Flora Reviews…
Read: 22nd – 26th February 2015
Re-Read: 8th – 12th October 2017
Format: Kindle
My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars
So what’s this book about?
Night Reigns is book two (approx 394 pages) in Ms Duvall’s popular Immortal Guardians Series (currently 7 novels plus 2 novellas); a paranormal romance tale that I think could sit happily on an urban fantasy shelf due to some of the content, set in our modern human world featuring a new twist on the vampire genre.
Immortals and vampires are both infected with the same virus, which lends them dramatically increased strength, speed, healing capabilities and enhanced senses. Vampires are humans who have been infected, whereas immortals are gifted ones who have been infected. Gifted ones are men and women who were born with extremely advanced DNA that lends them special gifts, such as healing, telepathy, precognition and the like. Vampires rapidly descend into madness when the virus damages their brains but Immortals don’t; their advanced DNA protects them from that aspect of the virus.
I’m unsure whether Night Reigns can really be read as a standalone story; the romance aspect of the tale between Marcus and Ami is concluded by the end of this book in Ms Duvall’s signature HEA style, we meet characters from the previous book and there are references to past adventures, however, Ms Duvall makes sure her new readers aren’t lost; pertinent information is weaved beautiful into this story without slowing the pace. However, I would like to point out that as with most series, you may miss the nuances of experiencing past relationships, plot lines and characters when jumping in cold or reading books out of order plus, as with most series, there are background story arcs that continue into the next book.
If you’ve read any of my reviews before, you’ll know that I don’t post spoilers of any kind or reveal any plot twists in my book reviews, so here’s what the official blurb has to say about the story:
Dianne Duvall portrays a world of temptation, loyalty, and heartbreak. . . a world where danger and desire walk hand in hand. . .
Ami isn’t much for trusting strangers. She has a hard time trusting anyone. But she’s no coward, and she’s no pushover in the protection department either. So when she comes across a mysterious warrior taking on eight deranged vampires on his own, she doesn’t hesitate to save his bacon. Of course, that was before she realized what one little rescue would get her into. . .
Marcus Graden has been an Immortal protector of humanity for eight hundred years, and he’s not interested in backup. From the moment Ami arrives in his life, he can’t deny that she’s strong, smart, and extremely skilled at watching his back. But she’s also destroying his protective solitude and stirring desires he can’t bear to awaken. After all, whatever her secrets–how can she defeat death itself?
“A thrilling and chilling new paranormal series. Fantastic!” —Romantic Times
“These dark, kick-ass guardians can protect me any day!” –Alexandra Ivy
So, what did I like about it?
I have become a definite fan of Ms Duvall’s writing style and find her books very easy to read; she writes intelligent, engaging stories with a collection of well written characters within an imaginative world that mixes fantasy and reality creating a world that I can believe in. The pace of her stories is usually fast and full of action but without being disorienting and I like that she combines a couple of plot lines to run alongside the main romantic adventure. Night Reigns does not disappoint.
My regular followers will know that I enjoy books where the characters are not black or white, good or evil but a multifaceted mix of positive and negative traits and I like to see them grow through embracing or overcoming their challenges; the fact that these supernatural characters have been written with personalities that we can see in those around us – even though most of the characters are mythical, paranormal beings – adds that level of believability to this fantasy tale.
I definitely enjoy a story more if the lead female character is intelligent, resilient and has a good sense of humour that’s similar to my own and I wasn’t disappointed here. Ami was all of these and more. In fact, I liked the way that Ami, Marcus and all of the characters in this story were written, none of them were flat 2-dimensional creations, they all felt very real for me. Oh, and like most Brits I do love a bit of banter – this story has plenty of it! I found myself COL (Chuckling Out Loud) throughout, usually at the banter and quips between the Immortals.
I loved the fact that the mystery/thriller aspect of this story kept me guessing, the action kept me on the edge of my seat, the blossoming romance made me shed a tear as well as put a smile on my face and the passion set my tummy a-tingling. *oooh*
So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?
This well written PNR only missed out on a 5 Star rating because of the ending – the running background story was left as a major cliffhanger that you just can’t leave…. I understand having these sort of story arcs in a trilogy (albeit grudgingly) but I really don’t like being forced to buy the next book in a long series to get closure or answers.
So, basically what I’m saying is…
Didn’t want to stop reading this book!
It had everything that I look for in a great book; intelligent writing style that’s easy to read, main characters with depth of personality that I can like and believe in, depth of character in the supporting cast, believable background story and setting and a balanced mix of relationship and/or romance to action scenes and sex scenes.
Due to the graphic nature of the violence and sex scenes, I would only recommend this book to adults who are not offended by this sort of content, so if you enjoy strong alpha heroes and independent capable heroines, tense often traumatic and brutal confrontations and hot lust/romance scenes then give this a go. It’s certainly left me wanting to read more of the Immortal Guardians series.
So, has my review of NIGHT REIGNS (IMMORTAL GUARDIANS #2) encouraged you to find out more? Just click on any of the links below to check out the book yourself or to find out more about the author. To see the other books I’ve read, take a look at my profile on Goodreads.
See NIGHT REIGNS on Goodreads.com
Buy NIGHT REIGNS through the usual sources, including Amazon.co.uk or through Amazon.com
Visit DIANNE DUVALL‘s own little corner of the web, connect to her on social media via Twitter or Facebook or Goodreads or Pinterest
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