Author: Aja James
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publication Date: January 18, 2018
Pre-Order: Amazon
NOTE: Story is for mature readers due to sexual content.
Goodreads
“Every story has more than one side, like a crystal that captures and reflects different colors of light. Do not take for granted what you think you know, for until you hold the entire jewel in your palm, the temptation is to fall prey to illusion and deception.”
This is a story of the Dark Ones…
Inanna: the vampire warrior
Known as the Angel of Death among her kind, she has lived millennia alone, one of the remaining True Bloods in existence, unconsciously longing for the one male she could never have.
Gabriel: the forbidden human
His soul recognizes hers from the first encounter. With the first touch, he is awakened. Though he does not know it, he has been searching for her across the ages.
But even as they are finally reunited, their love faces seemingly impossible odds. Will history repeat itself or will they break all the rules and chart a new course together?
Review
Let me start off by saying that this is book 2 in a series. I originally read book 1 back in 2012, so to reacquaint myself with this world, I re-read book 1 before starting this. And I'm very glad that I did.
The main story in this book revolves around Gabriel and Inanna (aka Nana Chastain). Inanna is referred to by her kind as the Angel of Death. And this story begins with Gabriel visiting his terminally ill wife which is where Inanna comes into the picture. She made a Blood-Contract with Olivia (Gabriel's wife) to help her and to end her suffering. But Olivia also asked Inanna to take care of Gabriel and their son, Benji.
Inanna is immediately drawn to Gabriel from the moment she first saw him. The same can be said for Gabriel when he first meets Nana Chastian as well.
Gabriel, in need of money to help take care of his son and pay his wife's medical bills gets involved in illegal fighting. But we are talking about fighting to the death. Although Gabriel excelled at fighting, Inanna kept an eye on him because of her promise to take care of him, protect him, but also because she cares for him. After his first successful fight, and the fact that he became an Internet sensation (as the fights were live-streamed over the Internet), he was forced into fighting again. Things don't go so well for him the second time around though!
Now there are other storylines in this book that are connected to Inanna and Gabriel's story. So it switches from one to another frequently as well as taking you back into Inanna's past. I particularly enjoyed learning about Inanna's history, her family and her first love.
When I agreed to read and review Dark Longing I asked the author if the books were standalones or if the stories were connected. She said they can be read as standalones. I'm inclined to disagree. LOL In book 1 you are introduced to many of the secondary characters that appear in book 2. And, in fact, one of the storylines that runs throughout books 1 and 2 revolves around Sophia, the teenage queen of the Pure Ones. She meets Ere in Pure Healing as he's a teaching assistant in one of her college classes. She's attracted to him, and although I can't quite say he feels the same for her, he is a bit obsessed with her. And that mysterious storyline continues in Dark Longing, but only a little bit. The mystery behind who Ere is and what his interest in Sophia is still remains.
Another character that you read about in both books doesn't even have a name or a specified gender. This character is referred to as it or the creature. It's featured more in this book than the first though, as if it's storyline is building from one book to another. Which is basically what is happening with Sophia's storyline. So yeah, I personally can't say that the books are standalone. But the main storylines are, for the most part anyway, wrapped up by the end of each book. It's the subplots that continue from one to another.
So while I did enjoy Dark Longing and I loved the storyline about Gabriel and Inanna, I did find it kind of confusing and a bit difficult to follow along. I think part of the reason for that is, as I already mentioned, one of the characters is more often than not referred to as 'it' and, as far as I was aware, was a vampire. But then there is another character that is only, at certain times, referred to as 'the vampire', so for awhile there I was thinking they were the same character. You do eventually learn who the vampire is and the reason the author didn't use their name makes sense. Not referring to the vampire by name, especially when interacting with the creature, added to the intrigue.
One other little thing that I found odd was that in the present time of the story Inanna goes by the name Nana Chastian and in her past she is Inanna. Yet the author more often than not referred to her as Inanna throughout. Which, if I'm being honest, I preferred the name Inanna anyway. :) However, it just felt weird as well. I don't know, I just felt as if the author should have stuck with Nana in the present and Inanna when referring to her distant past. At least until her past identity becomes known to those in the present.
I am curious to see where the author takes this series. In particular, I'm interested in seeing where Sophia's story goes.
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** I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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