May Contain Spoilers...

Finally, I'm sitting down to review/comment about Lynn Viehl's Night Lost.

Have you ever picked up a book and after reading it realized whoever wrote the back blurb nailed the description? ...

A Noble Prisoner...
Gabriel Seran has fallen into the hands of the fanatical religious order known as the Brethren. Though abandoned by his fellow Kyn, he remains honor bound to protect their secrets from his interrogators. Blinded, nailed to a cross,k and sealed in a chapel cellar beneath a ruined chateau, Gabriel faces an eternity of suffering.

An Obsessed Thief...
Nicola "Nick" Jefferson has been traveling across Europe, looting churches of their precious artwork and fencing the treasures to make her living. At each destination, she liberates the captive vampires, hoping they'll provide her with information leading to the one artifact she so desperately craves: the Golden Madonna.

A Fateful Coupling...
Gabriel and Nick have met before in each other's dreams. Bound together by more than coincidence, their destinies intertwine even as their passions ignite...

Well, there you have a perfect summary. Actually a perfect summary of half the book. Gabriel and Nick's story. Both characters are strong and smart, devoted to their own causes. Once she's saved him from the Brethren it turns into a little bit of a road tale--pulling them toward Ireland and the rest of the story... Alex, Michael and Richard...

If you've been following the series at the end of Dark Need Richard has kidnapped Alex and brought her back to Ireland to help cure him. The King of the Darkyn has a problem. When he was held in captivity by the Brethren he only feed on animals, his system doesn't tolerate human blood. And we also discovered at the end of DN that Kyn who don't feed on human blood slowly become changelings turning into a bizarre version of animal/human. Richard's becoming more animal than human. He desperately needs Alex to save him. Alex wants out, Michael wants Alex out and this slowly builds to a climax that includes Gabriel and Nick and a villain they're all looking for.

Ms. Viehl does an amazing job combining story line and overall series arc--it completely works and flows together beautifully, and yet the overall series arc isn't finished only a part of it, leaving the Brethren, John and other Kyn with interesting story lines that still need to be told--LOVE IT :D

Next up on the TBR pile was Ms. Viehl's Midnight Blues, another great tale. On some level it's a small continuation of DN bringing us back to Sam and Lucan, almost an epilogue with an extra tale for Rafael, Sam's detective partner and also Kyn. Daniela Nieves needs rescuing from an evil Kyn member many have thought long dead. Rafael to the rescue. What makes this novella particularly entertaining is just who the villain is, and I'm not telling :D

So after a reading high I moved on to another "favorite" author. Unfortunately it lead to a little bit of a let down. I like Adele Ashworth's stories, writing style and voice. But The Duke's Indiscretion didn't really work for me. Conceptually it's an interesting story. An Earl's sister living a double life as aristocrat and opera singer attracts the attention of a smart, rakish Duke. She manipulates him into marriage and he's willing because he thinks he's getting the hot opera singer, what he actually gets is the cold aristocrat. He's made to feel the cad and she needs to work through her "feelings" about the whole thing. Throw in a little mystery and that's it.

Basically, I liked Colin, the hero, but didn't like Charlotte/Lottie, the heroine.

And again Ms. Ashworth falls victim to bad proof reading. The opening of one chapter has Charlotte spelled without the "h".