Customer Reviews

Demon Night (The Guardians, Book 3)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have liked all of Meljean's books and I did like this one. It did start grating on me a little at a little over half way through though. I tired of Drifter's grammer. I mean this guy was a cowboy 150 years ago and has never picked up better grammer? With him continually calling Charlotte "Miss Charlotte" and using "Miss" in front of other females names, I felt I was in a Gunsmoke series (Miss Kitty). His usage of ain't, I reckon, and all the other "homilies" wore on me after awhile, I felt the only thing missing was "gol darn". I did like the story itself overall. I guess I'm the "odd man out" in reviewing this book!

This book didn't quite work for me. I liked the background and the story line itself, but neither of the main characters were even remotely attractive to me. Ethan's "Gunsmoke"-esque persona was really off-putting (I kept hearing Festus' voice in my head, rather than Marshal Dillon). This was especially jarring, as he tells us he was brought up speaking properly, went to Harvard, and since his death has lived in the company of non-cowboy Guardians for over a hundred years. It makes no sense then that his diction is so persistently horrible. Also he struck me as being more than a little slow in his interaction with Charlie - he is unable to "figure her out" for much longer than I was willing to accept.

Charlie on the other hand was equally annoying. Her first scene was great, and I really enjoyed the way in which she spun stories at the drop of a hat, but unfortunately that story-telling gift drops out about half-way through the book, reappearing only in the final scene. Her damaged psyche is just too - whiny is the closest word I can come up with. I admire the way she has gotten over her addictions, but her fear of being needy/addicted somehow just comes across as whiny and indecisive. Also (and this is probably just something I missed) I was never quite sure how she lost her voice - was it in the car accident into the bar, or was it before that or after that - I was a little lost about the sequence of her personal back-story.

Demon Moon was the first book I read in this series, and I absolutely loved Colin and Savitri - they made the book for me and convinced me to keep reading. This book however, I read in spite of the main characters because I was interested in the story arc.

Before reading Demon Night I just couldn't imagine 'cowboy' guardian Drifter, who was a very minor character in Demon Moon, being a very interesting leading man. Well I'll admit right here, I was wrong. But then I should know better, after all author Brook managed to make the very vain vampire Colin in Demon Moon into a great leading man and she does an even better job here with `Drifter' Ethan McCabe who is really no cowboy.

For 140 years Ethan has been a Guardian, fighting demons and protecting humans. When the lovely but seemingly fragile Charlie is targeted by a group that plans to turn Charlie into a vampire to use her to `motivate' Charlie's research scientist sister to their cause, Ethan is assigned to protect Charlie. Ethan plans on keeping Charlie safe from a distance, because up close there is something about Charlie that is just too distracting and in his business distraction could cost Ethan his head or Charlie her life. But when the villains become bold, Ethan's plans change and suddenly keeping Charlie very close seems like a very very good idea.

Charlie sees a hero in Ethan, but he's never been a white hat kind of guy. While Ethan is a Guardian he's no angel, before becoming a Guardian he died an outlaw's death in the old west. But Ethan is so solid and gorgeous that Charlie can't help but want him, even as she tries to keep herself from needing him, because Charlie doesn't allow herself to be needy and dependant, she is no longer that broken woman. Soon the connection between Charlie and Ethan grows and Ethan promises to `provide' everything she needs, but what Charlie really wants from Ethan, what she really needs from him is the one thing she can't ask for.

Ethan is a great hero and Brook does a terrific job of giving him the feel of being from another time. There's something just a bit quaint in way he strings together the words he uses when he speaks, even after taking into account the "aw shucks ma'am" affectation that he uses to get people to underestimate his intelligence. Also there's a difference in his attitudes that make him not a modern man, from his physical modesty to subtle way of expressing his feelings and the difference in what his words mean to him that Charlie doesn't pick up. Ethan is also puzzle. The prolog gives a hint of his unsavory past, but when Charlie first gets someone to tell her about Ethan's past it is hard to reconcile the difference between his beginnings with the outlaw thief and murderer became, We just have to wait until Charlie hears it from Ethan's own lips to figure it out. Part of what makes Ethan such an effective romantic lead is the way that he holds himself so tightly. Ethan's rigid control could have stolen emotional intensity from his relationship with Charlie, if Charlie didn't challenge his control so thoroughly. But instead, Ethan's restraint actually builds the tension between them so that when Ethan's restraint breaks from time to time he and Charlie really sizzle.

