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Dec292010
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Darkness Divine’ by P. C. Cast & Others
by Carolyn • Posted in 3 Star Reviews, Authors A-D, Authors Q-T, Book Reviews, Gena Showalter, Maggie Shayne, Mira UK, P. C. Cast, Paranormal Romance, Reviews by Laura
Title: Darkness Divine
Author: P. C. Cast, Gena Showalter, Maggie Shayne and Rhyannon Byrd
Publisher: MIRA Books
Publication Date: September 2010
Paperback: 432 Pages
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Review Copy
Reviewed by: Laura
RATING: 6/10 – good
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
This title features four wicked tales of paranormal romance and supernatural seduction by bestselling authors, including “House of Night” creator P.C. Cast. “Divine Beginnings” by P.C. Cast – Healer Aine must choose between treating an enigmatic enemy or letting him die. “The Amazon’s Curse” by Gena Showalter – Vampire warrior Zane longs to embrace the passion he shares with fierce Amazon Nola. “Voodoo” by Maggie Shayne – In New Orleans, Tessa is haunted by a sinfully sexy man. Yet what does he want from her? “Edge of Craving” by Rhyannon Byrd – Rhys is tormented by his desire for Alia. But can the last scion of a dragon clan capture her heart?
REVIEW:
‘Darkness Divine‘ is a compilation of short stories from four popular authors in the paranormal romance genre. There has been a trend for compilations of this nature for a while and for the most part I’ve avoided them. There’s a sceptical part of me, that thinks that they’re a bit of a marketing ploy. I also often struggle with short stories and find myself wanting a bit more detail and depth.
But I took my sceptical hat off, and sat back to enjoy my reading. I’ve read books by two of the authors before – Gena Showalter and Maggie Shayne, but not the other two. So this gave me a chance to see if I would enjoy the other two author’s writing styles & stories. I’ve wanted to pick up a P.C. Cast book in particular, for a while.
The first story of the book is by PC Cast and is obviously from one of her developed series. It tells of a healer who ends up falling for an enemy soldier. It has a fantasy setting and not having read any of the other books, I wasn’t fully aware of the rules or background of the story. It did feel a bit rushed, with the characters meeting on one day and falling in love in the next. That being said, however, the story intrigued me. I very much liked the two leads and wanted to learn more about them and the setting captured my imagination. As a consequence the first book of this series is now on my wish list.
The second, is Gena Showalter’s we meet a sultry vampire Zane who is being held captive by a tribe of supernatural amazon women. They have captured a group of powerful men and then begin to battle to decide who will mate with whom in order to produce the strongest children. But Zane has a long lost love, Nola who is being punished and exists invisible to everyone, she can only watch as Zane is tortured. Nola needs to break her curse in order to save both herself and the man she loves. This book is a light, paranormal romance written very much in the style Gena Showalter is known for and fans will enjoy, even if the scenes of the women fighting over the men did make me cringe a little.
Maggie Shayne writes the third story, named ‘Voodoo’. The name says it all, it is a tale of voodoo magic. Holidaying with her sister in New Orleans, Tessa becomes plagued by strange dreams and fascinated by their handsome tour guide. But as the dreams turn to hauntings and her fascination with the handsome guide leads her to do some research into the local history, Tessa discovers something about herself she could never have imagined. The second two stories of the book are certainly better than the first. Maggie Shayne managed to pack a nice amount of tension into a small amount of pages, an enjoyable short story.
The phrase saving the best until last definitely applies here. I’ve never actually heard of Rhyannon Byrd so I wasn’t sure what to expect from her story. Set in the 1800s, it tells of warrior Rhys who has been assigned along with his troupe of soldiers to protect Alia and her father. Since his assignment began, Rhys has admired Alia from afar since, knowing that he can never have her. But a deadly betrayal changes all of their worlds upside down and Rhys and Alia must work together to save her father’s critical work. A riveting read, filled with believable chemistry simmering between Rhys and Alia. I definitely want to read further books from this author.
VERDICT:
Despite my skepticism, for the most part I enjoyed this book. I did feel particularly with the first two stories that they would have worked better fleshed out with some more detail and as longer stories. I was expecting more from PC Cast, but it gave me enough of a flavour to want to read more of her books and I think I’m officially now a Rhyannon Byrd fan. So, perhaps the marketing did its work after all 
You can find out more about the authors here:
3 Comments
Thank you for this review. I usually don't pick up short story anthologies for some reason. I may have to try this one though.
BTW-I'm not a new follower, but my blogger seems to keep unfollowing me from blogs lately
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Hi @Midnyte Reader I don't often read short story anthologies either, I usually prefer longer stories. But there a couple of good ones in here. It's a good way to get a flavour of a new author too.
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I don't really read anthologies or short stories either, not sure why really – probably same reasons as you, preferring longer novels to develop characters and to deepen the storyline…
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