Into the Flame (Darkness Chosen, Book 4) [Mass Market Paperback]

Christina Dodd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2012

Meet Doug Black—the Wilder brother who’s been missing for centuries. With no idea of where he’s from, he’s become an angry young cop with the ability to transform into a cougar. in search of others like him, he comes across a beautiful woman who may hold the secret to his destiny...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christina Dodd is a New York Times bestselling author whose novels have been translated into twelve languages. She lives in Washington with her husband and two dogs.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Test your paranormal knowledge and take a quiz based on Christina Dodd's New York Times bestselling Darkness Chosen series!

1. If you were going to make a deal with the devil, what would you want?
1. A castle on the coast
2. A trip to Scotland
3. A nice set of razor-sharp knives
4. Five minutes to yourself

When you and your mate get it on, you prefer:
1. Doggie style
2. A fly-by
3. To be pounced on
4. Missionary with perfunctory cuddling

You're making a pact with the devil. What do you offer as collateral?
1. A lovely wine-making empire
2. A snazzy set of archeologist tools (fedora and whip not included)
3. Slave bracelets
4. Your minivan

If you were choosing a name for your murderous, shapeshifting family, you'd go with:
1. The Pack
2. The Flock
3. The Loners
4. The Darkness

You prefer to be wooed by:
1. A glass of wine and a nice chase through a thunderstorm
2. A private cabin on the Orient Express
3. Plain, simple bondage
4. A bucket of fried chicken

You know you've met the man of your dreams when:
1. Your camping trips are punctuated by romps in the sleeping bag
2. Your trips to Scotland are punctuated by romps in a mossy cave
3. Your trips to Asia are punctuated by romps in a Himalayan meadow
4. Your trips to the grocery store are about as much excitement as you can stand

You're having a party and your dream man's college friends show up. You:
1. Answer the door and tell the cops the howling is a fraternity ritual.
2. Tell everyone that in order to eat, they must find their food in a scavenger hunt
3. Get trapped sympathizing with the guy who got caught by animal control... and neutered.
4. Refill the chips every 30 minutes and run to the store for more beer

The outfit your dream man prefers you in is:
1. A little black dress
2. A khaki outfit complete with work boots
3. A Catwoman suit
4. Sweats

You're married to your dream man, and the phrase you say most is:
1. Shall we drink wine and have our incredibly rare steaks on the deck of your castle or go for a picnic in the woods?
2. Please stop flying around, and come back to bed.
3. I love you, honey, but please stop sweeping all of my expensive china onto the floor with your tail.
4. Pick up your socks.

When you order something to surprise your man with, you usually stick with:
1. Black lace
2. Feather boas
3. Animal prints
4. Latex



If you answered mostly A's, you want a man like Jasha.
Jasha shape shifts into a wolf, enjoys long jogs in the woods, and savors a fine Merlot. For more information on your dream man, check out Scent of Darkness, on shelves now!

If you answered mostly B's, you want a man like Rurik.
He transforms into a hawk and has that Indiana Jones flair for fun archeology. For more information on this dreamy bird of prey, get a copy of Touch of Darkness, on shelves now!

If you answered mostly C's, you want a man like Adrik.
Merciless and sinful, he becomes a black panther when the mood suits him. For tips on how to attract your wild and wicked man, check out Into the Shadow, arriving in stores in July!

If you answered mostly D's, you want your typical guy who drinks beer, watches football, and scratches himself.
May I suggest that you read the entire Darkness Chosen series to spice up your ideals (and possibly your love life)! The final novel, Into the Flame, will be released in August!

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Signet; First edition (April 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0045122466
• ISBN-13: 978-0045122462
• ASIN: 0451224663
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( D ) > Dodd, Christina

More About the Author

Chat with Christina via Facebook and Twitter, and even better, join her mailing list to have her news delivered right to your inbox! http://christinadodd.com/lists/?p=subscribe

Readers become writers, and Christina Dodd has always been a reader. She reads everything, but because she loves humor, she likes romance best.

A woman wants things like world peace, a clean house, and a deep and meaningful relationship based on mutual understanding and love. A man wants things like a Craftsman router with attachments, undisputed control of the TV remote, and a red Corvette which will miraculously make his bald spot disappear. So when Christina's first daughter was born, she told her husband she was going to quit work and write a book. It was a good time to start a new career, because how much trouble could one little infant be?

Ha! It took ten years, two children and three completed manuscripts before her first novel, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, was published. In the twenty-two years since, her novels have been translated into 25 languages, won Romance Writers of America's prestigious Golden Heart and RITA Awards and been called the year's best by Library Journal. Christina Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle (11/18/05, # 13 Down: Romance Novelist named Christina.) Publishers Weekly praises her style that 'showcases Dodd's easy, addictive charm and steamy storytelling.'

Christina's 2011 releases include TAKEN BY THE PRINCE, #9 in the Governess Brides series, and in the tradition of Nora Roberts, a new romantic suspense series starting with SECRETS OF BELLA TERRA and REVENGE AT BELLA TERRA.

