Dark Gold (Dark, #3) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Aug 26, 2009 Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, female-lead, paranormal, 3-stars, not-manga, 2010, title-d

Really I just do not enjoy this series, I'm sorry to say. It started somewhat iffy from book one, and now I think it has went into a universe that I find preposterous. I can not even begin to think of all of the examples in these books that so highly offends me.

1. Do these leading ladies not have brains? And if they're so highly educated with college degrees, then why do they not see that they being bullied into bam-boozelment?
2. The men are manipulating, condescending, jealous, violent,over-pr ...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Nairabell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, 4-star, read-in-2011

Since their parents died Alexandria Houton's life has revolved around her six-year-old brother Joshua. When they are kidnapped by an evil Alex could never have imagined, and then rescued Alex's life changes forever. Aidan Savage is the Carpathian who rescued Alex and her brother. He left the Carpathian mountains to hunt vampires in San Francisco, but when he realises that Alex is his lifemate he also realises that by entering her life he has turned her into a target for all the vampires in the a Since their parents died Alexandria Houton's life has revolved around her six-year-old brother Joshua. When they are kidnapped by an evil Alex could never have imagined, and then rescued Alex's life changes forever. Aidan Savage is the Carpathian who rescued Alex and her brother. He left the Carpathian mountains to hunt vampires in San Francisco, but when he realises that Alex is his lifemate he also realises that by entering her life he has turned her into a target for all the vampires in the area.

This is the third in Christine Feehan's Carpathian series (which started with Dark Prince and continued with Dark Desire). I'm gradually working my way through the series and have mixed opinions so far so I wasn't sure what to expect. I did like the change of setting from the Carpathian mountains to San Francisco as it made the book feel a little more normal.

The story picks up quickly at the start of the novel and the first two chapters are action packed. After that the book becomes more about Alex and Aidan's relationship, which is what I expected the main plotline to be about as this is a paranormal romance after all. The idea of a collection of bad guys means that there is a fair amount of variety to the storyline, and I have to admit I loved how Thomas Ivan was tied in as potential competition for Aidan. I've heard the Carpathian men referred to as overbearing, which I agree with, but Aidan manages to give Alex some independence which is refreshing. There are few things worse in romance novels than having a dislikable overbearing jerk as the "hero".

I really liked the character of Aidan, and I loved how his struggle with his inner demon was portrayed. I did find Alex to be a whiny at times, although she did eventually get over herself, and I liked how her struggle for independence was portrayed. I loved the supporting characters as well, in particular Alex's brother Joshua and Aidan's staff Marie and Stefan.

Gregori shows up in this book, and it isn't surprising to realise that book four (Dark Magic) is his book. There was a fair amount of effort to setting up his book in this one, and also Alex realises and reveals a couple of things about Gregori that hadn't been mentioned before. This did leave me more interested in reading his book, but also made the abruptness of the ending of this book more obvious. The last few chapters are action packed with a lot going on and this meant the ending felt abrupt, although I can't think of a better way to have ended the book.

All in all, this was a good read and I'm looking forward to Dark Magic.

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 7/10

Overall: 41/50 ...more

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