New York Times bestselling author Lynn Viehl has enthralled readers with her novels of the immortal Darkyn. Now she continues the story of the secret progeny of the Darkyn: the Kyndred, ordinary people unaware they have been altered by vampire DNA but destined to become the next generation of heroes.
When San Francisco paramedic Charlotte “Charlie” Marena stops to help at the scene of an accident, she never imagines she’ll wind up trapped on a Mexican Island, with orders to procreate with powerful Takyn Samuel Taske. In her mind, he’s got two strikes against him: he knows about her secret nighttime telepathic ability and he’s too wealthy to be trusted. Samuel is psychic, but he’s never foreseen that he'd fall for the woman he's been charged with protecting. GenHance-the biotech company willing to do anything to acquire superhuman DNA- is after them. And when Samuel discovers that his Takyn powers have abandoned him, Charlie’s gift is their only hope for survival...
I just finished my last book for this year, the review will be written later, as the rest of tonight will be spend together with my boyfriend, celebrating the change of the year.
I wish you all a great 2012, with lots of good books and laughter with friends.
It’s 2012, time to write the review before I dive in my first book of the year
Charlie Marena is just about to go home at the end of her shift as a paramedic, when she and her partner are called to an accident on Golden Gate Bridge. Charlie is terrified of bridges, so she is not happy with that assignment. But her job means everything to her, she is very dedicated, and so she summons up to courage to go. There are wounded people there, who need her. Samuel Traske doesn’t know who Charlotte is, all he knows is that he had to be on the bridge at that time to safe her from dying. Her life and future are somehow very important to mankind. His Takyn gifts let him see the future off some people, but not all of it. There is a sniper on the bridge, killing random people. Samuel’s driver is shot, and as he is wounded himself, and having a spinal disease that has crippled him, there is little he can do. Charlie and her partner go to work on the wounded they see at once, calling in what is happing on the bridge, asking for backup. But the police and ambulance services are severely understaffed thanks to Governor Schwarzenegger’s new policy, so it will take some time for backup to arrive. When Samuel sees Charlotte, he has the feeling he knows her. He has never seen her before in his life, but he knows her. And he will not let her leave him. She expertly helps his driver, and wants to go back to the other wounded, when the sniper calls out to them in Spanish. Samuel doesn’t know much Spanish, so it is Charlie who answers him. Tries to reason with him, and when the sniper shoots himself and drops from the bridge, they think all is safe.
It is not, and the sniper abducts both Charlie and Samuel, mumbling something about them being chosen. As Sam is a very high profile millionaire, the news of his abduction soon gets broadcasted, and Andrew gets on the tail at once, bringing him to Mexico. Posing as an FBI agent, he tries to get information from the local police force, trying to find out where Sam could be. And why they were abducted, if not for Sam’s millions. In the process, he barely manages to escape the clutches of his previous boss, GenHance, who wants to capture Takyn to dissect them, find out where there powers come from and duplicate it. Of course they can’t, they need vampire blood, blood from the Kyn, for that. Andrew manages to find a lot of answers, but in the end, both the and Gracie are captured as well.
Charlie wakes up after being drugged a few times, naked in bed with Samuel. In a villa on an empty island somewhere. A very luxurious villa, with enough food to last them a while, but nothing to use as a weapon. There is even a fully stocked operation room for her to use, which comes in handy when she discovers Sam is unconscious due to shock and blood loss. The wound in his side is still bleeding. So she prepares a blood transfusion, using her own blood. Then a recorded voice tells her, they will be living her together for the rest of their lives, safe. They only have to obey two rules: never try to escape, and have intercourse at least once a day. Or they will be punished. Charlie is not planning to have sex with a stranger because some voice tells her to, but first she will have to get Sam well again. There are cameras everywhere, watching them, so they will have to be very careful. But are they really alone on the island?
It took me no time at all to be back in the world of the Kyn and the Takyn. The story is action filled from the first pages of the book, and I loved it. Charlotte is not a petite blond heroine, but a big brunette Amazon. And as Sam is even older than the Vikings, and with the posture to match, he likes that, a lot. Bit by bit they reveal their pasts to each other, and yes, they have met before, as babies. When they were experimented upon. And they know each other in their currant lives through the website for the Takyn, they have been communicating a lot. Charlie has trouble with the fact that Sam has led a charmed life, never wanting for anything, having so much money and servants at his back and call, while she has nothing. The people who adopted her (illegally) for the second time, have died, and she is all alone in the world. She doesn’t believe Sam really loves her, that he needs her as he is just as lonely as she is. It takes a lot of work from Sam to finally convince her.
I liked both Sam and Charlotte. Of course I know Sam through the previous books, but Charlotte sure is a very capable heroine, not afraid of anything, only a bit too insecure concerning herself. The plot was never predictable, it totally kept surprising me. And I did love the end, although I was missing the little peaks in the lives of my favourite Kyn throughout the book.
I do believe the work of Lynn Viehl is underappreciated. I love her world and characters. But I also know, you either love or hate those books. If you have not tried them before, please do. You might have missed out on some really great books.
8 stars
HAppy New Year :D
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