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149 of 160 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HOT, SEXY & WILD, January 21, 2005
This review is from: Dark Secret (The Carpathians (Dark) Series, Book 12) (Mass Market Paperback)
Christine Feehan seems to be getting better and better (if that's at all possible). After her mother and father die, Colby Jansen raises her brother and sister while trying desparately to hold onto their legacy, a ranch that's being beseiged by accidents and thefts. Her father's relatives, the Chavez family, want to take her brother and sister away to live in Brazil. Colby has a steel backbone and is stubborn to the bone. She adamantly refuses to give her siblings up and wants nothing to do with the Chavez family. Realizing they need assistance, the Chavez family have enlisted the aid of Nicholas and Rafael De La Cruz to help them. When meeting Nicholas De La Cuz, Colby senses she's way over her head with him, since she senses he is dark, dominant and dangerous. She decides to steer clear of Nicholas, only to meet up with his brother, Rafael, who is more dominant and dangerous than his brother. Unknown to Colby, Rafael is an ancient Carpathian hunter. Both Nicholas and Rafael are very close to loosing their battle against the darkness and have not experienced any type of emotions for over two thousand years. As soon as Rafael sees Colby, he realizes he has finally met his lifemate. Now the problem is - he has to claim her, but with his dominant nature and Colby's stubborness, it's not going to be an easy task.
Rafael is probably the most dominant Carpathian in Christine Feehan's books other than Gregori. The chemistry between Rafael and Colby causes sparks to shoot off the pages. Although there are additional characters in this book and a lot of twists and turns, it's very easy to follow and you'll find yourself thinking "Okay, this character might be the focus of her next book". The first day I started reading the book, I made the mistake of starting at 9:00 at night. I was still reading it at 2:00 in the morning. Is it good? If there were 10 stars it would rate a ten. Don't miss this new installment of the Carpathian series.
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39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I hated Rafael, July 6, 2005
This review is from: Dark Secret (The Carpathians (Dark) Series, Book 12) (Mass Market Paperback)
Sorry, but this is the first of the Dark series where I wanted the male (Rafael) to bite the dust. Literally. Even at the end, I was still so major miffed with his behavior during the book that I wanted to slap him silly...and her too for 'loving' him at the end.
I'm giving it two stars intead of one because I liked the change of venue and Colby. In fact, I was excited at first about a bit of a Western (I had visions of it going down such a different path).
The female (Colby) behaved in a pretty normal manner for what was happening to her... I could relate! Sorta like "Hey you! Butt-insky! I've got a life here. Show some respect!" And she resisted him as best she could, but it was very upsetting when you were told repeatedly that she was out-gunned and outmatched. That she 'would become his!'. Geez louise, I kept wanting her to just drive a stake through his heart and plant him in the petunia patch!
Instead you have a dominant, Dominant, DOMINANT! male Carpathian who pretty much sees her as an aquisition, or a way to fix 'him'....or worst of all, just plain ole property. Banter between he and his brother about her made me wanna through the book against the wall with remarks to the effect of 'Just convert her...she'll come around later.'
Oh, did I mention, he was DOMINANT?!?! and a predator too! ;)
OK, enough snark aside. What made me love the other Dark books is that the male 'came' around to being kind and loving a lot sooner (like the first few chapters) and you got watch their relationship grow. However, vacillates between 'love' and 'dominace' to the point you really don't believe he loves her. In this book, readers be warned, he's pretty much a jerk until about the last 2 chapters, then he does something heroic and selfless...
And VOILA! Colby loves him. Yeah, right. I was still smoking and pretty annoyed that she just went 'OK, I love you now!'. Too trite, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. OK, so I guess I wanted a few chapters of groveling from him. Like for every chapter of him being ultra-a@@, a paragraph of her dragging him through the wringer. Sorry, but even his 'sacrifice' at the end wasn't enough to appease my anger...now ain't I a stinker ;)
Lastly, and I can NOT believe I'm writing this, but there is almost too much sex in the book. It was to the point that I was flipping through the pages to get to the dialogue, (that is SO unlike me!) Mostly because Colby didn't feel love for him and was disturbed by being out of control of her body, the sex scenes were extremely creepy and almost sickening instead of steamy. So you'd have hot sex scenes and then her upset, conflicted and angry at his controlling her (how Rosemary Rogers! for those who remember ;) ) It's disturbing for the reader, because you want to enjoy this part of the book, but instead, you feel like you're witnessing something tainted and ugly.
Understand, I love uber-alpha males, I enjoy rescue stories, I love good love scenes but most of all, I really, really enjoy reading about love that starts small and grows. The thing I love most about the fictional Carpathian males is their ability to love deeply and unconditionally, and to express it. Sadly, you won't find this until the very end of the book. And then, for me, it was just too dang late.
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109 of 134 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I've at least liked every other Feehan book, not this one, February 6, 2005
This review is from: Dark Secret (The Carpathians (Dark) Series, Book 12) (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm a big fan of Christine Feehan's, so maybe I'm rating this one too low because my expectations were too high - I loathed this book, and had to force myself to reread it to see if I missed something before writing this review.
Okay, the main premise of the Carpathian series is that the males are NOT HUMAN, so their predatory nature and their instincts to claim their mates can't really be judged by human standards. This works for me as a fantasy - I like the idea of being overwhelmed, of being irresistible, of being totally out of control - it certainly takes the guilt out of sexual pleasure. Most of the Carpathian males seem to acknowledge that their human lifemates weren't prepared for this, and they try to cushion the shock of blood exchanges, etc., and hope that their lifemates will come to love them in time. This guy is the opposite - he not only refuses to make anything easier for Colby, he seems to deliberately show his worst possible behavior, and then he feels outraged and betrayed that she doesn't immediately adore him.
Shortly after their first meeting, he insists that she dance with him or cause a scene - in other words, he would hurt all the friends and neighbors who would try to come to her defense. So much for the centuries of protecting humanity. This guy is a noble hero? There are soldiers, police officers and firefighters putting their lives on the line for others every day, but that doesn't mean they're perfect or excuse every other flaw - and it's not enough to fall in love with.
[...] What I couldn't believe or accept was that he was in her mind after this and felt her shame, her feelings that her body betrayed her, her feeling that she had been violated and that he had violated her - and his response to her despair was that he wasn't a filthy rapist, that he had thought it was an act of mutual love. Maybe I'm judging him too harshly, since he was feeling her feelings the whole time, maybe he's just a lot dumber that your average Carpathian? But no, he doesn't feel remorse that he caused her to feel so bad, he doesn't try to comfort her or acknowledge her feelings, he doesn't even try to reassure her that her body's reaction to his was natural and beyond her control, that he's not the playboy she thinks he is and that she's the only woman in his life, that she has a right to feel how she does and that it's his fault - no, he's frantic to make her acknowledge that he's not a rapist. Yes, it's all about him. Gregori showed a lot more class.
For me, a romance novel has to end with two people in love, and I couldn't believe that he really loved her. They never laughed together or enjoyed each other's company in any non-sexual way, so when she "realized" that she loved him, I figured it was either Stockholm syndrome or some Carpathian survival instinct - eternity with this be intolerajerk would ble without some hormonal whammy to soften the brain cells.
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