http://www.alexandraivy.com/

Guardians of Eternity Series:
a. When Darkness Comes - January 2007
b. Embrace the Darkness - November 2007
c. Darkness Everlasting - May 2008

Alexandra Ivy is the pseudonym Deborah Raleigh uses when writing contemporary paranormal romance. When Darkness Comes is the first book in the Guardians of Eternity series. It is originally published January 2007, and i only recently got my copy thru Powerbooks.

The Guardians of Eternity series was initially planned as a trilogy, but due to the interesting characters in the first book, and the positive response it got, it has now evolved into a series exploring the stories of the rest of the cast of characters we were introduced to in the first book, When Darkness Comes.

When Darkness Comes, is a story about Abby and Dante. Abby is your normal average human, that through no fault of her own, became the Chalice that holds the Phoenix - a goddess that balances out the evil. And that Dante, is an immortal vampire that is bound to serve the Chalice.

Being mortal, Abby have no idea how to handle the powers she suddenly acquired, and has no desire to retain them. She then enlists the help of Dante, to seek the witches who serve the Phoenix and ask them to take the Phoenix from Abby.

But seeking the witches isnt as simple as it appears. For there are factions out there who are also seeking the new chalice to use the powers of the phoenix for their own purposes. There is the group of wizards who worship the Prince of demons who seek the new Chalice to destroy the Phoenix in order to free their Prince and give him free reign over the mortal world. Then there are the witches of whose ultimate goal is not known, at least until the end of the story.

The storyline is quite simple really, but the interactions of Abby and Dante is what makes this book an interesting read.

Along their journey, we meet other paranormal characters, like Viper - the vampire who helped Dante understand his new life, Lady Shay - the last Shallot demon. These two are featured on the next book in the series, Embrace the Darkness.

Personally, am looking forward to reading the story of Viper and Lady Shay - a powerful vampire with exquisite taste, and Lady Shay - the last of her kind, a half human half shallot demon whose blood is an aphrodisiac to vampires.

http://www.dailyinquisitor.com//hunter/intro.htm
Reading order:

1. Fantasy Lover
2. "The Beginning", also in the back of Sins of the Night
3. Dragonswan
4. Night Pleasures
5. Night Embrace
6. "Phantom Lover", in the anthology Midnight Pleasures
7. Dance with the Devil
8. "A Dark-Hunter Christmas", also in the back of Dance with the Devil
9. Kiss of the Night
10. Night Play
11. "Winter Born", in the anthology Stroke of Midnight
12. Seize the Night
13. Sins of the Night
14. "Second Chances", in Exclusive Dark-Hunter Collectible Booklet
15. Unleash the Night
16. Dark Side of the Moon
17. "A Hard Day's Night-Searcher", in the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
18. "Until Death We Do Part", in the anthology Love At First Bite
19. Fear the Darkness, free e-book
20. Dream Hunter
21. Devil May Cry
22. Upon the Midnight Clear
23. Dark Hunter Companion
24. Dream Chaser

Dark Hunter series is about Greek Gods and what their folly has wrought. Its about Artemis, Godess of the Moon, creating an army of Dark Hunters, to battle the Daimons, the species that Apollo, God of the Sun had cursed. Dark Hunters are immortal warriors, who sold their soul to Artemis for one act of vengeance.

The acknowledged leader of the hunters, the first created, is Acheron Parthenopaeus - pronounced in the old Greek way as Ack-UH-rahn Pahr-thin-OH-pay-us (as ms. sherrilyn kenyon posted in her site). His past and heritage will be slowly revealed to the readers as the series progresses. And he is the only one, who has a direct line to Artemis.

To better understand the series, let me give you a rundown:

Dark Hunters are immortal warriors, who defends humanity from Daimons who feed on human souls. The only way they can redeem their soul is that upon their death (they may be immortal, but when their weakness comes upon them, they will for a time, become mortal, therefore, vulnerable to being killed) the one they love will return their soul back to them. However, if the one who holds their soul, is unable to bear the pain that goes with returning their souls to them, then the Dark Hunter will die and spend their days in eternal suffering - feeling hunger and thirst but no way to assuage them. They are allergic to the sun, given that their allegiance is to Artemis, but except for a select few, they don't actually drink blood, though they do have fangs and their night vision is quite excellent.

Daimons are former Apollites who choose to live beyond their 27th bday, and eat human souls in order to maintain their bodies.

Apollites are the children of Apollo who he cursed to die a horrible death on their 27th bday. There are apollites who choose this life, and they belong to the Cult of Pollux.