I have enjoyed every single one of Brook's novels and she has another winner here. It is a smart read and there is so much in Demon Night that is well done. And with Brook's books coming in at 50 to 100 pages longer than your typical paranormal romance, Brook has the space to take the time necessary to allow us to gain a deeper understanding of her characters as she develops the complicated and satisfying relationship between her leads. She is also able to explore the world that she has created for them more thoroughly than would be possible in a shorter book. Brook's world is an interesting one, one where good and evil are blurred and are sometimes a matter of perspective, some of the `good guys' have much to atone for and some of the `bad guys' are working for the greater good but use the ends to justify less than sterling means and her mythos which includes fallen angels, the demons, vampires and Guardians and demon prophecies hangs together well. Oh and lest I forget, Brook does steamy very well. In one of the hottest scenes in the book, both Charlie and Ethan are fully clothed and barely touch but wow!

So now I can hardly what to see what Brook dishes out next. She has Demon Unbound coming in November of 2008 and a short in the First Blood anthology out in August 2008. If you are new to the Guardian series, Demon Night works pretty well as a standalone read even though there are characters that appear here and events referenced from previous books. Brook does a pretty good job of briefly filling in some of the history but if you're a new Guardians reader, Brook's website has a page just for you, it's designed to get new readers up to speed on the world of the Guardians and what's gone before, the spoilers for previous books are minimal. If you are going back and starting at the beginning of the series, Brook has the reading order of the series starting with the short in "Falling for Anthony" from the Hotspell anthology as the first story though it falls chronologically in the middle of Demon Angel. Personally, I thought the short worked better when I reread it after Demon Angel because it was more fun having an idea of who all the characters were first and knowing a bit more about the world made the story make more sense than when I read it the first time.

My recommended reading order:
Demon Angel (The Guardians, Book 2) - Lilith and Hugh
Hot Spell "Falling for Anthony" - Colin's sister and Colin's transformation
Wild Thing "Paradise" - Selah and Lucas
Demon Moon (The Guardians, Book 4) - Colin and Savi
Demon Night (The Guardians, Book 5) - Drifter and Charlie
First Blood
Demon Unbound

Meljean Brook is the type of author who continues to blow away readers with her incredible writing. Demon Night is another wonderful submission to her world that showcases the war between the Guardians of Heaven and the Demons of the underworld. And of course don't forget those vampires and other creatures that are bent on destruction.
But with Demon Night, you have two incredible and endearing characters that will go against all odds to be with each other or die trying.
Ethan a.k.a Drifter, is a Guardian (angel) who lived during the Old West. He is a true cowboy and his twang is his trademark. He mission is to protect a human woman, Charlie. But Ethan is quite stumped over Charlie. He has a bit of a crush on her. Charlie is unlike any woman he has met.
Charlie is damaged. She has quite a past from problems with alcohol, disappointments and trouble seems to follow her where ever she goes. But she is a survivor and her days are filled working as a bartender and keeping in touch with her dear sister, Jane. But when her new neighbor, Ethan moves in next door, her life changes forever.
Charlie is being watched and stalked by the undead who want to make her their own. Ethan must keep her alive and protect her. But what is an angel suppose to do when he falls in love with a human? How can they be together?
If you are a fan of paranormal, fantasy, spiritual and scorching hot romance, Demon Night is the must read. Charlie and Ethan's romance maybe a bit more subtle than her past books,(remember Hugh and Lilith's?) but you will be amazed yet again and will not be able to put this book down till the very end.
Past characters show up along with new ones. Even though some may think this is an everyday ordinary romance, it truly isn't. Demon Night is so much more and beyond anything you will read. I recommend you start from the beginning of this series to get the full taste of what you will be in store for.
Kudos to Ms. Brook for her imagination and coming up with the characters of Charlie and Ethan and their quest for happiness and love.

Katiebabs
Hot Spell
Demon Angel (The Guardians, Book 2)
Demon Moon (The Guardians, Book 4) (Berkley Sensation)

Charlie Newcomb has finally put her life back together with a lot of hard work and she is close to finishing her schooling for the next step. The night she is almost attacked by three vampires has Charlie thinking twice about what her life now consists of. Why would they pick her out?

Ethan McCabe has been a guardian for several hundred years and he has never been distracted from his assignments. However, after shadowing Charlie for a while now, Ethan is highly attracted to her, and that has nothing to do with his Guardian duties. Guardians are to protect and Ethan feels an overwhelming need to protect Charlie from the vampires and demons hunting her that has everything to do with being a man.

Ethan and Charlie have discovered that the link between her and the vampires is her sister and the research she is currently doing. Ethan and Charlie are slowly figuring out the intricacies of the Seattle vampire community and the fierce determination of the demon that wants Charlie. As they discover exactly who is hiding the demon within and just how complex the scheme really is, will Ethan and the Guardians be enough to protect her from the new reality of her life?

