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)

Really enjoyed! Looking forward to more!

Really liked the introduction of the characters and I am looking forward to getting to know more of them individually. I loved the humor and the love story. It is also great to see very strong female characters that can stand up and defend themselves and the one’s they love.

Good Plot

Good plot and Characters. love the Narrator's Voice. can't wait to listen to book 2 in this series.

meh

i liked the story. it was nothing too unique. kind of predictable but i think it is a good start to a new series. looking forward to the next one

Just as good the second time I read it..

I first read this September 23, 2013, and immediately fell in love with the Immortal Guardians, until I read the last one in August 2015. Now, 2 years have passed and there’s not a new story yet. There have been other stories by Dianne Duval but no Immortal Guardians, just promises of more.

It was nice visiting with Roland and Sarah again, and watching them falling in love. As well as seeing Seth, David, Marcus, Lizette, Etienne, Darnel, Bastien and Amiriska. They are just fabulous characters and I did enjoy their stories through the years.

This book introduced you to a few of the characters, but there were more to come in future books and incredible battles between the Immortals and the vampires and the humans. This was about Bastien, an Immortal who thought he was a vampire, but didn’t do the horrible things vamps did. And Seth had to find him and bring him into the fold. And then there was the female that Seth and David rescued from some kind of military facility and at the very end of this book it hints at what she is but doesn’t tell you. But, since I’ve read them all I know what she is, you’ll have to read the book if you want to know the answer to that.

There were 2 or 3 explicit sex scenes in this book and the F-bomb was used 19 times.

As to the narration: Even back in 2011 Kirsten Potter was a great narrator. She did wonderful men’s voices and that’s most important to me when it comes to female narrators. A wonderful listen.

A Personal Must In Any Romance Library!

Not since my first introduction to paranormal romance in 2002 have I enjoyed a book so much. The narrator was very good, but the plot and main characters took on a riveting life of their own. Can't wait to learn more about Seth and AMY!

Very enjoyable

This was just what I prefer! Low angst, happy couple, great H/h without h being stupid and doing dumb things just bc “no man will tell her what to do!” LOL! and no stupid miscommunications! I really liked this story and listened in one setting! Downloading book 2 right now so I can start first thing!!

Loved the story, the narration is spectacular

The narrator is absolutely amazing, she really gets into the passionate scenes, it's impressive!!! Loved the story too. Reminds me of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter Series

Amazing

This is a great book and will keep your interest throughout. I highly recommend it.

Pretty good.

It's very difficult to get past the authors anti-science, conspiracy theory laden craziness. Especially with the preachy, matyred way the main character says things.

I've enjoyed the story and the world she's set up. Making vampirism a virus that mutates differently in people is a cool concept. I wasn't a huge fan of Sarah but her character improved a bit over time.

The narrator is great! I'll definitely be buying more books that she narrates.

If you can deal with the face palm inducing conspiracies it's a good read.

Vampire & Immortals

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, if you like the Vampire & Immortal type romance then yes. If you are looking for a earth shattering novel of Tolstoy's quality...nope, not so much. It was enjoyable and easy to listen to. A book that was ok to interrupt but I definitely wanted to finish it at some point. There was hot, steamy sex--but not so much sexual tension. I would say there was more story then sex scenes, which is what I prefer.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I generally liked them all but can't say that I loved a character so much I would remember them next month. I thought Sarah jumped in with the immortals pretty quickly without too much ado. Hello? Roland is the brooding, loner immortal. So maybe they were a little cliche. Bastian was probably the most intriguing--perhaps because of the mystery surrounding him.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed the fight scenes--KP read them with such urgency that it really added some excitement to them. Although when they let some of the Vampires and Humans live because they hadn't crossed the line into killing "innocents," well, that was a bit of a twist that I liked but felt it came out of the blue.

Any additional comments?

I wrote this review because I had read other reviews right after I started the book and thought I shouldn't have paid the credit--maybe I won't even finish the book. But since it was what I had downloaded and I was driving, it was my only choice. I didn't think it was that horrible. Yes there were some paragraphs spent on Sarah's food choice and then the Immortals diet also...did it carry on (and on and on) like some readers suggested? I didn't think so. I think over all it was a good book. I think KP did fairly well on keeping the voices distinct. I did think Roland's accent wavered. It was soft and then more pronounced--which sometimes was confusing. But over all a good listen.

And yes I will probably listen to another of her books.