Dark Magic

Lover of Romance 

Summary 
Savannah Dubrinsky, is the daughter of Raven and Mikhail, the prince of the Carpathian people. When she learns that Gregori, the infamous “Dark One” is her intented lifemate, known as the boogie man of their people, the most respected and feared of their kind, she knows at eighteen years old she is not ready to tie herself to such a creature. So she pleads for time, five years in the states. Gregori has lived for centuries, one of the oldest of their kind, he knows he will not be a easy mate, so he gives her that time, despite the fact that he isn’t sure he can wait five years for her. Savannah has now had her precious five years, and while on her last stop on her tour in San Francisco, her closest friend is killed by a vampire, and Gregori saves her. She knows that this day would come, but she also knew she would never be ready to be his lifemate. She is overcome with grief over her closest friend, and being tied to a dark and dangerous man, but they decide to head to New Orleans, for the jazz music festival, and soon they will be facing hunters from the human society out to destroy their kind, and a master vampire and only working together will they be able to survive.

The Hero 
Gregori “The Dark One” is the healer of his people, and second in command to the prince, who also happens to be his best friend. Gregori has defended his people and protected them and killed vampires left and right. He has studied and learned everything he can to be the most knowledgable and cunning. He has few friends, many enemies, and has searched for his lifemate for centuries. When Mikhail and Raven conceived a girl, he knew she was his lifemate, and he must stay strong for her. She is his only hope. Gregori can be a hard hero to like. He is very rough around the edges, believes women should be protected in a cacoon and away from any and all danger. He is very “alpha male” and he is possessive. But Gregori is also very easy to connect with. As soon as you see the real Gregori, who has lived a life of killing and darkness, we see a man that only wants to be loved and needed.

The Heroine 
Savannah Dubrinsky, she is the daughter of the prince. She has her own special gifts and abilities. She is powerful in her own right despite being a fledging. She grew up with only her parents, and a wolf as her companion. She now resides in the states, doing magic shows and is infamous for it. But Savannah has one fear, her lifemate. She knows that she will have to be binded forever with Gregori, but she fears him more than any other. She knows he will be hard to live with, and she is very independent like her mother. I really liked Savannah, but at times she could have used a bit spine, especially in the beginning. I understand why she feels the way she does, but at times she could be a bit selfish. But what I really liked about her character, was how she stands up to Gregori, and doesn’t back down.

Plot and Story Line 
This is a re read or “re listen” for me. Every now and then I get in the mood to listen to the earlier books in the carpathian series, since I own them all on audiobook. I realized I had yet to review Dark Magic. So I decided now would be a good time to do so. The first half of the book isn’t always easy to listen to. We see the relationship between Gregori and Savannah have a bit of a rocky start. One of the reasons for this, is that Gregori has waited to long to claim Savannah, and if he doesn’t he will become a vampire. And no one will be able to destroy him. We see how his control is slipping away, and Savannah at first doesn’t realize how bad it truly is. They have a bit of a unsteady beginning with plenty of miscommunication and mistrusts, but then we see a turning point in their relationship. A turning point that makes Gregori despise himself, and Savannah reads his mind and memories, and learns who he really is, and a trust begins to form. We also get a side character that I hope one day gets his own story (Gary). We see him in future books too, which is fun and you see a hint of a story that could happen. There is some quick witted humor that is delightful, and the narrator is amazing. She has done most of the books from book 1 to book 10 I believe apart from Rebecca Cook who has done a couple. But I adore her inflections and I fell in love with her in Dark Challenge, so its always a delight to listen to her again. What I also liked was seeing their relationship develop more and you see a hint of playfulness enter the relationship, and Gregori softens towards Savannah, We see the romance between them really blossom especially once they get to New Orleans. There is some suspense elements as well from two different factors. Now this is a story that will either be you love it or you hate it, I love it because of seeing Gregori in previous books, and even though this isn’t my favorite book of the series, I always have fun with it. But I will warn you in the first part of the story, it is not easy to read, there are some darker elements, but the later half is more playful and light and fun.

The Cover 
This isn’t my favorite cover for the series. I do like the foggy background, but there is something non realistic about this cover, but I love the colors and the wolves at the bottom.

Overall View 
Dark Magic is a highly sensual and dark romance at times, but has witty humor, intrigue and danger, a story of redeeming love and passion.

Dark Magic

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