pulled away from his sides and appeared to be held down by something she couldn’t glimpse through the tall grasses. Closer to her, his ankles had been lashed together with . . . rope? The weeds obscured them too much to tell. But they, too, were held down, judging by the way his thigh muscles continually flexed and strained.
A blond in faded jeans and a yellow T-shirt straddled the man’s thighs, his back to Sarah. A second with brown hair stood beside him, mostly turned away, gaping down at the naked man.
Though she only caught a quick impression of their faces, Sarah guessed the assailants were around twenty years old.
The blond suddenly raised both hands above his head, his fingers curled around the grip of a pocketknife, then slammed them down.
Thud.
The naked man jerked and grunted with pain.
The brunette yelled, “Dude! Awesome!”
Sickened, terrified, trembling uncontrollably, Sarah stepped out of the trees, skulked forward and swung the shovel.
The blond looked up at his accomplice. “You wanna–”
Thunk.
Yellow Shirt slumped sideways, hit the ground and lay still.
The second man gaped at his friend in stupefaction, then spun toward Sarah . . . just as she swung again.
Thunk.
Right between the eyes.
“Ow!”
Uh oh.
Staggering back a step, he swore profusely, blinked hard several times, then frowned.
Thunk.
That did it. His pale eyes rolled back in his head as he sank bonelessly to the ground.
When Sarah turned her attention to the naked man, her stomach lurched and she thought for a moment she might be sick.
He had indeed been restrained. Thick, rough rope stained with blood bound his ankles and had rubbed his skin raw. A T-shaped metal spike as thick as her thumb had been driven into the ground between them, immobilizing him and cutting deep grooves into his flesh. Identical spikes had been driven through the palm of each hand, pinning his arms to the ground.
It was as if they had wanted to crucify him but, lacking the necessary lumber, had staked him to the ground instead.
“Oh sh**.” The whisper escaped her involuntarily.
If the stakes weren’t enough, two stab wounds marred his abdomen, courtesy of the blond. Deep gashes, weeping copious amounts of blood, scored the man’s muscled arms, chest and legs.
As she fought back nausea, Sarah directed her gaze to his face.
He was perhaps in his mid-thirties and handsome, despite the clenched jaw and lines of pain that bracketed his mouth and eyes. Short, jet black hair. Matching brows. Straight nose. Piercing, dark brown eyes that caught and held hers as she unlocked her stiff limbs and forced herself to move forward.
About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram
The Bibliophile Babe
I may have to check this out! They sound like a fun duo. 🙂
kimbacaffeinate
It was fun, and the books later in the series are soooo good!
Angela Adams
That book cover — oh, la,la!
kimbacaffeinate
Indeed!
Braine Talk Supe
Sarah is a brave girl, if it were me, I would’ve dug myself a shallow grave and hid there until the craziness is over! lol
kimbacaffeinate
Right…I am not sure I would have faced down folks with a shovel.
Lover Of Romance
I love a good romance to make my toes curl!!! Great review.
kimbacaffeinate
Thank you..yes a good toe curl is a fine thing 🙂
Angela
Thank you for the review. This is one series I have on my TBR, but not yet read. It does sound like a good series to try. Maybe some day soon.
kimbacaffeinate
Enjoy Angela, I really like this author and the series 🙂
Bookworm Brandee
I have this on my schedule to read soon, Kimberly, and you have me even more excited about starting it! I like that the info/world building is woven into the story rather via a info dump as is sometimes typical with PNR. I also love the sound of Sarah – a take no shit heroine who is also sweet AND Roland’s adorkable-ness.
kimbacaffeinate
Enjoy. I am glad that I went back to the beginning as the later books are soooo good!
Ksenia
I don’t read a lot of paranormal romance, so I’m not burn out too. This sounds like a perfect read to relax and escape the real world for a couple of hours. I actually prefer books that ease the reader into the world gradually to books with information dumps. Great review, Kim!
kimbacaffeinate
It was fun, sexy and well paced. As you said the perfect escape 🙂
Heidi
I really wanted to read this, but my month just got too crazy. Argh. It is still on my list. I need more humor!
kimbacaffeinate
I feel you Heidi. It seems this month has been determined to keep me from my books.
kindlemom1
I think because I read so many different genres I don’t get burnt out on them either Kim. Glad you were able to pick these up out of order, love them and then go back to the beginning and still like them. This may be one I will need to check out.
kimbacaffeinate
Yeah these work easily as standalone but as you can see -eventually you will go back and read the rest 🙂 Exactly Ali, when I use to read one genre or a series back to back I would burn out for a while, but now I mixed things up enough that I rarely suffer from slumps or burnout.
Leona
I’m reading A Sorceress of His Own and I would’ve thought that Seth’s book would’ve been first.
Your review makes me excited to try more Dianne Duvall books.
kimbacaffeinate
I need to read that one and look forward to your review,
AngelErin
Great review! I have this one on my to-read list. It sounds like a really good paranormal romance. Both Sarah and Roland sound like characters I would love as well. 😀
kimbacaffeinate
Yay, enjoy it Erin 🙂
Sophia Rose
I need to go back for the beginning of this series, too. Ah, they do sound like quite the pair. I liked the in later books.
And I feel the same. I mix it up enough that PNR isn’t stale for me, either.
kimbacaffeinate
I am glad I went back and hope to read book two in April
Tanya
Oh, this sounds really good! I haven’t read any of her books yet and I think I might start with this one!
Quinn's Book Nook
I always eyeroll when people say a certain subgenre is dead. People were saying the same thing about historical romance a few years ago. And yet, people still love them.
I’m not really a big reader of Paranormal Romance, but I have to say this book intrigues me. I think it’s pretty adorable (adorkable) that Roland has a cat. I’m glad you really enjoyed this!
kimbacaffeinate
OMG..Quinn the whole cat thread is hilarious.
Jenny
YEAH!!!! I’m so glad you’ve started this series Kim, I absolutely adore it:) The next book is my favorite, I can’t wait to see what you think:)
kimbacaffeinate
Woot. I am excited for 2 and hope to read it in April. I’ve already read and loved 4, 5 and 6 🙂
Melanie Simmons
I think I’ve tried this one and wasn’t in love with it, but enjoyed it enough. I meant to try book two and never got around to it. I really should go back and try it again. I know that first books are sometimes average and the series can become great. I know what you mean about people saying PNR is dead. I think there are some authors who are just trying to write the “formula” to follow the trend which is now falling off. I still read a lot of PNR that is still very unique and intriguing. Thanks for putting this series back on my radar.
kimbacaffeinate
Glad you still enjoy it, and I can tell you books 4, 5 and 6 were really good. I hope to read 2 in April:)
Barb
This is also a favourite of mine. She has a great style and some wonderful characters.
kimbacaffeinate
Glad you are enjoying the series too, I am hoping to get caught up before the next release
Lorna
This is a favorite series of mine and I think you will find they get even better as you go 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!
kimbacaffeinate
Oh yes..I’ve already read 4, 5 and 6 so I agree!
blodeuedd
I think I have tried it..think
kimbacaffeinate
I hope you do if you didn’t 🙂