Dark Storm (A Carpathian Novel)

WHAT THE HECK is wrong with some people? Man alive alivin...Christine Feehan is back with a vengeance! I will admit I was not impressed with "Dark Predator". that said I loved this book "Dark Storm". The story had me riveted from the beginning. She certainly knows how to weave a spell over her readers. Lord have Mercy I can not imagine why she should have waited 6 more months to put this book out as others have suggested. Starting with page one you are pulled into the story, as if you are there with the characters of the book. I found Riley and her mother to be so real in my imagination as I read along; Just as I have felt with other characters in her other books. I loved having Gary and Jubal in the book too. Loved the part they played. It made me feel just how important they are to the Carpathian world and their lives. Reading this book made me feel as though you live and breathe with most all of the characters in this book as I have with other books written by Christine Feehan. It was so difficult to put the book down to go to sleep. I was so drawn into the book. I did not feel that in the previous book "Dark Predator" as I did in all the previous books. However; in this book Christine Feehan pulled me right in. I love the way she writes, with feeling and how she makes the reader feel what the characters feel. It is an amazing talent and I for one am grateful she has it. I myself do not have that talent and would never presume to criticize her in the manner others have because she has not written a book about characters they want her to. I do not know what prompts a writer to write about certain characters but what ever it is for Christine Feehan it sure does work for her! How anyone can tell an author she has to write a story about a particular character is beyond me...whether or not we have heard of the character she writes about in a current book or not also does not matter at this time... somehow, someway, someday, when the time is right we will know just why and how those characters fit in the overall scheme of things. Until then I don't know about you but I intend to continue to read and enjoy Christine Feehan's books and will pray she can continue in good health so she can continue to write that which I love to read! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, CHRISTINE FEEHAN for this Amazing book that I so thoroughly enjoyed reading. May Heavenly Father Bless you and yours with all that you stand in need of.

Fantastic, exciting, kept me on the edge so I loved it very much.

