Customer Reviews

A Darker Dream

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Well. For a romance this is pretty good. Although the main character "runs out of the room" an awful lot. She's always running out of one room or another in fear. Oh, well...

Fairly untouched by logic or reason, full of passionate yearning and tormented souls. Very gothic. You should read the last story in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint-Germain Chronicles, a collection of short stories about Saint-Germain; it mocks this sort of broody vampire. Sorry, Vampyre.

I'm sort of making fun of this book, but then again I bought it and read it and went just as doe-eyed and sappy over the poor angsty hero as any fangirl might... Oh, well. Just goes to show I'm as silly as any other girl when it comes to big, brooding heroes with dark hair and soulful eyes.

This might be a simple love story, but it's a simple love story with a bite... There is no major plot, or looming danger. No twists and turns... If your looking for that you might want to try: I Burn For You by Susan Sizemore... However, if your in the mood for an endearing love story, this is the book to read. :-)
I couldn't put it down... ....

This is the first book of Ashley's I have ever read but it will not be the last. I loved the fact that it was a simple love story often times in historical romances there has to be some sort of external mystery or other action taking place besides the love story. Ashley creates an endearing tale about a vampire in love with a human. There were instances where the characters became a little to repetitve but besides that i would give it five stars. I would encourange anyone who loves vampire novels or historical romance to read this book.

Well after reading some of the reviews people gave for this book I started to disgree with them. Yes the book could have been a 100 pages shorter if the convo of "leave me now" and "no Iwont leave you I love you." Didnt occur so oftem, but it fit into the story... after all it is a romance novel people!

This book was great. I just finished reading it for the 2nd time today and I loved it even more then I did the first day, and this book happened to be one I picked up at the super market while waiting in line.

The hero is a lonley vampyer who meet a young woman who falls in love with. For the first time in four hundred years he feels love and needs it, but he can hardly control his hunger.

This story brings a new light to vampyers and romance. Every romance lover needs to read this book. You senses will run wild.

There were a few things that bothered me about this book. First, it could have been about 100 pages shorter by taking out 3 or 4 of the days and conversations of "Leave here." "No, I won't leave. I love you." "I love you too and need you. Please don't leave me." as Rayven fought with his hunger and emotions.
Also, if Rhianna "fled the room" one more time I was going to throw the book across the room. At times she was a strong character to love Rayven and stay with him no matter what, but the constant turning and running was a contradiction for her and eventually really made me mad.
If the book would have been a little shorter and, therefore, less repititious I would have given it a 4. There was an extremely powerful love between these two characters. I really liked the ending - you don't see that too much in vampire romance and it's nice every now and then. The secondary characters also added to the story.
I strongly recommend this if you're into vampire romance, as long as you can cope with a little repitition. I also recommend Christine Feehan (who doesn't?!) and Maggie Shayne for this subgenre.

Rayven, a vampire of some 400 years' existence, sees a young girl being auctioned off so that her family will have money to buy food. Seeing the local gentry eyeing Rhianna up and planning to have her in their beds, he intervenes and buys her. But we soon discover that he has no intention of sleeping with her - he only wants to creep into her bedroom at dead of night and drink from her, hypnotising her so that she thinks she's dreaming.

Rhianna and Rayven are drawn to each other, much as he tries to keep away from her and make her stay away from him. In the end, afraid that he will eventually hurt or kill her because his need for her seems to increase over time, he sends her away to Paris for three years. But when she comes back, she's determined to seek him out again and she gets his agreement to let her live with him for a year.

And then she discovers that he's really a vampire... and her love for him mingles with fear.

I ...agree ... that this book has problems. The angst on its own didn't bother me, although it was repetitive; every time we thought that Rayven had got over his 'I'm going to kill her if I don't let her go' fears, they resurged again, almost to a ludicrous level at one point in which Rayven almost kills himself. The period atmosphere wasn't right either; the characters did not behave like nineteenth-centuey English people, nor did they speak in a manner commensurate with the period. Dallon Montroy in particular (and what kind of a name is that for an English nobleman?!) did not fit at all with the period.

