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.