Demon Night is the highly complex and intricate story of Charlie and Ethan and how they come to have their forever. Charlie has messed up her life and just now has about claimed it back correctly. Ethan made a decision that led to his becoming a Guardian and he has not forgotten why he had to make that decision. Ethan and Charlie at first try to ignore the feelings that are springing up between them, but you just cannot ignore the red-hot passion once it has taken over. I was once again intrigued by a plot from Ms. Brook that included not only danger from several angles that seem to include some folklore but also never let you lose track of the romance. Demon Night will take you on a wild roller coaster ride that paranormal lovers will not want to miss.

Jo
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Meljean Brook has now written three full length novels about three couples with conflicts that could have not been more distinct. Her characters are extremely complex and Demon Night is no different.

In fact Charlie Newcomb is likely to be one of the most complex heroines I have seen in a long time. Extremely flawed and with a pathological neediness which has led in the past to such a destructive behaviour that has completely destroyed her voice and a promising career as an opera singer and her self-esteem, landed her in jail and has almost ruined her relationship with her sister. She is a recovering alcoholic who works as a bartender - as self-punishment and as a reminder. She is self-aware that her needs may take over at any moment and fights her natural instinct to rely too much on other people, specially her sister. And is indirectly because of her sister that she gets into something that will change her life forever. Jane works at a lab doing Blood research and the lab is covertly taken over by Demons who want to investigate further about the paranormal qualities of vampire blood. Some of the vampires that work for the lab are sent to capture Charlie in order to use her as leverage for her sister to keep on working, but the attack fails because Charlie has been watched.

Ethan McCabe or Drifter, used to be an outlaw in the Old West. He has become a Guardian when he sacrificed himself to save his brother's life. When he is given the task to look after Charlie he is wary to start with over her neediness even if his protective instincts scream for him to help her. Right at the start he lays out straight to her in what a I thought was a blunt, uneasy and unusual conversation in a romance novel: that he is there for protection and that is all, she is not to rely on him, because she may do so too much: this is a moment of utter humiliation and hurt for Charlie for she stands there with her soul bared in front of him, and he sees through her.

And that is how these two start out: with a line that is not be crossed. But the line is faint and it shifts and once things start changing between them, it is with awe that Ethan realizes that Charlie is much stronger than he ever thought and is with some despair that he understands that he will give anything she asks for but she will not ask anything of him. Even it all she wants now is for him to need her - because you see, Charlie may come across as a revoltingly weak person, but her strength lies in knowing herself and how she functions and now on the path to becoming whole again she is more likely to chop her own arm off than to succumb to her own needy instincts.

Even though each book has its own central couple with their struggle for happiness the overall storyline that began in Demon Angel is still unfolding: Hell is still closed, Demons are still on the lose, Guardians are being trained by the SI. Most of all, there still a lot of unrest in the vampire communities all over the world as a new threat looms in the horizon and which goes by the name of Nephilim. To say more about them would be major spoilage , so I will refrain myself and only say that I have a gut feeling that Meljean Brook is preparing us for a major showdown in the future by laying out with every book, the players on both sides.

If I have one grudge about the book is that I became a bit impatient with the way Charlie dealt with her insecurities about Ethan in the end but I am aware that other readers were very satisfied with the way the book ended - I was too but thought it took too long for them to get there but that does not signify; for in the grand scheme of things, it has been over two weeks since I finished reading this book and it is still with me. The books that remain are the important ones, right? THIS is what I look for as a reader and what Meljean Brook has given me three times in a row.


Ana
[...]

Third in the Guardians paranormal-romance series revolving around a subspecies of angel created from humans who have sacrificed themselves to save another. The couple focus is on Ethan McCabe and Charlie Newcomb and takes place in Seattle.

My Take
This was a bit confusing as I'm reading Darynda Jones' (First Grave on the Right) series about a Charley and this one starts with a Charlie. I recommend both series, just don't read them at the same time!

I do love the stories Charlie comes up with! I would read this if all I had were the fantastical tales she creates on the spur of the moment.

In this story, the demons are researching blood trying to find a way to produce artificial blood for vampires. A subplot is the protective spell that only Guardians knew until a demon threat required their sharing it with San Francisco vampires. Well, you know what they say about a secret shared. Yup, everybody knows it now. A few symbols, your blood and only you can pass through the barrier. Definitely puts a crimp in the Guardians' policing.

Brook really creates an amazing and intricate storyline. It's been awhile since I read the short that started me on this series but I'm already wanting to go back and reread the series. This whole series is a buy for me.

The Story
It's a rough night at the bar and Charlie is kicking back, enjoying her smoke break when the vampires attack. Despite her speed in calling to Old Matthew and Vin, the vamps are faster but somebody appears behind her back. Saves her. Then disappears. Except for this feather. And she could have sworn it was Ethan.

Once home, she's grateful to hear Ethan McCabe out on his balcony. He makes her feel safe. A good thing as the vampires are stalking her, planning to Turn her. They're not the only ones interested. An old boyfriend of Jane's, Mark Brandt, also wants to meet up with Charlie.