What bothered me, too, was the part of the book where Rayven takes Rhianna to London for several weeks. They stay in a hotel - but where does Rayven spend the days? He's supposed to need complete darkness and privacy, and yet he'd never get that in a hotel-room. Yet there's no mention of how that is handled.

... the absurd and very convenient plot device at the end was almost an insult to the readers' intelligence. Ashley could have done much better than that!

Having said that, parts of the book were very enjoyable and kept me reading, so on balance perhaps 2.5 stars really.

This is a wonderful story. It made me cry and that makes it a keeper for sure. Its very tender in its love scenes and the interaction between the main characters was moving. Its a historical vampire story but could have taken place during any time.

The story is about a very old, 400 years, tortured vampire, Rayven. He has been alone so long that when he sees a young woman being sold by her father he must buy her. He knows that he must send her away but he can't help being drawn to her and selfishly wants to keep her to make the lonelyness and the despair go away if for only a little while. He hates what he is and wishes to see the sun again so much that he is willing to risk harming her in order to have some of the light that she brings to his dark world.

Rhianna, the young girl is sold by her father in order for her younger sisters to be fed. She goes willingly to Rayvens castle but is very suprised that the monster he is supposed to be is very gentle and human in his wants and desires to be loved. She is given eveything she wants or could desire and in turn she is dertermined to bring him light and love.

They both love each other so much that they are willing to face anything for the other. I cried when I finished this book because it made me so happy that they overcame so many obsticles. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

I read Deeper than the Night previously and I was a little disappointed. It was a good book, but it was not what I expected. This was a TRUE vampire book. What can I say about Rayven-too handsome! It is a tale about what people will sacrifice for love. Great book!

Through dark soulless eyes, he claims Rhianna McLeod as his own. By doing so, he saves her the shame and humiliation of being auctioned off by her heartless father. Now she belongs to the mysterious Lord Rayven, a man that is known to live in the shadows of a darkness that only the night can provide for him. Will she be able to erase the pain and loneliness that consumes him? Or will her efforts be met with grave consequences?

Rayven is a prisoner doomed to a life of misery. Upon seeing Rhianna, he realizes that she has the ability to bring light into his bleak existence. She, alone, is able to bring him a sense of peace and tranquility, and to blur the memories that haunt the depths of his being. Unfortunately, the bliss he finds in her arms cannot last forever, as within a year he has made a promise to himself to release her and set her free. Doing so could mean a return to the heart of darkness that lies within him, and to the cold unfeeling heart that is capable of destroying the both of them.

This is the first vampire novel that I have ever read. Its words called out to me magically, as I skimmed the first paragraph. I was impressed with Ms. Ashley's ability to persuade the reader to accept the vampire existence. I felt myself agonizing over how it would end; I felt Rayven was bound for certain death and destruction. Only an author as talented as Ms. Ashley could move a skeptical reader to feel such intense emotions

This is the story of Rayven, a standard issue 'I'm a vampire, Hear me Mourn' vampire. His dark world changes dramatically when he buy Rhianna from her father. He falls almost instantly in love with her because she's the paragon of sunlight and goodness, ect. just like so many other heroines who wander into the sub-genre.
Rhianna has as much personality as a fence post. Most of her dialogue throughout the book consisted of "Yes, my lord." Being Rayven is the tall,dark, dangerous, and oh-so tortured hero she falls completely in love with him in record time too.
The rest of the novel is spent dallying around the subject of "I love you, but I have to give you up becuase I'm a Vampire and I might kill you." It's enough to make a person scream!
Besides the plot, I never got a sense of period which is bad since this is a historical vampire romance. What I hated most about this book was the ending. It's WHAM-BAM super-contrived cure for vampirism. If Rayven's old mentor knew about this all those centuries ago why didn't he just change him back then? WHY!?
I would only recommand this for fairy-tale romance lovers who don't can how illogical the plot is as long as people say 'I love you' alot. If you are like I am, and prefer more realistic books look else where. Read Maggie Shayne or Nancy Gideon.
Vampires are pretty interesting. Usually a little angst is okay, not this soul-consuming depression that Rayven goes throught. I also prefer when hero and heroine have some wit about them, and actually work around the whole immortal vampire-mortal problem instead of rushing towards a solution that just drops from the sky to end the book.