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)

Fans of Ward, Kenyon, & Cole will LOVE this one!

Nola504Nerds Blog - personal read, honest review
Aside from the main character driving a Prius, I really loved this immortal/vampire world! There wasn’t a dark and mysterious vibe that is the norm in vampire novels. Our guy Roland is environmentally conscious, grows organic vegetables, and only drinks the blood of evil people like rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. Oh, and he uses the remains of the dead bad guys as compost for his vegetable garden. This all sounds funny, but it honestly made for a very lovable character. His sweet side was oh so endearing. As an introvert with anxiety, I love how anti-social Roland is. And his sexy side makes your toes curl! Roland and Sarah’s chemistry is off the charts hot! They’re so drawn to each other. Roland comes out of his turtle shell for Sarah. Who by the way, is very strong and heroic. She’s a school teacher who loves to garden. Even being thrown into a scary unknown paranormal world, she remains stoic and caring. The secondary characters are amazing as well and I can’t wait to read their stories! I hope their as action packed, erotic, and enthralling as this one. I’ve officially added Dianne Duvall to my list of favorite vampire/immortal writers.

“I’m not antisocial. I just want to be left alone.” ~ Roland
“Beautiful, brave and possessed of violent tendencies. I like her.”
“Marcus is the real deal. He sees dead people and it is neither cool nor comfortable.”

5 Passionate & Action-Packed Stars! Nola504Nerds Blog

Narrator Kirsten Potter - AMAZING! She really brought the story to life!

loved it

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narrator was great.

What a great start

An amazing story full of action, love the way they fell in love and all the side characters just perfect. Love how we learned a bit more about the story of the gifted ones.

The narration superb

Fast pace & Steamy romance .. credit & cash worthy

This book is not unique in its theme on good vs bad vamps....if you have read books from authors like Christine Feehan and Lynsay Sands you will find a lot similarities but the story is so entertaining that you will forget all about the other authors series. The book is so well written and I think the narrator did a really good job. I like how the author sets you up for her next book and maybe even for the entire series. She gives just enough of taste that you will look up when the next one is coming out. (Dec 2011;) The other thing that I like is the whole story was not always about the main characters. This book is a romance with steamy sex scenes. So if your not into that look else where. Also folks who do not want to get involved in a series that will probably be going for a well just like the previous authors mention then also look else where because this book leaves you with a lot of unansweres question. There is also a lot of fight scence which I personally like. Action. Hot men. Sexy romance. Good vs Evil. Good narrator. Makes for fun listening....hope you likey:)

So steamy and captivating!

I never thought that this kind of steamy romance story would be so captivating story wise! I loved it.

Roland with his trust issues.

This book is part of the Romance Package on Audible and I decided to figure out who this Dianne Duvall person is. A lot of the Facebook groups that I am part of have members who follow Dianne and this series is always being recommended. Since I like to try new authors I decided why not. Why not try a new series to figure out what are the hullabaloo is about? This book starts off with a bang. A fight scene is taking place within the first 5 minutes of the audiobook and I am all for it.

Roland is a vampire but not really. Like most not really vampires, in this case Immortals, he is out here trying to save the world and kicking but. Unfortunately for him he is lured into a trap and now battling to survive. But like any good action storybook we have a heroine who saves his life not knowing what he really is. Everything seems to get a bit complicated when Sarah is thrown in the middle of this conflict.

Sarah and Roland are dancing around the feelings with one another and I'm okay with that. They do not fall in bed with one another within the first two chapters which always a plus but it wasn't a slow burn like some authors do. Their love affair seems to take the appropriate amount of time to build. There were a couple of side characters that were introduced and I am already invested.

I'm invested in Seth who is the leader of the Immortals. David, who is second in command. Daryl who is David's second. Marcus who is simply fantastic and who boom 2 Night Reigns is about and I'm totally excited for that. I don't know if I am invested in Sebastian who we will get to know more about ater but I do feel bad for him. He is the main antagonist of this book but definitely not of the series.

This book was a great beginning to the series. This book sets up a very interesting war between the Immortals and the vampires since, unlike other series that have vampires, these vampires are going crazy. This book has some similarities with other series that I have followed but it is original and its own way.

It takes awhile to draw you in.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

There were gaps and thoughts were not always carried through, however it grew on me. In the beginning there was too much of two characters, the two having frequent sex with no plot to draw you in. Other books have more plot to go with the romance and sex. If you stick with it, other characters and a plot develops. I guess there is or will be another book because a girl is brought into many scenes, she is eluded to being special, in the end a paper is passed around with every one gasping over intelligence about her. That is a cheap trick to get people to buy the next book.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I have listen to many books with vampires and supernatural. This one is weak.

What three words best describe Kirsten Potter’s performance?

The last half of the book is entertaining. Other books are more put together like Jeaniene Frost, Jim Butcher and Deborah Harkness.

Was Darkness Dawns worth the listening time?

The narrator's performance was done well.

Any additional comments?

I bought it on sale for 4.95 it was worth it. It could use more detail in the battle scenes and humorous self talk. Banter between characters is never over done.

Vampires loves Must read

totally held my attention, moved at a great pace. a definite must read for those who love Vampire stories. Kristen Potter's narrations are superb!!!

Some Voices......

After you've read as many multiple characters voices from 1 or 2 people, you do continue if okay but unfortunaly sometimes its just not
the right fit. However, even though
the male voices were somewhat femin-ish they were done well. Now the main Man here sounds great w/his lighter accent & especially his manners. Main woman, spicy, Nerdy loves to read, they each have these Wonderful opportunities to get some "innocent peeks"of each others early on and of course popping in comes
his miriad of ancient friends. The Oldest of these being Seth & his "2nd?" or just another ancient friends.
I must admit Seth has a way of speaking and even tone is quite soothing💓. Book #1 is really entertaining as well as pleasant to listen to Story is complex & not just sex!! But being sexy when "needed"
and respectfully stopped when the many attacks from the New bad guy
& and His crew begin their attempt that seems aimed at Roland (man#1)
even these Ancient Warriors have a tough time trying try to find out why.
Roland & the others can't seem to find out why he popped up now & why he is determined to attack him and his new "lady love" His focus seems is
not easy to figure out either. I need to review books more often. Especially for books like this. HIGHLY Recommended!! ENJOY!!!

Immortal guardian

truly loved reading this book. the story drew me in and held my attention until the end