Customer Reviews

Dark Passion - Book Three in the Brethren Series

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was so looking forward to this book because I thought we'd get a proper tie up of the first one, Dark Thirst. In addition, I thought we would be getting more of the original players, Brandon and Lina. However, if you too were under this impression, you're going to be thoroughly disappointed.

The author had an opportunity to make this book explosive because as for those of you who have been keeping up with the series know, Lina has done something very upsetting towards the Brethren. For this, they had the excuse to go after her and Brandon. For example, during one scene in the story, Augustus, Brandon's grandfather, tries to find out from him who murdered their loved ones. He's beside himself with grief. I just knew the story would be taking a turn for the better when he discovered the truth. That revelation, nonetheless, was all but dismissed. This series should have ended with the three people who made it popular in the first place (Brandon, Lina, and Rene). Yet, we see Lina at the beginning and again at the end. Heck, she was rarely even mentioned throughout Dark Passion. I kept asking myself "What happened to Lina?"


So, what happened to "this" story? I'll tell you where I felt it went wrong. The author refused to focus on the original protagonists from Dark Thirst. There were far too many loose ends that, in my opinion, were all but forgotten. In addition, this book wasn't nearly as frightening as the first book. Instead, we get Brandon's sister, Tessa, and their grandparents. Sorry, but I didn't care for Dark Hunger because of Tessa, and again she shows up in Dark Passion. I know Reinke has the capacity to produce excellent work. Her Dark Thirst has become one of my favorites among the paranormals, and I'm not even a fan of the genre. I can't understand how each new book in the series has ended up being worse than its predecessor.

I know this review is lacking because I'm really not sure what was going on in the story myself. It was such a bore that I could barely finish the thing. I so loved the first book in the series, but the author missed an opportunity to put a great ending to it.

I really had no clue that this story was going to take the turns that it did. This book explains when Brandon's grandfater is so mean to him and you find out many others are around. I was screaming out loud when the marriage was going to happen but calmed when it all panned out.

I'm trying not to give away the key points in the story, but if you have read the other two books of this series you will not be disappointed in this one. As in book two, book three starts off right where book two ends. AMAZING

I was disappointed in both the storyline and what I consider excessive price. To go from $4.99 to $19 is just too much a stretch for what good I got out of reading it.

Sorry, I was just too disappointed to give it more than 3 stars.

First let me mention the positive aspects about this book:

1) The length; the other two books were in the 135-145 range while this book is over 310+ pages.

2) More historical background about the brethren in Kentucky.

3) New and interesting characters.

Now, the reasons why I did not like this one. I was expecting an explosive confrontation. After all of the crap that Brandon and Tessa went through while living with their dang near psycho family in Kentucky; after spending the first two books running for their lives from them all we get, as the reader is basically the explanation of "cruel to be kind." What?

This book spends so much time on the history of Auguste vs Augustus Nobel (the grandfather) that it seems to almost invoke pity for him and his situation with the elders. I wanted to continue hating him. I liked it when he was the big bad, power crazy, character from the previous two books that everyone was running from.

The new characters were bitter sweet too. We get a full blooded vampire doctor with a death wish; a female human nurse who is nearly fed up with her employers; a half blooded female vampire who is almost certifiably crazy; and actually two blast from the past characters but the mainly new one is knocking on death's door.
In regards to the new characters, the half blooded female vampire character is pretty much abandoned, like Lina, by the author.
The half blooded female vampire character's history is tied to the brethren's tale of the abomination, the beneath; and this character's existence served as the catalyst for the separation of the original brethren households. This character is but a blip on the radar; given just enough mention to cause intrigue and questions.

Then there is Lina, poor Lina she spends the majority of this story on the road in the company of another vampire. They leave in the beginning and then arrive on scene after the big stand off is over. Lina is left in attack and battle mode only to be told to basically get over it because all is right with the world now.

Also, there is a suicide of a gentle character which really had me feeling sad but then expecting the result to contribute to a justifiable, explosive confrontation- right? No, because it never happened.

Anyways, to me the book could have been better; preferably with Brandon, Tessa, Lina, and Rene storming through the doors of all of the brethren great-houses in Kentucky with machine guns in tow, blasting away all of the evil, inbred, violent, vampires who had caused them pain and then taking over the operation; beginning a new era of vampire and human relationships. One can only hope.

I just finished this book and I'm utterly depressed. Really, they've just killed off so many characters over the course of this novel, and the ones left over are either dying, or ended up not being as cool as I thought they were. It's just all a big bummer. I kept reading trying desperatly to find the happy, and really I don't think I ever really found it. The light at the end of the tunnel was there, but it's batteries were so low it was flickering and about to shut off. I found myself skimming through portions of this book because many of the scenes were so drawn out; exciting fight scenes became tedious and boring because the just went on FOREVERRRRRRRRRR... Rene ends up being an serious idiot, and for a bunch of people who are really old enough to know better, they all seem to act like a bunch of stupid teenagers. It seems that there is plenty of character set-up so that the series could continue on, but really, I just don't know if I can handle much more of this stuff. I read like a book junkie, and depressing endings are not something that leaves me wanting more. We'll see what the author does next, but until then I'm going to go dive into some 'guaranteed happy ending' novels to try to get this bad taste out of my brain. Blah...

I loved the first and second book but the third was a total and utter flip. I regret paying the seventeen dollars for it. In my opinion skip it and save your money. It's a real shame because it ruins the series. I believe the author should have added a fourth book to the series to close it out properly.

Not my favorite of the series and a little slow. Ok story line, but the characters don;t flow as well as some of the others I've read.

This book was full of so many surprises. Much of the character history revealed in the 1st 2 books took on a whole new light when previously unknown details and history were revealed in the concluding story. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't give specific examples.
I suggest that you re-read the 1st 2 books before starting the this 3rd one. It will help to re-familiarize yourself with the story nuances in order to put the conclusion in the proper perspective.
If you have not read the 1st 2 books, you will be pretty lost in this one, since it is definately a continuation of a story, rather than a standalone.
Kudos to Sara Reineke. I know that getting the final book published was a challenge. I am so glad you were able to bring it to us.

I did love this book even though I didn't like paying $17.00 to purchase it. It did bring all the loose ends together for me. If you did read the first two books then you really need to read this third book. I am hoping that the author does a 4th book on this family.

AWESOME! AWESOME! I loved this conclusion in this series. It answered all the questions that were raised in the 2nd book and explained so much that did not make sense in the 1st book. Augustus, what he went through...WOW! His story certainly reminded me that everything we see and think we know about someone, more often than not is not the case at all. This book had my heart stopping a few times concerning the Morins and Nobles. The ending and even well before that when Augustus was explaining things to Brandon (his grandson) I was teary eyed. If you read these books as stand alones you will be able to follow each story, but if you follow the series it makes for a much much richer conclusion. I highly recommend this read.