Caressed by Moonlight (Rulers of Darkness) [Kindle Edition]

Amanda J. Greene (Author), Danielle Donaldson (Editor), Kathy Davie (Editor), Kimberly Killion (Illustrator)

Book Description

Dorian Vlakhos is no ordinary aristocrat. He is a vampire king, who will do anything to save his clan from complete annihilation, before an ancient curse can claim his immortal life.

Penniless and orphaned, Victoria Kingston has nothing to bring to a marriage, yet she must shackle an unsuspecting gentleman into marriage by the end of the month or forfeit her rights as guardian of her younger sister. With the help of her dearest friend, Victoria begins her hunt, and vows to stay far away from the dark, mysterious, Dorian Vlakhos.

After meeting the beautifully innocent Miss Kingston, Dorian had to have her. He would do absolutely anything to make Victoria his. One sweet stolen kiss would bring them together while a force, more powerful than any vampire, would bind them for all eternity, but treachery, war, and death rule Dorian’s dark world and Victoria would be fortunate to survive.

Product Details

• File Size: 527 KB
• Print Length: 294 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004EEONLK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,469 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful And Enticing! September 28, 2011

By N. Medina

Format:Kindle Edition

Orphaned and left penniless after she ends up having to sell everything she owns to cover her father's debts, Victoria Kingston finds herself traveling to London with her little sister in tow. She ends up on her aunt's doorstep, detested by the very woman because of the fact that she resembles the woman whom, by her standards, bewitched her brother and caused him to leave everything he'd ever known behind.

Her aunt makes it clear that she's not welcome, but she's more than willing to take her sister off of her hands. She gives the girl an ultimatum, citing that she'll need to marry in order to see her sibling. She further rubs this fact in by telling Victoria that she must get this done by the end of the month or she will forfeit her right to be her sister's guardian.

With no other course of action, she confides in her best friend and together they concoct a plan that might offer Victoria the success she needs to gain an end to her own means. Yet there's one thing she hadn't counted upon, Prince Dorian Vlahkos. Dark, tall, and handsome, he stirs her blood in ways that no one else ever has. Her attraction grows by the day, yet she does her best to resist his charms.

Thrown into the streets because of a stolen kiss with the man himself, she's catapulted into a world she's never really known. Dorian can't deny that he cares for the lovely minx, although he doesn't quite understand why. Refusing to leave her on the streets, he agrees to marry her, allowing her to retain her sister's guardianship; something that she's truly grateful for.

Although, she doesn't exactly know what he is, at first, she soon comes to accept him as he is. Her heart refuses to believe that he's anything but a good man, even if he is a vampire. Bound by love, they strive to make the best of the cards that life has dealt them while trying to protect those they love.

I enjoyed every moment of this story. The heat and the love that played out between both characters were truly endearing. Amanda painted such a vivid picture of their world that it wasn't hard to get so engrossed and attached to it and the characters within it. I'm truly looking forward to more of Amanda's work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not *that* dark... June 13, 2012

By VampireNovelFan

Format:Kindle Edition

Victoria Kingston's early life hasn't been easy. Following the death and her mother and suicide of her father, it's up to her to take care of her younger sister. With no money and choice, they are forced to move to London to stay with a resentful aunt. Giving her an impossible ultimatum to marry a random suitor by the end of the month, Victoria tries her best to find a suitable gentlemen, or she surely will lose guardianship of her sister forever.

Crossing paths with Dorian Vlakhos, playboy aristocrat and secret vampire king, she tries to resist his whiles. But she is no match, especially as Dorian places his promiscuous side in check for good. While appealing and seemingly perfect, Dorian's secret puts Victoria and her family at risk. As the target of witches and hunters, there is an all out war between their kind and he must fight for his people. But can he keep his new beloved safe?

I enjoyed Amanda Greene's efforts with this book. It was a very light and breezy read, even with the drama, conflict and tension. Dorian is ancient, but you'd never really know it. His personality seems to evolve with the times and he rarely has to drink blood. For me, the more blood the better, but it's certainly not a neglected plot point. Victoria is likable enough, but I think I liked her little sister the most. She's been through a lot of tragedy but still finds a way to be a happy and innocent child; it was sweet to see how much Victoria cared about her. That relationship resonated with me a lot, along with Dorian's interactions with her.

The romance between the starring couple certainly doesn't disappoint. Per the usual paranormal romance formula, it builds throughout the novel, but the teasing wasn't very agonizing.

While it's a period novel and the narrative is appropriate, there were times when I felt like the dialogue was too modern. I mean, how many people used the word "slut" back then? "Harlot", maybe. "Jezebel", sure! But I genuinely had to look up origins of the word just to check for consistency. Other words that bothered me were "pigheaded" and "Tory" (short for Victoria) to name a few. Though it was a minor quirk, it wasn't significant enough to hamper my overall enjoyment.

While there's nothing earth shatteringly new or original, I do recommend the book. It kept my interest fairly well and I wrapped it up in only two days. I look forward to reading the second novel, and if I wasn't pressed for time I'd probably read it immediately. But since this book is a standalone it's not completely necessary.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful love story February 14, 2012

By M. Rodriguez

Format:Paperback

SO! In my world authors are like celebrities and I got to go back and forth with this author when I won a giveaway of this book. It wasn't anything crazy but it was enough for me to know she was really nice and on top of things.

With that said I was really hoping to like this book. I TOTALLY DID! I read it in one night.

Victoria Kingston has just lost both of her parents within a few months time. She is left to care for her eight year old sister and is flat broke. Victoria heads over to her aunt, who hates her because she looks so much like her mother, and asks for her help. The aunt refuses to really help too much and tells Victoria that she has 30 days to find a husband before she is thrown out of her house and will never see her sister again. So Victoria does the only thing she can do in the 1800's... She finds herself a husband.

Dorian Vlakhos is a Vampire King! He comes to London from a far away land in hopes that the Witches who hunt his people will follow him and leave his clan alone.

Dorian definitely was a character! He had personality, he was funny, smart, elegant, passionate, warm but with a warrior mentality. He was a pretty cool character. Victoria was...English. :-) I found her funny at times, mostly when she would interact with Dorian at the social gatherings. I think what I most liked about Victoria was how she wanted a love like her parents and although her marriage started as one of convenience she was determined to end it as one of love. I loved how both Victoria and Dorian interacted with the little sister, Margaret.

Right away when you hear that the book will be about vampires you think of certain obvious characteristics a vampire should have. Nowadays, writers are trying to stand out and create unique vampire qualities in their own stories and not follow the norm. I think Amanda J Greene did this well. I think she found the perfect balance between a traditional vampire and a more evolved vampire. I haven't read anything yet with a Vampire King in it nor have I read anything about vampires in the 1800's and it worked well together. I believed in Dorian and Victoria's love. I could see it growing and it happened naturally. The story was easy to follow as well as the characters that were introduced along the way. I like how things changed dramatically when Dorian had to return to his native land and the ending was so unexpected.

I think the only bad things I have to say is that the book needed light editing. There were a few misspelled words or words in general that didn't belong but not terribly bad. There was one inconsistency but again it wasn't horribly bad. (I won't say... let's see if you catch it.) The last thing I found weird was a line that I know would not have been said in the 1800's.

Overall it was written nicely and I look forward to the next book. I'm just sad that it's not featuring two characters I would have loved to see their story told.

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