Shannon C.’s review of Dark Hunger (The Brethren, Book 2) by Sara Reinke
Contemporary paranormal romance released by Zebra 2 Sep 08

There was a lot of discussion about this book when Gwen reviewed it. I don’t feel like I have a whole lot to say that’s different from what has already been said, but that has never stopped me before. I do tend to agree with Azteclady when she says this is more “urban fantasy” than “romance,” and I think that’s an important distinction to make going in. And while I did not love this book to pieces the way I loved the first book in the series, I can appreciate what she did, and I loved how subversive it all was.

Since all the reviews I’ve read have touched on the ending, I’ll bring it up first. At first, I hated it. Hated it a lot, because it seemed like a dirty, cowardly thing to do, and because I love the person that Rene sacrificed to bits. I hated it so much that I not only ranted at Holly through e-mail, but expressed my ire to the rest of the duckies using four-letter words that I, in my pure and sweet innocence, would never use. I also kind of whinged about it to some other non-romance reading buddies, which probably won’t help in my evil plans to raise an army of newly converted romance reader minions and take over the world. (Which is neither here nor there, and I’m drifting off track again.)

I didn’t feel like the ending provided much of an HEA or even a HFN, because we’re just left with the ending and no mention is made of the fallout, so I felt left hanging. But then, I started thinking about it, and questioning exactly what I want when I read a romance vs. when I read some other genre of fiction, and being made to think is never a bad thing.

Rene and Tessa were interesting characters. I liked that they had very distinct personalities, and I could hear Rene’s voice in my head as I was reading. I liked that they were allowed to feel some pretty ugly emotions. Sure, Tessa’s a bit spoiled, but her reactions as a former battered wife rang true for me, and I confess that I liked her a lot more than I did Rene. Rene spent too much time being emo and angsty and tortured, and if there is one genre convention I hate with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, it’s emo heroes. I can deal with it to some extent, but after a while I really wanted to cut Rene a slice of get-over-yourself cake.

I do like that this is a dark book with villains that are seriously creepy and evil. I’m finding my tastes are drifting more to dark storylines lately, and Ms. Reinke does a great job at piling on the suspense. I also like that her characters are all allowed to be unapologetically violent. No heroine shrinking away from killing someone at the last minute for Ms. Reinke.

In the end, what I liked (the world-building, the dark setting, the storytelling and the truthfulness of the characters) I really loved, and what I hated (Could Rene be more emo? Could Tessa be more shrill? That fucking ending!) I really really hated. So the C grade is definitely the average of those two extremes. At any rate, this may be the first C book I’ve read ever that makes me want the next book. Like, right now.

Grade: C

Read more reviews by clicking on the Brethren series tag.

Summary:

Tessa Noble-Davenant will do anything to protect her brother, Brandon, even if that means traveling across the country with Rene Morin. A cynical, brooding, yet startling sexy vampire, Rene seems to take pleasure in finding fault with Tessa’s every move. Despite this, a sensual attraction begins to develop between the two, one to which neither can afford to succumb. Rene and Tessa are being followed — and a single misstep will put them at the mercy of forces more dark and powerful than they can even imagine…

Read an excerpt.

Gwen’s review of Dark Hunger (The Brethren, Book 2) by Sara Reinke
Contemporary paranormal romance released by Zebra 2 Sep 08

Allow me to first tell you not to read the blurb on the back of the book – the one I read is completely misleading and mostly wrong. Read the blurb at the end of this review (got it from the author’s site). It’s more accurate. I wish all copywriters would read a bloody book before they write blurbs – at least the first couple of chapters, please.

I really enjoyed this book. At least I did until the very last chapter. Both the hero, Rene, and heroine, Tessa, are vampires. They’re on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the Brethren’s Elders because various infractions committed by lead characters in this and the previous book in the series. I didn’t read the previous book, but was still able to follow the story. The author doesn’t do a lot of info-dumping and yet I was easily able to pick up the gist.

I liked both the main characters. I thought the heroine a little anemic (heh), but the hero was very yummy. I’m not sure I totally believed Rene’s 180 on his feelings for the heroine. He spends the first couple of chapters thinking Tessa’s a completely spoiled little rich girl and treats her shabbily as a result. He’s got some personal demons that keep him from letting anyone close, so it’s not until she tearfully confesses the abuse she suffered at her husband’s hands that he relents and starts to see more of her than the surface.

Most of the book is a road trip to the west coast. There are a series of events that keep the tension ramped up and let us see more deeply into their psyches and relationship. Tessa and Rene are very much a case of opposites attracting. I enjoyed his humor and his tender way of handling the heroine. I liked that Rene was willing to do anything to protect her. He’s protecting her from some of the most Machiavellian characters I’ve ever read in a romance novel. I mean, the villains in this book are so bad that you honestly can’t see how ANYONE can get one over on them.

And here is where we come to the biggest bone I have to pick with the author – the ending. I’ll try to express my dismay without spoiling the book for anyone. WHY OH WHY did Reinke have the hero do what he did at the end?? It totally ruined the book for me. Here I was expecting a nice HEA by way of some sly maneuvering on the hero’s part. We get that – sort of. But the cost of that HEA was just way too high, and it will come back and bite him in the ass before long. Possibly costing him his happiness and crushing people along the way. It will be very interesting to see how she writes her characters out of this hole in the next entry (no date or title on the author’s site, but probably summer 2009).