Were Hunters are a different species altogether, and is composed of the Katagaria and the Arcadians. Their mates are decreed by the fates, and they know who their mates are by the matching symbols that will appear on their hands after tthey've been intimate.

Katagarians are born as animals, and walk as animals in the daylight. Their animal side governs their human half. They in turn have Slayers, who protect their kind from the Sentinels.

Arcadians, on the other hand, are born as humans and can walk as humans in the daylight. They have human hearts, but they have an animal half which they can change into. Out of the strongest patria, Sentinels are born who hunt down the Slayers. Sentinels are the guardians of mankind and werekind.

Both Katagaria and Arcadian are subject to the Omegrion, the governing body for their species, and the head of the omegrion is Savitar ( you dont want to mess with this guy. He holds more power than Acheron, and he is easily pissed off)

Dream Hunters are traditionally called Oneroi. They patrol the sleep of the humans, apollites and immortals. They also act as bridge between the gods and the dark hunter or were hunter. They also are the ones who ensures that Skoti doesnt continue to drain their victims. They are cursed by Zeus to feel no emotion and the only way they feel emotions is when they are in dreams.

Within the Oneroi, there are three types. Those whose names start with D aid and patrol the dreams of the gods and immortals, M are enforcers, and V help the humans and Apollites.

Skoti are the renegades who got addicted to feeling emotions, that they continue to visit their human host in dreams to continually feed on these emotions. Among the Skoti, there are those that specialize in eros, nightmares and others.

Squire council are composed of human helpers for the dark hunters. They are charged with keeping the dark hunter world, and all that entails (including the werehunters, daimons, dream hunters and the like) a secret from humans like us. They also help dark hunters when they are caught in the daylight hours with no refuge in sight.

And within the Dark Hunter series, we are introduced to these different types of characters. The most exciting in the series are those stories that are set in New Orleans, as this is where Acheron is normally found as he has developed a deep friendship with the dark hunters assigned to this area.

Each book in the series can stand on its own. But to better understand the story of Acheron, it is better to read the series in the order in which it was meant to be read.

As addicted i am to this series, i am eagerly waiting for the book of Acheron, the first in his two part storyline, scheduled for release on 08/04/08

http://www.christinefeehan.com/dark_series/index.php

1. Dark Prince
2. Dark Desire
3. Dark Gold
4. Dark Magic
5. Dark Challenge
6. Dark Fire
7. Dark Dream
8. Dark Legend
9. Dark Guardian
10. Dark Symphony
11. Dark Descent
12. Dark Melody
13. Dark Destiny
14. Dark Hunger
15. Dark Secret
16. Dark Demon
17. Dark Celebration
18. Dark Possession

I was running out of books to read, so i finally decided to give the Dark/Carpathian series of Christine Feehan a try. Am not that into vampire stories (drinking blood and stuff is sooo not sexy to me) but hey, getting desperate to read something here - and self help books puts me to sleep.

Anyways, was able to snag copies of her complete line of dark series books (books 1-18), and the interaction between the characters is quite good, and hey, the intimate scenes aint half bad.

Carpathians are not exactly vampires. They are a different species that lives for a really long time, they can die, they have powers mortals don't have (illusion, shapeshifting and the like), quite gorgeous and oh yeah - they need blood for sustenance and the power of the soil/earth for healing. Catch is, carpathians are dying out, and the acknowledged ruler of their people needs to find a way to save his people.

You see, Carpathian males, after two hundred years, slowly lose their ability to feel any emotion, and they can no longer see colors. Once this happens, they are vulnerable to losing their soul as well (when they begin to kill humans for the momentary effect of feeling emotions) and that's when they become vampires. Carpathians however can regain their emotions and see colors again, once they find the other half of their soul - the female that is destined to be their lifemate.

Lifemate, the term they call their better half. The light to the dark parts of their soul. The other half of their own soul, that anchors them away from being vampires. This is what draws readers to this series. Just the idea of a soulmate normally entices readers to read romance books, but a definite way to tell who is your soulmate is quite intriguing.

Of course, it doesn't necessarily follow that the protagonists in the book fall in love once they find their lifemates - it would be positively boring if that happens. The usual quirky banter and unusual circumstances the characters find themselves in all resolves itself toward the end - but the journey is what counts. And this is where the series shines in itself. Having to hold together that many characters, providing various connections without losing the personality is what endears this series to me. And she was able to tie it together with Book 17-Dark Celebration where all the characters from the past 16 books come together in celebration of Christmas.

Its a pretty engaging series. Makes one wish that mortals such as us have a definite way of knowing who is the other half of our souls. Be that as it may, all we can do is just try and wish for the best in our own respective relationships.

So why dont you pick up a book, and enjoy the ride.