Oh my goodness…this series…ELECTRIC.
The Specs
Series Title: Valerie Dearborn Series
Book 1: Love is Darkness (323 pages)
Book 2: Love is Fear (386 pages)
Book 3: Love is Mortal (200 pages)
Author: Caroline Hanson
Publish Date: August 27th 2011
The Blurb
Valerie Dearborn wants a cotton candy life filled with light sweetness, but it’s more like a puffer fish: pointy, unusual, and — if not prepared exactly right — deadly.
In London for graduate school, Val knows she’s finally free. Her father and ex-almost-boyfriend are back in California and she’s out of the Vampire hunting biz for good. Or is she?
She draws the attention of Lucas, a 1600 year old Vampire, and King to his kind. He’s also wicked hot. As golden as Lucifer, and just as tempting, he makes Valerie an offer she can’t refuse — help him find out if the Others (Empaths, Fey and Werewolves) still exist or he’ll stop protecting those she loves.
Lucas tells her that Empaths were a Vampire’s biggest weakness before going extinct hundreds of years ago. While the Fey or a Werewolf might kill a Vampire, an Empath could enslave them, seducing or harming with emotions at will. The one detail he leaves out? Valerie is an Empath.
And after 1600 years of an emotionless existence, Lucas wants Valerie like a recovering alcoholic wants a wine cooler.
Can she keep those she loves alive, stop Lucas from munching on her, survive a fanged revolution and still find a way to have that boring, normal life she’s always wanted? Probably not, but boy is she gonna try!
This is a full length novel and contains adult content.
Love Is Darkness by Caroline Hanson (Goodreads, 2018)
My Review
This series blew me away. When I first read the blurb, I instantly loved the idea of little old Valerie capturing the heart of King Lucas and I knew from reading other vampire books that the kinky scenes were gonna be wild, especially with a vampire KING! It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a book with some supernatural elements to it (especially nothing with Empaths and Fey) so I was intrigued.
In this review, I’ll try to focus mostly on the first book so I don’t drop any major spoilers!
The Juicy Bits
- Caroline’s way of starting the book set 15 years ago and only taking a couple of chapters to catch up to the present day really added some much-needed depth and history to Valerie and Lucas’ characters that really drove home how polar opposite they both are. But as we all know, opposites attract!
- You know a writer is talented when they can have two characters who haven’t even gotten down and dirty, give each other a look and the reader can feel the heat coming out of the pages! Those scenes where they’re both fighting the attraction (maybe more so Valerie…) were skin-tingling and I loved it!
- To build on the last point, when the psychic connection between them comes into play it REALLY kicks the kink up!
- The plot itself throughout all three books was typical with two people having an attraction and then their strength being tested fiercely but the added layers of other dimensions, sneaky plot lines with the Fey and Lucas’ moral dilemma felt very unique.
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The Not So Juicy Bits
- I can’t decide whether I think this is a bad thing or not but when I first started reading, I couldn’t figure out whether I should root for Lucas or Jack. Maybe that’s good writing but I definitely felt more comfortable when I settled on Lucas halfway through the first book.
- Not a hugeee fan that it was revealed in the blurb that she was an empath. There were time’s when I was getting frustrated at Valerie for not figuring it out so I would have preferred to have found out with Valerie.
- I understand the lack of depth between Valerie and Nate in the first book but I would have felt a better connection to Nate if there had been some nicer interactions during the second book.
- Throughout the books, the perspective changed. Sometimes it would be from Jack, Valerie and even Lucas. I love reading how each character reasons and sees the world through their eyes but it felt a little jumbled at times!
SUGAR AND SPICE TIME
(Let’s be honest, this is the best part!)
/5 
/5
Designed by Freepik from Flaticon
So I’ve only given this series a 2/5 sugar because although there were hints of cuteness, I definitely think it was geared more towards the spice which was written beautifully!
Overall Review
I started reading this book sat in front of a TV with a room full of people and I still managed to get hooked. It takes a lot for me to focus on a book if I’ve got excessive noise around me and the fact that I did with this one showed me that I was enjoying it! If I had stopped after reading the first book then I may have felt slightly disappointed so I’m really pleased I carried on through all three books. I adored Lucas’ character; he’s powerful, domineering and cute! The plot twists with the Fey and spin-off with Jack and Rachel really made the story that extra bit interesting. I would recommend this book to someone who has read their fair share of romance novels and is looking for something with a supernatural twist and dark undercurrents throughout!
/5
Designed by Freepik from Flaticon
Have you guys checked out this series yet? If not, get downloading and let me know what you think! I’m currently on the hunt for my next read so if you have any suggestions then leave them in the comments below!
Catch you in the next review,
xo B
Read Astray 