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Lynn Viehl: Night Lost

Genre: Urban fantasy/paranormal romance
Series and no.: Darkyn, # 4
Year of publication: 2007
Setting & time: Rural France, England, Ireland and the USA; contemporary

Darkyn lord Gabriel Seran is the prisoner of the Brethren, a religious sect dedicated to eliminating the Darkyn. Chained to a cross and walled in down in the basement of an old chapel on the grounds of his former estate in France, he feels abandoned by the other Darkyn, but is honour-bound to protect their secrets. Meanwhile, burglar Nicola Jefferson is searching for a particular relic in the chapels and churches of Europe while stealing such treasures as she finds and selling them to finance the search. She has also freed a number of imprisoned Darkyn, but when she frees Gabriel something feels different. Meanwhile, the Darkyn king has imprisoned Dr. Alexandra Keller (If Angels Burn) in his stronghold in Ireland, forcing her to search for a cure for the affliction that is slowly turning him into a mutant. Her lover, Darkyn lord Michael Cyprien, is hell-bent on rescuing her, even if it will cost him his life.

This is a much more focused and less muddled narrative than in the previous book, Dark Need, but again I have a problem with the beginning of the love story. The protagonists behave in a particularly brainless fashion by jumping each other’s bones without practically any reason at all while they are in great danger of being discovered by the Brethren. Even with the dream sequences that are supposed to explain the instant attraction, it is still not believable. However, the sex/love scenes in this book are very romantic and the twist near the end is completely unexpected but logical. Over all, I enjoyed this one more than the last one, so it gets 3 stars.
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