REVIEW: Night Falls Darkly

Kim Lenox
Night Falls Darkly (Shadow Guard #1)
Signet Eclipse
ISBN-10: 0451225376
ISBN-13: 9780451225375
Paranormal romance
October 7, 2008

Based on Advanced Reading/Review Copy

Elena Whitney has a most inconvenient problem – a lost memory. While she yearns to remember her past, she cannot deny she is well taken care of by her mysterious guardian, Archer, Lord Black. Though they’ve never met, she wants for nothing. Her duties at a charity hospital in Whitechapel, London’s poverty-stricken district, do well enough to complete her days and she looks forward to a possible career in medicine. But when Lord Black returns to London, the life she planned may not be as in reach as she thought.

Archer must return to London to put an end to the killings of a madman, none other than Jack the Ripper himself. The Ripper has met his match too in the ancient and powerful warrior, who has come at the queen’s behest. Archer didn’t, however, plan on dealing with a willful and beautiful young ward…one he didn’t expect to be in residence. He was only supposed to help her that terrible night long ago, not set her up in his home. He became too attached to her when he intervened on her behalf years ago, and he cannot resist the allure he saw then and still sees now. As The Ripper grows more powerful, Archer’s choices become slimmer, till he will have to choose between Elena or the safety of a higher realm.

I stumbled on this book through the author’s MySpace page. It was actually her great PR photo that led me to her, and then the striking cover caught my eye. I really lucked out in that it was a paranormal romance! Plenty of folks cringe at the mere sound of it rolling off the tongue. Me, I love to feel it spring off, joyously proclaiming itself as a paranormal romance and ready to join the vast array of PNR choices. I contacted the author, who turned out to be someone I had conversed with online before and I was simply delighted to see her writing again. The premise intrigued me and I was hooked.

I’ll say right off that I enjoyed everything about this book, with a few exceptions that may have to do more with this being the first book in a new series. Pretty much though, yep, I loved it. Initial impressions of characters, before even getting the book and based on the book’s blurb and excerpt were a strong, determined heroine, and an alpha, self-assured hero. I think those initial impressions were right, although Archer didn’t come off as too alpha. I think he displayed the qualities I like best in an alpha character: strong, determined, goes after what he wants, but he doesn’t do so at the heroine’s expense. No, he was still very much the gentleman. Very protective of the heroine, but not so much that he couldn’t give her room to spread her wings in the end.

Archer is a Reclaimer, descended from an ancient race of protectors, Amaranthines, that live in another realm, a higher one than Victorian London and Earth as we knew it then. It’s his duty to Reclaim souls that have become infected, such as the Ripper’s, a duty he takes very seriously. I found his devotion to his duties, even though I didn’t completely understand that aspect of the story, to be admirable and I liked the conflict that his devotion adds to his and Elena’s relationship. Here was this young woman, most annoyingly determined to be different; unmanageable, and with strong proclivities towards a male profession. I appreciated his struggle not to stifle her while at the same time protect her, when her life choices most assuredly do place her right in the Ripper’s path. Again though, I believe he embodies the good qualities alphas can have and this is also reflected wonderfully in their romance. Some of his more unusual talents added a nice bit of spice to love scenes and there was just something appealing about all his ancient experience paired with her independent, yet innocent air.

I liked Elena very much too. Determined to become a doctor when it’s still very much a man’s world, she carries her determination to do so with grace and professionalism. She works hard, despite having all she could want with Archer’s monetary aid. She looks into the eyes of a prostitute or other poor citizen and simply sees another person who needs help. She does not judge. There wasn’t a heck of lot at all to dislike about her. I did want to ring her neck at times for continually entering Whitechapel while the killer grows closer to her, but again, that’s where the admiration came in too. I could emphasize with her dreams, wants and hopes for the life she was trying to attain. She was very much worthy of being more than the next pretty wife, dangling on some rich man’s arm. And thanks in part to Archer, she becomes that, and more.

I thought their romance was splendidly built up to and really enjoyed the witty banter they engage in from time to time. There was a scene in a hookah lounge of all places that had me smiling, not only at their words, but their location. I haven’t read very many romances, Victorian or otherwise, that included a hookah lounge, but Lenox manages to insert odd choices like this one that made the book really stand out to me – in a good way. And not just because of that, but how Archer and Elena interact while at these quirky places too. There were parts of their relationship that was tender sweet and then fiery hot. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the wide range of emotions or situations they go through in the book.

Worldbuilding was the only aspect I felt a bit of lack in. While I definitely was able to get the gist of Archer’s position as a Reclaimer and member of the Shadow Guard, I found myself wanting much more in terms of why. Why was there this other realm he was protecting – what was it’s purpose? I think the details I got were cleverly done and well placed throughout the book, I just hoped for a bit more follow through on them. And maybe this is where the whole first book in a new series comes in. It’s hard to achieve a balance between worldbuilding and romance without having too much or too little. While I don’t think there was too little this time of the worldbuilding, I do hope to see Archer’s race and the Shadow Guard explained even more with the second book.

Other than that, I was a happy PNR reader, and utterly delighted at some of the twists and surprise appearances in the book, most notably one very famous author. It was such a hoot to see them as a character themselves. Too, a scene involving Queen Victoria made me smile with all the bittersweet emotion she entails as well as another cool, interesting twist to the Reclaimer mythology. Archer himself notes at one point, while he and Elena visit the museum, that history gets muddled up as the years pass and the subject comes up again at the end, again just utterly delighting me at the twist on a very well-known instance in a popular mythology many study today. It was little twists and turns like these that kept me coming back, in addition to all the other great things about the book.

The storyline is tight, never made me bored and I enjoyed it from page one to the last. The eerie, stark feeling of fear infused by the Ripper’s mad killing spree is effectively well done. The romance was sweet and hot and characters intrigued me plenty enough to continue with the next book. So Still the Night releases in May 2009, about Marcus Helios, Lord Alexander, a younger, though no less ancient, Shadow Guard and secondary character in this one, and I cannot wait to read his story.

To learn more about the author and her work, visit her site.

Rating: Four and a half scoops