Review: Darkness Falls - Cate Tiernan

Nastasya has lived for hundreds of years, but for some reason, life never seems to get any better. She left her spoiled, rich girl life to find peace at River's Edge, a safe haven for wayward immortals. There, she learned to embrace River's Edge, despite some drama involving the sexy Reyn, who she wants but won't allow herself to have. But just as she's getting comfortable, her family's ties to dark magick force her to leave.

She falls back into her old, hard partying ways, but will her decision lead her into the hands of a dark immortal? Or will it be her first step to embracing the darkness within her?




Immortal Beloved Series:
Immortal Beloved
Darkness Falls
Immortal Light (2012)

Visit Cate Tiernan's website for more information

Review:
Nastasya is still struggling to fit in at River's Edge, life at the farm is very different to the partying life she has lived for hundreds of years.  She desperately wants to change but is convinced that there is something dark inside her and that she isn't capable of being a good person.  She is also finding it hard to fight her attraction to Reyn in spite of the things she discovered about their shared history.  It isn't easy to forgive past actions that had such a major effect on both of their lives.  It is also hard facing up to the things that she has done in the past so when her old friends catch her at a bad moment it is all to easy to slip back into old habits.  As she becomes increasingly worried about Incy's strange behaviour she starts to wonder if she has made a terrible mistake.

I really enjoyed Immortal Beloved so couldn't wait to get my hands on Darkness Falls and I think Cate Tiernan out did herself with this installment.  Nasty has changed a lot from the character we met at the beginning of the first book, she is learning what is really important in life and starting to see that she can choose to be better than she was.  I was a little disappointed in her when she ran away from her problems again by going with Incy straight back to her old lifestyle but I think it did her good because she immediately realises how shallow her friends are and how pointless her old life was.  It was nice to see her start to appreciate her life at the farm more and I think she will be even stronger now because of it.

The beginning of the story is fairly slow paced and character driven but this lets us really get to know Nasty and also some of the other residents at the farm.  I loved seeing more about River's past but I was a little disappointed we didn't get to spend much time with Reyn.  The chemistry between Nasty and Reyn is off the charts when they are together but I didn't think they were together anywhere near enough - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for much more in the next book!  I can't wait to see if they can find a way to work through the shared history they have.  The last third of the book is very fast paced and dramatic leaving me on the edge of my seat while I was reading.  It was a lot darker than I expected and I really did worry for Nasty's safety.

I'm really enjoying this series and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book Immortal Light.  If you haven't already discovered these books I would recommend starting with Immortal Beloved and if you're already a fan you'll love this latest installment.

Source: Received from Hodder in exchange for an honest review

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Review: Immortal Beloved - Cate Tiernan

After some of the events I've witnessed I felt like I was a shell with nothing alive left in me.

I hadn't been going around killing people, but people were hurt - the memories just kept trickling in like rivulets of fresh acid dripping into my brain until I wanted to scream.  It was in my blood, I knew.

A Darkness.

The Darkness.

I had inherited it, along with my immortality and my back eyes.

Immortal Beloved Series:
Immortal Beloved
Darkness Falls
Immortal Light (2012)

Visit Cate Tiernan's website for more information

Review:
At the beginning of Immortal Beloved Nastasya (or Nasty to her friends) was the kind of character I hate to read about, she is one of a group of rich friends who spends her time drinking, partying and having fun at the expense of others.  For the first couple of pages I wasn't even sure if I would finish reading the whole book but it quickly became clear how unhappy she was with her life and that she wanted to change and I soon became hooked.  Nastasya has lived for a very long time, she has both seen and done terrible things and over the years she has become indifferent to the feelings of others.  To block out her own memories she has taken to drinking herself into oblivion but after a horrific incident on a night out with her friends she begins to realise that she doesn't want her life to be like this anymore.

She runs from her friends, wanting to disappear and find a better life for herself.  Checking into the equivalent of Immortal rehab comes as quite a shock to her, for a long time she has avoided mundane tasks - they give her too much time to think - so working on a farm isn't what she is used to.  I really enjoyed watching her character develop throughout the story she changes from a party girl to someone who is able to appreciate the small pleasures in life.  I also loved the snippets from her past and the way her secrets are gradually revealed.  The inhabitants of River's Edge (the farm) were interesting and I'm looking forward to finding out more about them all.  I did struggle to understand Nastasya's fascination with Reyn for the majority of the book though, apart from the fact he was good looking we learnt hardly anything about him until towards the end and they rarely even spoke to each other.  I'm definitely more interested in him now that we know a bit more about his history though and will enjoy getting to know him better as the series progresses.

The story does feel quite slow to begin with, more character based than action packed but I mean that in a good way and it was an addictive read.  Immortal Beloved touches on themes of love, loss and grief but also shows how important it is to be true to yourself and not follow the crowd just because it's the easy option.  As the first book in a trilogy you are left with a lot of questions at the end of the book so I'm glad I don't have to wait long to read Darkness Falls and find out what happens next.  Going from the title I was expecting a fairly standard YA urban fantasy about vampires so it was refreshing to find something so different.  If you're looking for a YA paranormal that stands out from the crowd and doesn't have a fang in sight you should definitely give Immortal Beloved a try.

Source: Received from Hodder in exchange for an honest review

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