Then a nephilim shows up. A demon no one can kill. Combined with Sammael's efforts to kidnap and Turn his lover's sister, the danger to Charlie is off the charts. Ethan and SI are desperate to save Charlie and identify this new demon as they can only kill it in one form.

The Characters
Charlotte "Charlie" Newcomb is damaged. She had the most incredible voice and didn't treasure it. Instead she lost herself in drink and that last car crash damaged her throat; she'll never do better than a gravelly tone ever again. She also has some cognitive problems with processing. But it was enough to jerk her awake to what she was doing and now she is struggling to make amends. Partly by working at Cole's Hard Time Bar and Grill as a bartender to pay Old Matthew back for the damages she caused. At home, she indulges in opera, classics, torch singers. She always spins a great story. Vin is another of the bartenders there.

Ethan McCabe, a.k.a., Drifter, is a Guardian. He sacrificed himself to save his younger brother, Caleb; a pointless sacrifice. His human cover is as a representative for Ramsdell Pharmaceuticals. His Gift is the ability to open steel or magnetic locks. His past. Well, let's just say he has a very sad history.

Jane Newcomb is her very smart sister who works at Legion Laboratories. She just doesn't know it's a front for a demon business. Most of the human scientists at Legion work there because the demons are turning their relatives into vampires. Ethan can't figure out why they haven't gone after Charlie, yet. Jane's boyfriend Dylan Samuels also works at Legion. He's also known as the demon, Sammael. Back in Ethan's Wild West past, Sheriff Samuel Danvers runs a tight, clean town. When the McCabe Brothers show up, he intends to tidy them up.

Colin Ames-Beaumont and Savitri "Savi" Murray play a small part (their story is in Demon Moon (The Guardians, 2). Lilith, aka Agent Milton, is the daughter of Lucifer but rebelled and now lives with Hugh Castleford, a fallen Guardian; they head up Special Investigations (SI), a paranormal department of Homeland Security put together by Michael, the first Guardian with all Guardian powers, and Rael, one of Belial's demons, who is also U.S. Congressman Stafford. Sir Pup is Lilith's three-headed hellhound. Caelum is the otherworld home of the Guardians. Selah is another Guardian. Jake and Rebecca are novice Guardians.

Senator Bill Brandt and Mark Brandt, an old boyfriend of Jane's who works as legal counsel to Senator Gerath. Manny is the current head of the Seattle vampire community; he took over when Vladimir and Katya were found dead. He's a dealer and a pimp. And he owes Ethan.

The Cover
The cover is actually rather thoughtful with a short-haired Ethan McCabe on the alert looking off to the side, wearing a thick black leather jacket over his bare chest...mmmm...nice chest. The background is a gritty urban buildings at night.

The title could refer to so many things; it's really rather vague.

This was my first Meljean Brook book and I am officially a fan. I loved it so much, the characters were so good. I fell in love with Ethan. I can't wait to order more Demon books!

I stuck with Meljean. Because she's local. Because she's a friend on my Twitter. Because, even though I found the first Guardian stories hard to get through at times (it's me, not you, see below), the world was utterly absorbing, and I figured it would click for me eventually. Demon Night is where it clicked. Mind you, me having trouble following things is my fault-I have a tendency to skim parts of paragraphs, and Brook is teaching me better habits. If you miss a word or two, you'll be lost, because everything she says is important (which is mighty refreshing, after skipping so many freakin' descriptions of shoes).

Demon Night is the book where I became comfortable with the Guardians' world. It is a nicely consistent place, where a reader can learn the rules and anticipate complications. So many times I just have to forgive a book for getting something crosswise, but Brook always makes it work within the confines she's set up.

When a human sacrifices his or her life to save another, there's a chance that human may get a visit from Michael, the Doyen, and be offered a position as a Guardian. Charged with protecting humans from demons and other beasties, but forbidden to interfere with free will, the powerful Guardians seem angelic right down to the wings, yet they are undeniably human in their frailties and conflicts. Particularly interesting is the developing partnership between the Guardians and vampires.

The characters are rich, and Brook has a talent for making them distinct. She isn't writing the same hero/heroine over and over again-each voice has a distinct flavor, each character true to themselves. Demon Night's couple, Ethan and Charlie, are especially easy to empathize with. These are characters to have over for dinner.

More from Meljean:
Demon Angel (The Guardians, Book 2)
Demon Bound (The Guardians, Book 7)
Demon Moon (The Guardians, Book 4) (Berkley Sensation)

I loved Demon Moon and didn't think anything in the series could be better than that, but I was wrong. Demon Night is excellent! Highly recommended! The characterization was fantastic; the interaction between the h/h plus characters from previous stories was just wonderful. 5 stars all the way. I am eagerly looking forward to the next in this series! Kudos to Meljean Brook. You are getting better and better.