I did something rather unusual with this book, I waited over a week to read it AND I read other reviews on it first. Now that may not seem like a big deal to you but it is highly irregular for me. That being said, this review will reflect those concepts and will have include some questions that come to mind.. some might consider those questions spoilers.. *grins* ok, disclaimer done. Dark Storm is the 23rd in Christine Feehan's Dark Series.. or as I like to call it her Carpathian Series. In many ways it reads as a stand alone and can easily be read without ever having read another book in the series and without ever reading one again. That being said it also touches on aspects of the series that have been on the fringes.. bringing them more into the forefront. A necessary evil if Christine is to take this series further. Sure we could spend all of our time with Mikhail and his buds.. but that is not how this particular series has been engineered. I know many people find the lack of continuity for better word, disconcerting but I find they are missing the point. I will come back to this, later in the review. Riley Parker and her mother are on their regular visit to the rain forest. Every five years they have made this trek to return to the place of their births. But this year, things are off. First off they are a bit later than normal and everything seems to be collapsing around them. Annabel, Riley's mother is suffering from the loss of her spouse. In Riley's family, they marry for life.. when the spouse dies it seems like the light completely leaves the remaining spouse and they follow soon after. Annabel has chosen to hang on as best she can so she can make it to the rain forest. She is gifted woman with an affinity to plants.. It seems they all but grow where she walks, and create trails for her in even the most dense of underbrush. This year though, it seems like nature is trailing her, her gift seems to be departing from her and evil stalks her. Riley is desperate to protect her mother and doesn't understand why she is such a hurry to reach their destination. Added to that, this time it seems their regular tour guide was unavailable and they end up traveling with three other groups. One of which consists of some pretty horrid men.. just skeevy. Honestly, I am not sure why they were included in this book.. other than to point out that both Annabel and Riley are beautiful and desirable women but they wasted space in this book as far as I am concerned. Annabel knows that Riley must learn the secrets of their people and tries to warn her of what is happening.. Danutdaxton (and I thought Shaughnessey Steenburgen was cruel), Dax is an ancient. Trapped in the bowels of the volcano with an unimaginable evil. A Carpathian who not only denied his mate, his chance at redemption but attempted to destroy her, Mitro Daratrazanoff. Centuries have passed since they have been trapped and still neither can kill the other. Over time each has evolved into something "more" than Carpathian/Vampire. They have acquired new talents, skills, gifts and in a rather symbiotic way have evolved together. The earth has chosen Dax and offers him a chance to absorb more power if he chooses, something we discover later that he really must do, all he has to do is absorb the soul of an ancient dragon. As Riley travels towards the ruins of the Cloud People, the place of her birth.. Dax fights with Mitro trying to kill him before he escapes the prison that has been created for him. The barriers grow ever weaker. Conveniently enough two of the men that Riley and Annabela have been forced to travel with are Jubal Saunders and Gary Jansen.. they are on a hunt for a flower that the Carpathians have long thought extinct, something that might be beneficial to their people. It was good to see Gary and Jubal without all the drama surrounding them, aka Gabby. We see in Gary the man Savannah and Gregori, befriended. The man who would willingly fight for what is right even at his own expense but years have passed since that fateful meeting and Gary has grown. This was a wonderful portrayal of Gary and those of you who wish to off Gary, this might just change your mind. Jubal, also comes off extremely well. Seriously, I would so jump this man's bones if I had the chance. He is strong, commanding, a presence.. his Jaguar lineage shines through over and over again. When Riley and Dax finally meet, each has suffered serious feelings of failure.. each feels that they could have done more and each has a strong need to defend and protect those around them. A strong connection is formed instantly on both sides. None of this wishy washy crap we have seen from some of Christine's other heroines.. nope, these two get it. Even if Riley is human.. she recognizes the bond and the attraction and she accepts it!! As they progress together to fight Mitro, we see insecurities arise.. which I would think would be normal. But together they battle, the insecurities, the traps set before them, the gruesome murders and yes Dax's complete and utter incomprehension of modern society. It was a good story and I completely enjoyed it! Now back to the beginning.. throughout the Dark Series, Christine has brought in totally unrelated characters that become integral to the over all story arc. Usually out of the blue and we have no idea who these people are. For example: Gabriel.. when he showed up in Paris, we had no idea who he was. Oh Julian mentioned two great Carpathians/Vampires in a story he told but we didn't see them as integral characters (and no names were mentioned).. and yet over time their importance has shown. Falcon.. I know he showed up in a novella but still he really was a no one and yet as time and the storyline have continued his importance shows through. If for no other reason, he brought those children in. Traian.. yes Joie had been mentioned in Dark Symphony but as a body guard and we still had no clue who these people were and yet.. the Saunders family is an integral part of the storyline. Nicholae.. seriously? Who was this guy came out of nowhere.. and yet without Nicholae.. there would be no Vikernoff *sigh* Riordan.. I tend to say Rafael I forget that Riordan actually came first but either way had anyone heard of the De La Cruz family until now? Nope, they were brought in to intertwine with the arc. A story arc within the main arc. I don't Mention Dominic because we did meet him in Dark Symphony and by they time he shows up we have met Dragonseekers and are pretty much expecting him.. And the troubadours.. well, we meet them through Julian, whom we do have a passing acquaintance with. Christine has a history of bringing in seemingly unrelated characters and showing us how they fit in the big picture later on. Sometimes WAY later. While we didn't see the characters we love the most. We do get to spend some time with Riordan and Juliette, see a tease of maybe a future book in a maybe romance between a couple of secondary characters that are not named Gabby and Gary AND find out some more secrets about that dwindling baby pool. Now for my questions.. and yes I consider these spoilers so don't read further if you don't want to know If the De La Cruzes are so spectacular and powerful, how is it they were not on top of this? How did they not know that a great evil was resting right there in their back yard? How can Riley be a descendant of Arabejeli? I thought Carpathians could only have children with their mates? How is Mitro related to the other Dara's is he a brother, uncle, second cousin twice removed..? What happens if the wife dies first? (in Riley's family) does the male spouse also die immediately? Or is the lineage sorta kinda immortal, being that they remain young until their spouse dies then sorta whither and die? Does that mean if they didn't marry they wouldn't die? and does the lineage always have daughters? As usual, Christine made me think, seriously think.. no matter if I like one of her books or not (and yes there are at least two of the Dark books that I really didn't like) they have information in them that gets my attention and makes me think about the overall arc. Well done. I was convinced, after reading the reviews that I was going to not like this book.. I have been disappointed in the last two. Maybe because I wasn't expecting anything all that spectacular, I find I really enjoyed it. It is a wonderful transition book and I can't wait to see where they are going next. Shauni

