Customer Reviews

One With the Darkness

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
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Eighteen hundred years have past since Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano followed her species' strict rule outlawing the creation of a new vampire. Over the eighteen centuries, she has been lonely, angry and acerbic because back then she had the chance to save the life of the only man she loved, Jergan, but timidly let him die instead of converting him to what she was and is.

In 1821, her Renaissance friends Michelangelo and Leonardo left Donnatella a note that they knew of a time machine that would enable her to back to that first century and mend her broken heart. However, upon her return to the age of Caligula when she was and once again is Livia Quintus Lucellus, she forgets her quest. Instead she is part of a group wanting the Emperor removed from power. However, fate intervenes when she buys Jergan the slave, but will the second time around end any different than the first tragic time.

This is a superb time travel vampire romance starring a courageous heroine who goes after the love of her life in an attempt to rectify what she believes was an error on her part. The underlying second chance at love theme enhances a strong plot in which Caligula's Rome is a key element. Susan Squires knows her vampires as she provides a strong tale of forbidden love in Ancient Rome.

Harriet Klausner

What if you believed you had made a huge mistake in your life but had a chance to travel back in time and rectify it? Perhaps this is not a completely novel theme for a book, but in One With The Darkness Susan Squires adds an extra layer of interest - her heroine, Donnatella Luchella di Poliziano is a vampire. Donnatella has lived for nearly two and a half thousand years and has spent the last eighteen hundred years mourning the death of her human lover, Jergan. Donnatella has been friends with the great and the good of the Renaissance and when she discovers a 300-year-old message from Leonardo da Vinci to her, follows his instructions and finds a time machine, she is given the opportunity to go back in time and change the future. There was a point when she was with Jergan that she seriously considered turning him into a vampire as he was seriously injured; at the time she obeyed the vampire Rules and didn't change him, but now she has the opportunity to return through time and behave differently at that point.

When Donnatella travels back through time to AD40 she finds herself assimilated into the body of herself back in that time, rather than being a separate spectator. And thus starts a fascinating story as we follow events through the eyes of Donnatella back then, known as Livia Quintus Lucellus, living in Rome and mingling with the great and the good. She buys the slave Jergan from the marketplace to serve as a bodyguard, often feeling strange pricks of memory or having dreams about him, the only opportunities that the time-travelling Donnatella has to influence Livia. Jergan discovers fairly quickly that Livia is unlike other slave owners, having care for her people and aiming to free them as soon as possible. He also discovers that she's heavily involved in plotting against the Emperor, Caligula, and that her small band of plotters is under suspicion.

There are some excellent scenes in this book as Livia tries to navigate the treacherous waters of Roman politics, as we are shown the worst of the excesses of high-class Roman society, and as Jergan, apparently a barbarian, shows he has more honour than the supposedly honourable Romans. Unfortunately for the time-travelling Donnatella, she is barely able to communicate with Livia, and it becomes clear that history is changing. Will she be able to save Jergan? Might their plot against Caligula fail this time, although it was successful last time? Who can she trust?

This book was always interesting, the Roman setting adding a great deal to the overall story. The inclusion of genuine historical characters, and Squires' addition of Livia's part in history, is very enjoyable. This book had far less of the sexual violence/rape of previous books which have spoiled them a little for this reader - instead it includes a gentle love story about two very different people who recognise strengths in each other and who are accepting of each other. It's a very enjoyable book, yet another triumph from the creative pen of Susan Squires.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano is a 2500-year-old vampire who's seen it all: the rise and fall of civilizations and the eras of light and darkness. Through it all, she's regretted very little in her life. That is, except the loss of her one true love, Jergan. Because of an ancient rule, Donnatella failed to turn Jergan into a vampire before he died and for the last eighteen centuries, she's mourned the only man she's ever loved.

One evening before she's leaving for a ball, she discovers a letter that's 300 years old, written to her by a friend, Michelangelo. The letter directs her to the catacombs beneath the city and to a second missive from another friend, Leonardo da Vinci. In it, he explains the machine before her is a time machine, which will take her back in time to rewrite history and claim Jergan for her own.

Because her past and present selves cannot occupy the same space in time, once she's traveled back to ancient Rome, they merge and become one. Unfortunately, her memories of history has been lost. However, her past self begins to have vivid dreams, seeing events as if she's already lived them, not knowing they are memories she's already had. Soon, the unstable emperor Caligula threatens both Donnatella and Jergan and their lives are in danger. Will Jergan save her from the vicious wiles of the emperor? Will Donnatella be able to turn her one true love into a vampire before he's killed and will she remember to return to the time machine before it disappears and reverts back to its original time and place?

Having read One With The Shadows and One With The Night, I was anxious to read One With The Darkness. Susan Squires just keeps getting better and better. I devoured this book, reading it in one sitting. With amazing detail to historical fact, Ms. Squires draws a vivid portrait of ancient Rome. Donnatella is an mesmerizing character. She's independent, has a will of steel and a fierce determination to make the time she lives in a better place to live. At the same time, she allows herself to cede control and show her vulnerability to the sensual, deliciously handsome man who's stolen her heart. Both well educated and good-hearted, these two characters are a perfect match for each other and as they overcome adversity and danger, one cannot help but cheer for their successes.

