Book Review -- The Guardians of Eternity

Embrace The Darkness (Guardians of Eternity, Book 2) (Published November 2007 by Zebra -- Paperback Edition -- 334 pages)

Lady Shay is the last of her kind. Half human, half Shalott, her blood is a precious aphrodisiac to vampires, who consider it more precious than gold. Though Shalotts are renowned assassins, a curse held over Shay lands her on the slave auction block, where her fate is uncertain...

Viper, the beguiling chief of a deadly vampire clan, can't explain his longing to possess the beautiful Shalott who once saved his life, but now he is free to do anything he wants with her. Strangely, while he desires both Shay's blood and body, he wants her to surrender willingly.

A hidden evil has been stalking Shay since she left the slave marker with Viper. It is an evil that endangers the very existence of Viper's kind, and there's no reason he should court such danger just to protect a Shalott. But the love he feels for Shay is enough to make him willing to go to hell and back if it means spending an eternity with her in his arms...

Darkness Everlasting (Guardians of Eternity, Book 3) (Published May 2008 by Zebra -- Paperback Edition -- 395 pages)

Darcy Smith always sensed she was different from everyone else -- if only she knew how different. Possessing a secret strong enough to end an entire race of demons, Darcy unwittingly becomes a pawn in an epic battle between the vampires and the weres as she discovers a new world filled with ecstasy -- and dark passions...

Consumed with lust for Darcy, Styx -- the Anasso of vampires -- will do everything in his power to keep her out of the lair of Salvatore Giuliani, the deadly leader of the weres. But protecting the woman he loves could cost Styx the ultimate price...

Salvatore Giuliani knows time is running out for the weres. Pushed to the brink of extinction, he will stop at nothing to make Darcy his ultimate conquest and queen -- for she alone holds the key to his survival. But which of these men can Darcy truly trust? For all it takes is one bite to plunge her into a lifetime of servitude or a lifetime of pleasure...

I received both of these books -- #2 and #3 in the Guardians of Eternity series -- through the Paperback Swap (see link in the side bar).

These books were not as fast paced as the first and had similar pacing issues toward the middle. Her setting descriptions continue to be just the right amount to keep you in the story.

The male characters were well drawn while the female ones were another story. I loved Viper -- he was the proverbial bachelor that fall hard. Shay was an interesting heroine, half demon and half human, however some of her dialogue was a cookie cutter of Abby's from the first book. While "Holy Guacamole" and "Yowser" were corny but plausible when human Abby said (or thought) them they just didn't work coming from century old Shay. I think Styx was my favorite of the three heroes so far in this series. He's so ancient...a warrior who falls so hard for his love he overcomes an old hatred. Darcy was just another cookie cut copy of Abby complete with awful childhood. And as someone who worked in a Goth bar, I doubt Darcy would say "Cripes" too often.

With the third book, it was even more evident the heroines were cookie cut molds of each other. The heroine's dialogue -- corny beyond words -- actually pulled me out of the story during the third book. I was more than slightly frustrated with the author when Viper, a bad a$$ vampire, thought "Yow" at one point in the third book.

Sadly, I won't be continuing this series. It has so much potential but I gave it three books and while I love the heroes I can't deal with the heroines. Sorry Ms. Ivy, but I don't know any one who uses "Cripes," "Yowser," and "Holy Guacamole" in real life and doubt most modern day Chicago citizens do either.