3 Books

I'm on a roll! Three in a row- LOL. Pathetic but true I'm afraid. Byzantium, Dark Celebration & Lover Awakened. Despite two of them being vamipre romances, they were all quite different.

Byzantium is a fictionalized account of St. Aiden. Set in the ancient world empires of the late 9th century, this book is an epic saga of a man of faith who is a monk, a slave, a spy, a friend and at the last- a mature & thoughtful man. I did grow weary of his unending rage at God though. You see, God didn't do what Aiden thought God really ought to do & thus Aiden spends quite a lot of the book railing against God. The potential wife turns him down because Aidan's faith turned to rage & I was very impressed when she ended their engagement because of that. I can always admire a woman of principal. Not until the very end does Aiden finally realize the lessons he was set to learn. I felt as though Lawhead (the author) tacked it on at the last moment. Still, Byzantium was well worth my time & I enjoyed it tremendously.

Dark Celebration is a reunion book. All of the couples from Feehan's previous Carpathian novels & short stories are present. Set over the course of one day & in the Carpathian Mts. the couples have gathered together to celebrate Christmas & the impending birth of another infant. Who turns out to be male. I wonder if Feehan realized the symbolism of a male infant born during Christmastide? Anyhow- this book managed to portray all of the characters in a warm light- even the ones I didn't really like the first time around. I recommend it if you've enjoyed most of the series. Newbies may get lost though.

Lover Awakened. What can one say? I love tormented heroes & this one's a doozy. The heroine too has been through her fair share of shit, but she comes out the other end stronger & wiser, unlike other damaged heroines who can't heal themselves without a man. Er. Sorry. I'll rant later. If you like your vamps strong, the sex hot & a fantastic grovel with a helping of true transformation at the end you'll like this one. It's unnecessary to read them all or in order, although you may end up glomming the other three as soon as you're finished with this one. L.A. reminded me of a Regency I read a while ago where the hero manages to dry himself up to earn the love of his heroine. Can't remember the title or author of this one unfortunately. It was good. Had Rake in the title. Cover was red & the writing was gold & curlicued. I'm a bookseller's nightmare, I swear. :)

Have a wonderful weekend all- much reading & sunshine & good thoughts to all!