Christina Dodd is married to a man with all his hair and no Corvette, but many Craftsman tools.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enter this flame, August 25, 2008

By 

H. Grove "Errant Dreams Reviews" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Into the Flame (Darkness Chosen, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Christina Dodd's Into the Flame is a gorgeous follow-on to Into the Shadow. Her lead characters are vastly different from one book to another, with completely different dynamics in entirely different situations, making the books wonderfully separate. I'm not so fond of series where each book feels like a rehash of the previous. We get to see a different portion of the Varinski family as the family goes on the offensive.

Doug and Firebird make a fantastic couple for this sort of book. They have enough of a history that we don't waste the climactic novel of the series watching the introductory dance-steps of a relationship. Instead, we watch them try to deal with the fallout of what came before and how they handled it (or failed to). Ms. Dodd has a particular couple of strengths as a writer that eliminate some of the plot frustrations that are often present in novels. She doesn't artificially prolong the keeping of a secret, and she doesn't force the characters to be artificially stupid in order to keep them from realizing something important and acting on it. She acknowledges that the characters have brains and will use them, and goes with it. Any misunderstandings that occur between her characters make sense for those characters and are resolved in their proper time---they aren't blown out of proportion or, again, prolonged artificially.

One of my favorite aspects of the Darkness Chosen series is the lack of black-and-white answers to everything. The series deals with a literal pact with the devil, yet it doesn't seek to turn every decision into a hard-edged black-and-white thing. Sometimes justice is harsh. Sometimes triumphing over evil requires killing. And just because someone has done wrong doesn't mean he or she cannot be redeemed.

Doug and Firebird's reunion isn't easy, but it is beautiful. The climactic battle of this series is suitably destructive and kept me glued to the pages. I highly recommend checking out Ms. Dodd's work if you haven't already.

[Usual adult material warning: moderately explicit sex scenes.]

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THAT WAS SO TOTALLY WICKED!, August 5, 2008

By 

RNS Sarah "Too Many Romances, Not enough shel... (BCS, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Flame (Darkness Chosen, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had the honor to be able to read Into The Flame early. I read it back to back with Into The Shadow - which is the only way to read the two, since Flame picks up right after Shadow ends.

Into The Flame is the much anticipated story of the Wilder's daughter and single mother Firebird. I rarely read book excerpts posted on websites - but I HAD to read the one on author's site for this book. Firebird so intrigued me in the first two books, I had to know more about her. The excerpt on Dodd's site only left me wanting more.

I fear that reviews for this book might give too much away. Secrets and truths will be revealed, but I dare not ruin them for the reader.

Into the Flame is a fantastic end to Darkness Chosen series! As sad as I am about seeing the great series come to a close, it was perfect end to a great series. I am a big fan of Dodd, and she has not disappointed me at all with this series and its final chapter.

22 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing end to the series..., August 11, 2008

By 

Krista (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Flame (Darkness Chosen, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Okay, first off I HATE Firebird's name. I mean really, it's just a bit silly and over the top. Now that I got THAT off my chest...

We learned at the end of Into the Shadow, that Firebird is not a Wilder by blood. The story of the night Zorana gave birth to her fourth child was very well done, in my opinion.

Firebird feeling hurt and betrayed is now suddenly unsure if the family that has loved her for 23 years will continue to love her now that they know she isn't related to them by blood... This was pretty annoying considering how level headed she was through most of the book but I could see how even a freakishly secure person would feel a little off-balance after discovering such a shocking secret.

Douglas Black searching for his family, blah blah blah, who could they be? I was just happy everyone put two and two together pretty quickly and the VERY obvious answer didn't linger throughout the entire book. He has a few hang ups when it comes to family, not surprising when we learn about his past.

One other thing I would like to mention, Douglas is a cop and at one point mentions he has been a cop since he was 16... Um What? That made no sense what-so-ever. He explains that he had a fake ID because you know cops don't have any way to discover if an ID is fake or not. Yeah, I think Dodd just likes throwing in those random details that any sane person would question and have her characters accept it like it's no big deal...

This book was CROWDED and by crowded I mean Firebird and Douglas get pushed out of most scenes by other people. We have Jasha and Ann, Rurik and Tasya, Adrik and Karen, Zorana and Konstantine, the bad guys, the devil, Karen's dad what's his name, Miss Joyce, Gypsies, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Okay so I made that last one up but I swear all those other people show up and take up lots of pages with their endless chatter when all I wanted to know was what was going on with Firebird and Douglas. I did get the feeling each loved the other but it was more along the lines of Dodd remembering they actually existed and allowing them to talk to each other and be emo in their thoughts about their feelings for each other.

We see the prophecy finally play out and not too many shockers with that one, except near the end another "Um What?" moment that is briefly touched on with a vague explanation that the characters all nod wisely and say "Of course, that must be it." and then drop it altogether while I was left questioning a bunch of things.

Oh and have I mentioned the endless battle scene yet? `Cause there is one, and you couldn't miss if you tried and trust me I tried. Once I accepted that the romance in this story wasn't really going anywhere and was waiting for the last few pages to neatly tie up all the loose ends that had seemed like such a big deal in the beginning of the book, I enjoyed seeing the Varinskis get blown up and shot at.

Overall it was nice to see the curse broken and how they ended up besting the devil but I was majorly disappointed in the romance between Firebird and Douglas. It was sadly my least favorite book out of the series.