Darkness Dawns

Immortal Guardians Series #1

By: Dianne Duvall

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Once, Sarah Bingham's biggest challenge was making her students pay attention in class. Now, after rescuing a wounded stranger, she's landed in the middle of a battle between corrupt vampires and powerful immortals who also need blood to survive. Roland Warbrook is the most compelling man Sarah has ever laid hands on. But his desire for her is mingled with a hunger he can barely control...

In his nine centuries of immortal existence, no woman has tempted Roland as much as Sarah. But asking her to love him is impossible---when it means forfeiting the world she's always known, and the life he would do anything to protect.

©2011 Dianne Duvall (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This is a strong start in what looks to be a thrilling and chilling new paranormal series. Fantastic!" ( Romantic Times)

Love it

I am a true fan of Dianne Duvall. She is a great storyteller in all the ways that I can imagine. Kristen Potter’s narration kept me going throughout the whole book.

Great read!!!

This is hopefully a great start to a lengthy series. It started out a little slow for me but it picked up the pace as you get to know the characters. give it a shot, it's worth it.

Liked it more than I anticpated

Where does Darkness Dawns rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For PNR, not too bad. The twist in the plot of this one is that there are Immortals and Vampires. Both drink blood, both sensitive to light blah blah blah, but apparently all Immortals are just good, and Vampires can't help but become bad. I'm waiting for that mold to be broken at some point in the series if it continues, but for now, thems the brakes.

What did you like best about this story?

In general the quality of the story was good. No unnecesary character drama, no insipid heroines, just straight forward PNR (heavy on the romance) with a little suspense/ mystery thrown in for good measure.

What does Kirsten Potter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ms. Potter does a good job of reflecting her narration pace with the pace of the story, so when stuff gets heavy, she gets heavy, etc. She also does Brit accents very well (I know she does a lot of highlander stories) so that's a sweet bonus.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sadly, no. I got a little bored halfway through so I had to step away for a bit before I could finish. That being said, it picked up pace toward the end and I'm probably going to get the second book in the series with my next credit.

Any additional comments?

Here are my negative comments that made it not a 5-star rating:

1) As others mention, there is a LOT of heavy-handed promotion of the organic lifestyle. I'm totally down with all of it, but it's not only jarringly out-of-place in a PNR, it really disrupts the story. If it had been brought up once or twice when Sarah and Roland first get to know each other that would be fine, but Ms. Duvall has to drop not-so-subtle hints throughout the entire book, at which point it's like, OK, I GET IT. The Horse is dead. Please Stop Beating It.

2) PRIUS ENGINES DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT ROAR TO LIFE. THEY ARE SILENT UNDER 10 MPH. DO BETTER RESEARCH NEXT TIME, KTHX.

3) I'm sure many, many, many women love men who are all sensitive and talk about their feelings and such. I guess I have too many strong and silent men in my life, because I actually find it to be....too much. Too mushy? Too metro even? I dunno. Feel like their actions, not their words, should be the demonstration.

Darkness Dawns

I have reading many book series similar to this and I have to say I can almost drop into the story myself. This kind of thing only happens to a select stories series. Kudos to you.

Good story

I got some good feels from this, it was well written. I was able to identify and empathize with the characters.

The concept of Immortals/Vampires was interesting and very well explained, although I missed the use of certain common vampire tropes like a vulnerability to silver and UV, which just make too much scientific sense to me to have been omitted from a vampire story.

The sex scenes were great.

Kirsten Potter did a great job. Her pacing, accents, and male voices were good, didn’t take me out of the story at all.

This is the second Immortal Guardians/Gifted One’s story I’ve listened to, the first being Rendevous With Yesterday, the second Gifted One’s story. It was also a four-star, and I had not planned to listen to another unless it was on sale. Fortunately, this one was part of the Romance Collection, and now I’m motivated to find any others in the collection.

Good for a Vampire story

Ever since “Twilight,” books about vampires had been ruined for me. So as you can tell, it’s taken me a while to get back into them. This one I really liked. Lots of twists and turn and a lot of different perspectives in one book.

I think the narrator did a great job considering I love duet narration better than anything. She gave them different inflections in their voices as well as cadences in their accents.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment. I need to know what’s going on with Ami.

Interesting Concept

What other book might you compare Darkness Dawns to and why?

Kind of True blood meets Twilight, meets the Night Prince series with a twist.

Any additional comments?

I liked the twist of "immortal guardians." This is a concept I hadn't heard of before. I got a little bored at some points but just switched to a different book and came back a few days later. I get very bored with the whole "I love you so much." "No, I love you so much." "No, I will die for you." "No, I will fight and never let you because I will die for you." I find this common in a lot of books that are this style but nevertheless it is a good book. Predictable in some areas but interesting enough that I will give the second book a try. I read this as part of the romance package, I'm not sure I would have paid full price for it. Worth a credit if you like this style of book.

fun and exciting

it's an easy listen, with light humor and fun. if you want something to transfer you to the place where the good guys win.

the narrator has a good voice and is a joy to listen to.

Great series start! Excited for next one

Smart, brave, compassionate female lead. She is not a doormat and not self-absorbed. Male lead is humorously non-social and cranky which I loved. Lots of romance and action. Super happy I have a new series to dive into.

GRAND-SLAM!!!

What made the experience of listening to Darkness Dawns the most enjoyable?

THE NARRATOR MADE THIS BOOK AN AWSOME READ!! SHE DID THE ACCENTS PERFECTLY.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was written very well. I have bought and read all her books on this series but I enjoyed this Vampire story better on Audible. The narrator really made this book so much better. Thank you Ms. Potter

What does Kirsten Potter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

WOW! I bought the books in this series and read them, however, Ms. Potter really pulled me into the story. Her accents and change of characters were brought to life. I enjoyed the audible better than me reading them and trying to imagine the characters as they speak. Great narrating!!!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Love the whole book, but I loved the interaction between Sara and Rowland. I also like Amy's parts in the book so I bought Amy and Marcus's story.

Any additional comments?

Ms. Potter as a narrator is AWSOME!! Keep Narrating!