For a well-blended story of intrigue, heart-stopping danger, dark romance, and well-researched ancient history, I fervently recommend One With The Darkness. Once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down, from its fast-paced beginning to its satisfying ending and as you finish the last page, you'll be like me: yearning for more from the creative mind of Susan Squires.

Courtesy of Fallen Angel Reviews ([...])

One With the Darkness by Susan Squires

Mass paperback - June 3, 2008
4 Stars

Susan Squires excels at the dark, tormented heroes. But I have been long awaiting another book that features another powerful female vampire.

In One With the Darkness, the Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano is a vampire who has everything. She is beautiful, rich, and blessed with immortality. However, she cannot forget her lost love Jergan. Jergan died as a human because she never had the courage to turn him into a vampire. Centuries later, she still mourns his loss.

When she suddenly receives the gift of time travel, the Contessa boldly goes back to find Jergan and correct her grievous mistake and make him a vampire, too. The only problem is when she returns to the past, she has no memory of Jergan! Will history repeat itself or will the Contessa finally find true happiness?

Susan Squires excels at creating dark tormented heroes and in One With the Darkness she does just that. Her writing is richly detailed and exotic and that is clearly demonstrated in the captivating Contessa. It is always refreshing when the heroine is the older and `wiser' character. This book was a delightful read. The only disparity I found was at the end of the book. The Contessa is supposed to be a clever and confident woman with initiative, but in the end, she is easily manipulated and looses heart! Although this situation did add incredible tension to the story I felt this wavering of the heroine's true character was not consistent or true to nature. This was a strong book but the end left me with mixed feelings.

Reviewed by Steph at Bookaholics Romance Book Club

Contessa Donnetella di Poliziana has beauty, power and since she is a vampire-eternal life, she regrets a mistake she made many centuries ago when she didn't make her great love into a vampire, suddenly, she finds a note from Leonardo da Vinci and a machine to take her back in time to her true love.

Once back in time, her memory fades and she sees her love Jergen from afar and feels that she has always known him, she buys him as her slave and the two fall in love again.

I did have a problem with the violent rape scenes in some parts of this book, Jergen is taken by Cesar's sisters and raped and tortured, but is reunited with his true love. Will she make him Vampire this time to save him? Will she trust him enough to tell him she is Vampire? You will have to read the book to find out.

SEDUCTION, PASSION, DANGER AND 'ALL THAT JAZZ'; SQUIRE'S PARANORMAL NOVELS HAVE PIZAZZ!!!!!
Great creativity with historical 'know-how' are very definite traits of Susan Squire's writing; unlike many authors who continue to hold onto the same theme and run it to the ground till it is so boring that the reader learns that the muse has deserted 'that' author. Well, Squire's muse is 100% active and what a novel she writes.

The story captures one's interest immediately: Contessa di Poliziano ( a vampire)is by virtue of da Vinci's time machine able to go back in time and rectify a mistake she made, that is failing to turn her lover Jergen into a vampire, so that they could be together forever. However, as the reader knows there will be many complications and pitfalls in the whole process. Suffice it to say that things do come out right in the end, but getting there provides the reader with much excitement and ,in fact I found myself reflecting the moods of the story as I read it. I had a difficult time grasping reality. THAT IS THE TEST OF A GOOD BOOK. As when one listens to a musical selection and it is appealing to them, it takes you out of yourself.

Believe me when I say, I will not miss reading any book that this lady writes!!!!!

Great concept, but went downhill from there. I was so bored that I had to skip some pages. The book focused more on the conspiracy to bring down the current Roman emperor, Caligula, than it did the romance between the main characters. Livia was okay but her constant stubborness with her future self, Donnatella was frustrating at best. There were more details about the conspiracy, than the love story between these two characters.

Vampire Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano was forced to let go of Jergen, the human man she'd loved in the first century. She'd honored the Elders' Rules not to make every lover into a vampire. Time without him, eighteen hundred years, has magnified her loss. Will anything other than seeing him again heal her heart?

Donnatella's Renaissance friend, Leonardo da Vinci, knowing of her despair, had contracted an artist to construct a puzzle jewelry box. Inside it, he'd placed a personal note with instructions and a map to his time machine. Three centuries later, she discovers the note. As she enters the first century, she's aware that the time machine will not remain there long.

She remembers her name at that time, Livia Quintus Lucellus, and finds her lavish Roman home. She's a conspirator in a plot to overcome Gaias Caesar but has not met Jergen. Truly in the past, she sees a giant of a man being auctioned at the night market and wonders if she's seen him before. He's shackled with other Celtic spoils of war. A defeated commander, Jergen was willing to become a slave so that his men could go free. Livia needs a bodyguard and buys him, somehow knowing that he may not follow orders. Jergen resists falling in love, but when he does, the dangerous emperor and tyrants controlling Rome put him to a terrifying test. If he doesn't survive it, will they be apart forever?

ONE WITH THE DARKNESS by Susan Squires is a delicious love story embedded within a paranormal thriller. Squire's passionate, unforgettable characters face constant riveting danger. I fell in love with Jergen for his honorable protectiveness. I admired courageous Livia as she fulfilled her noble duties. Few can envision such vivid details and then write with the fluid fervor of Susan Squires. ONE WITH THE DARKNESS is one of the finest, innovative vampire novels I've read.

This review is courtesy of Romance Junkies, submitted by trusted reviewer, Kathleen.

it was ok had read better and read alot worse but it is a good story with a happy ending