First let me say I don't understand the 1 and 2 star ratings, this is a very good story an a bit different than the other Dark series books, which makes it totally interesting. Sometime I think other authors send their devout minions to do harm to other better selling authors. I have seen this pattern for a few years now and It's just not right!! I loved Riley she is a descendant of Arabejila the "Flower Lady" as some refer to her from previous Dark series books. Christine Feehan has given us and intelligent young women, who has eminence powers of her own. She is not a warrior'hunter like Natalya Ivory and Destiny' but she could be with the power she wills. Riley is very feminine and makes a great Lifemate to Danutdaxton "Dax", the Carpathian hunter who has voluntarily imprisoned himself to trap Mitro the most vile powerful vampire so far in the Dark series. They have be imprisoned their for centuries inside a volcano. The story is fast paced the battle scene between Dax and Mitro are amazing. I couldn't believe Mitro's family linage you will be shocked when you find out who's family he is from, but it does explain why he was the most powerful vampire so far. The love scenes are not as many, but are just as scorching HOT AND SEXY!! Dax is the oldest Carpathian alive and he can do amazing things, He is so deserving of Riley. They are my all time new perfect couple. We also, get to visit old friends the De La Cruz family. The story has a bit of humor to it. Making it not so depressing as PR sometimes can be. I really liked that Gary Jensen and Jubal Sanders were main characters in the book. They lived up to what we have come to expect of them, as being human companions to the Carpathian people. THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ!! and like I said I really don't get the 1 an 2 stars for this book and I always respect others opinion, but I had to speck out this time and say they must have had other motives. I will say one thing that I agree with it is time to bring the series to an honorable happy close!!! VERY WELL DONE CHRISTINE!!!

Love my reading

Dark Storm is about two new characters that come together on amazing journey though the Rainforest that once belong to Inca's. Riley is a deceandent of the cloud peopl and a powerful Carpathian women who was a true daughter of the earth. Dax was called the Judge of Carpathian's many years ago he traveled far to hunt an evil vampire Mirto. This story will keep you on the edge of your seat. Its a great addition to the Dark Series and characters. I personally think Riley is a lost relative of Sybill. Hopefully we will see Dax and Riley in future books. Happy Reading 📚

Another favorite of mine. I really didn’t have any problems with it, not how long it took them to meet, her reaction to him, how long it took for them to kill the vampire or how long it took for the conversion. I will admit that the cover is a little busy but it is beautiful nonetheless. The writing in this book was excellent, I could picture everything the author described, and I will say that some of it was gory. This vampire isn’t like any of the others that I’ve read about so far and if he had teamed up with the remaining Malinov brothers? They might be unbeatable. Of course, this was a vampire from a very well known and powerful line and when I first read this, I was shocked when his name came up. I guess I didn’t really pay attention to the blurb when I first read it because it’s pretty obvious without mentioning the name that he’s a Daratrzanoff. This vampire was very cunning and I loved the way he was written, instead of using the same old tricks that the readers have become used too, it’s a whole different game here. I loved the way the couple was, her reaction upon meeting him and how sweet he was, I was very happy with these two and how their relationship progressed. I wonder if Riley is from Syndil’s bloodline, it isn’t exactly covered in the books so far but since she isn’t Dragonseeker, it makes sense. And what’s going on with Jubal and Jasmine? Maybe there’s a book in the distant future? I’m not really sure how I feel about those two, Jasmine hasn’t really been in many books so I’m not as connected with her as I am with Jubal. And even though she’s quite pregnant, it’s only been months since her ordeal with the jaguar men, wouldn’t she still be wary around other men now? All-in-all, I really loved this book and I would really love to see Dax and Riley again in another book, see how he’s getting along in modern society.

The print quality is fantastic. Exactly how I remember it as a kid. Mass-produced books have actually always been a favorite of mine. The way the pages smell, the soft fluttering of the pages as you fan through them, or just turning each page, really makes you feel that cozying up with a book vibe that we readers crave. Definitely a good quality to add to the shelves. Especially for those of us with a TBR taller than we are. Beautifully priced and excellently crafted.

All her books are amazing, especially her Dark Series. See just gets better and better. Wish Carpathians actually existed, every woman deserve their lifemate.

When I ordered this book I was wondering how I would cope with the new characters, I must admit I was a little shy of starting to read the book when it arrived, but having waited a while after ordering I just dove in. What a surprise I loved the characters, loved the story and thoroughly enjoyed the book. I had been disappointed in the previous book Dark Predator, but Christine Feehan has done much better with this book, and I hope we keep in contact with Dax and Riley in future books. Reinstated my faith in the Carpathian adventures. I would recommend this book to all Feehan fans very strongly.

Christine Feehan hat einen sehr guten Schreibstil. Die Geschichten sind spannend, die Hauptfiguren haben immer sehr ausgeprägte Persönlichkeiten, auch die Frauen. Nebst spannender Geschichten kommt auch die Romantik nicht zu kurz. Es sind sicher eindeutig Frauenromane. Ich lese immer vorab die Englische Version weil es lange geht bis die Deutsche Uebersetzung kommt - Vorteil: das Englisch wird verbessert

I love these stories , told with the love , adventure and hero saving the day. Great thanks for the ability to make me let go of the real world and to just dream

Having been a great fan of Ms. Feehan for many years, each new story never fails to excite and delight me. Thankyou for a few moments of leisure during these horrible covid days.