I’d have given the book a solid B if not for this very dissatisfying ending. I’d recommend this book to any fan of paranormal romance if you like them action packed and are okay with a head-scratching ending.

Grade: C+

Click on The Brethren series tag for more reviews.

Summary:

Tessa Noble-Davenant will do anything to protect her brother, Brandon, even if that means traveling across the country with Rene Morin. A cynical, brooding, yet startling sexy vampire, Rene seems to take pleasure in finding fault with Tessa’s every move. Despite this, a sensual attraction begins to develop between the two, one to which neither can afford to succumb. Rene and Tessa are being followed — and a single misstep will put them at the mercy of forces more dark and powerful than they can even imagine…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Shannon C.’s review of Dark Thirst by Sara Reinke
Paranormal romance published by Zebra 3 July 07

I’ve been wanting to read a Sara Reinke book for years, ever since I saw her promoting one of her books on an ebook promotion yahoo group I used to be on, so I was excited when I got my hands on this first volume of her Brethren series. What was even better was that Ms. Reinke made the tired old vampire genre her own. These are no tormented warriors out to protect humanity. These vampires are scary and deranged and I certainly wouldn’t want to be alone with most of them. But aside from that, Ms. Reinke creates a memorable cast of characters whose lives and story drew me in completely. If not for a few missteps, this would have been a damn near perfect book for me.

The vampires featured in this book are called the Brethren. One part cult, one part mafia, one part really wealthy group of rednecks, they are an insular community that sustains itself by feeding on and killing the disposable illegal immigrants that work on their land. Brandon Noble has grown up all his life around these people. Brutalized in an attack that has left him both deaf and mute, he seeks only a way out.

However, after an abortive attempt to apply at Galaudet, the famous deaf college, he is discovered and the Grandfather, the clan patriarch, breaks his hands. Brandon waits and seethes until he is healed, and then runs away, going to the home of his former tutor. Instead of the tutor being present, he meets Lena Jones, his tutor’s sister. Lena, a police officer, is soon drawn to the quiet, sweet Brandon. But the Brethren don’t take well to being defied, and Lena and Brandon must take their stand against them.

I really really love a good beta hero, and Brandon is a great character. He may be unworldly, but his sheer determination is sexy, and I enjoyed reading about his struggles to deal with being a normal person. I also thought that Brandon’s disability was dealt with in a realistic manner, and as someone who has serious reader baggage when it comes to disabled characters, that says a lot. Brandon has good reason to be a tortured character, and yet, I never particularly felt that he wallowed in his angst. I also liked how his feelings for Lena developed from an adolescent crush to true passion, and it was so refreshing not to read any predestined soulmates crap in this book.

Lena, on the other hand, was both one of the best things about this book and one of the worst. She’s a tough cop, and she actually acts it. Too often I think that romance authors have to struggle to find reasons to keep their heroines pure of heart and full of kindness. I can’t remember the last time I read about a heroine who was actually capable of killing someone who needed killing and then actually doing it without going on and on ad nauseum for pages and pages about how hard it was.

Lena is also not particularly full of angst, and I loved that she was just as capable of violence as the next person. On the other hand, the climax of the book involves her being TSTL in a major way, so much so that I very nearly literally introduced my head to my desk. I know I moaned aloud, “Oh, no, *why* did she just do that?”

There are some great secondary characters. Rene, Lena’s partner and the hero of the next book, is someone that I think a lot of readers will love. I know I certainly did, and I don’t drool over fictional characters very often. Plus, he’s already got chemistry in spades with Tessa, Brandon’s twin sister, so their book should be great reading for the romance. As for the villains… The most interesting of them was Lena’s ex, a human lawyer who really was a smarmy asshole. I loved that he got exactly what he deserved. The Brethren, too, are seriously creepy. I cannot wait to see what else Ms. Reinke has in store for them in future books.

The plot is absorbing. I read this book in a matter of hours, and didn’t want to put it down for such necessities as sleep and food. Occasionally, the writing gets a little bit clunky, with flashbacks that last a shade too long, but I’m hoping that some of that will smooth itself out in time. There’s a lot of violence, though, so if you’re squeamish about that, this is probably not the book for you. Me, I was glad Ms. Reinke added those touches, since the violence lent the story plenty of grit. I also appreciated the fact that the characters all used four-letter words. The ending is more Happy for Now than Happily Ever After, and is clearly a setup for the second book in the series, but I’m glad the story ended the way it did, because I think anything else would have wrapped things up too neatly.

I haven’t mentioned the fact that this is an interracial romance, because I don’t think that Lena’s being black was particularly relevant to the plot, but if you’re thinking to yourself that you might like to try an interracial romance, you could do way worse than this one. I am definitely hooked on this series, and, while I would have liked for Lena to have been a lot stronger as a heroine, I still cannot wait for the sequel to this book to come out in September.

Grade: B+

Summary:
Brandon Noble is one of the Brethren, an ancient clan of ruthless vampires. Horrified by his birthright, Brandon shuns the ritual of the first kill, earning his family’s lasting wrath. When he finds love with a human woman named Angelina — forbidden among the Brethren — his fate is sealed. Can Brandon protect Angelina from his enemies — and his own dark thirsts?
You can download an excerpt here.