Anytime I get a new vampire book in my hands, I’m giddy with glee. I’m a vamp girl. Jackie assured me I’d love Alexandra Ivy’s Guardian of Eternity series and sent all she had my way. I’ve FINALLY gotten to her first book, When Darkness Comes, and while I can’t say she’s my new favorite author. I did enjoy this book very much.
It’s been a hell of a day for Abby Barlow. In just a few hours, she’s survived an explosion, watched her employer die, had a startling dream, and now she finds herself in a seedy Chicago hotel with the sexy, unearthly Dante, a man she both desires and fears. For 341 years, Dante has stood as guardian to The Chalice, a mortal woman chosen to hold back the darkness. A terrible twist of fate has now made Abby that woman. Three hours ago, Dante would have used all his charms to seduce her. Now she is his to protect. And he will do so until his very death. A terrifying plan has been set in motion, one that will plunge Dante and Abby into an epic battle between good and evil – and a desperate race to save their love…
The characters were interesting, not all that clever in some situations, but not boring. You have a constant state of running away from the bad guys through the entire book. There’s very little planning and trying to have a goal in mind, other than saving Abby, they seem to be running in circles that just so happens to have clues along the way. Maybe it’s me and my needing a plan, but I began asking out loud ‘What are you doing? You need to think this through a bit’. Dante annoyed me with his constant need for sex. Again, maybe it’s me, but it was too much, and I wanted to slap him. You are in the middle of saving a girl’s life, zombies and demons are jumping out at you every few minutes, there’s a crazy wizard lurking out there too and you wanna bang her up against the wall? Seriously dude, take a cold shower and chill. I liked Abby; she’s strong, independent, and spunky. Even though, at times she seemed to forget that she’s a mere human, while Dante is a seasoned vampire, and tries to jump into some dangerous situations to protect him.
Unless I missed it, or it’s in the next book, you never learn a key mystery, who/what killed Selena (the original Chalice). There’s some speculation, which I won’t spoil, but nothing that says ‘here’s the evidence/proof, here’s what happened’. Again I may have missed that part somehow, or the few mentions of where things went wrong near the end of When Darkness Comes was the explanation and I just need more to believe it. There was also a mention of some artifacts, won’t disclose what, that is another issue that never gets cleared up. Dante and Abby find them, they disappear, they think they know what they are and that’s the end of it. I’d like to know what happened, where did they really go, and what were they??? For them to be worried about these items being in the wrong hands, you’d think there’d be more info about them, and what happened to them.
Since each page is basically a new street they are running down with new bad guys on their tail, things go from one thing to another really quickly with very little down time. I was tired, just reading it, LOL. You don’t get the sense of coming to terms easily, or gradually or really having time to grasp what’s going on. It’s a jarring, must accept it and move on ASAP journey. On that token, Abby goes from being turned off, curious about him and his hottness, but not liking Dante and his attitude to being turned on and getting all frisky with him within a day or so. You don’t get a sense of their relationship building and growing, it’s just suddenly there. I like a romance to grow, to build and for you to see them fall in love, not lust. I wish there had been more time for that.
Other than these things, I liked When Darkness Comes. I liked the concept of the Phoenix (the good guy; a goddess, with crazy powers who needs a human host) and how with her existence, the Prince (BAD demon/devil entity) can’t exist in the world. Of course you have to have the Prince’s followers who are on a pursuit to destroy the Phoenix and bring back their master, which is why Dante is the Chalice’s guardian. I really like this, and I’m really excited to see where this story goes.
Read Order:
When Darkness Comes
Embrace The Darkness
Darkness Everlasting
Darkness Revealed
Darkness Unleashed
Beyond The Darkness
Devoured by Darkness
Bound By Darkness
Taken by Darkness (in Yours For Eternity)
Fear The Darkness
