Tempt Me with Darkness by Shayla Black
Series: Doomsday Brethren #1
Publication date: August 26th, 2008
Pages: 384
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
He's an immortal knight hungering for satisfaction...
As soon as Marrok sees Olivia Gray's dark windswept hair and burning violet eyes, he's sure they've met in eons past. He's felt her soft gentle curves writhing in pleasure beneath his own hard powerful body... Morganna! For centuries, towering Marrok, once the mightiest of King Arthur's warriors, has endured a terrible curse cast upon him when he spurned the witch.
She's a modern woman about to discover ancient magic...
Olivia shares a mystical--and irresistible--connection with brooding Marrok. Soon after the sexy warrior appears in her erotic dreams, he abducts her, demanding she uncurse him. Their intense passion is more powerful--and intimate--than either of them has ever known. Olivia may be the key to unlocking the diary that will break Morganna's hold on his life. But in the wrong hands, the book also holds the power to destroy all magickind. As they search for answers, a ruthless wizard returned from exile is building an army of evil. When he discovers Marrok and Olivia have the diary, only their love--with the help of a powerful group of magical Brethren--can save them.
Available at:
Review:
In my quest to read as many Book Bash Authors as I possibly could before the convention, it was only a matter of time before I dove into some of Shayla Black's books. I was a little put off by the cover simply because I have an aversion to men with long hair. I waffled a bit and then finally said 'to hell with what I feel about the cover' and started to read it anyway.
Black's world of the Doomsday Brethren opens with Marrok. He is a soldier from King Arthur's army who has lived much longer than he would have liked. He has watched everyone he loves and cares for die and turn to dust while he remained. All he wants is for the curse the witch, Morganna, placed on him to come to an end. He wants to die in peace and never have to wake another day on this Earth. Eventually, he dreams about a raven haired beauty with familiar violet eyes who beckons to him and tell shim she is the key to his curse's undoing. Thinking he is coming up against Morganna in an attractive disguise he captures the young woman and demands she free him. All the while he struggles with the attraction that threatens to overshadow his desire for release from his eternal existence.
Olivia never thought the droolworthy man who abducted her would turn her life upside down in so many ways. She feels so much for him in such a short period of time that she offers to help him break the curse any way she can. She may not be the witch he thought she was, but she is destined for greatness in the magical world. She will help free Marrok from his curse, even if her heart breaks with the idea of him submitting to death.
Olivia and Marrok's quest to open the Morganna's diary to release Marrok from his curse leads to an evil entity who has designs on the diary for entirely different reasons. Now they must keep the diary safe not just to avoid losing the one tool that could help Marrok, but to save magickind entirely from utter destruction. All the while, the two must learn to trust one another or else lose each other forever.
There was so much suspicion in this book. Who was the rat in their ranks? Was Marrok or Olivia completely unselfish in their actions? Every member of the Brethren had beef with someone else within their numbers. It was chaos. I got frustrated on more than one occasion with Marrok and Olivia always suspecting the other of working against them or questioning their feelings. But, of course, that sort of drama is what kept the story going. It wouldn't be very thrilling if they all just trusted each other completely from the beginning. However, I did want to smack Marrok and Olivia on more than one occasion.
I enjoyed the world that was created. I liked that it was a nice break from vampires and werewolves. I also gushed a little at a small Harry Potter reference within the pages. This book actually does read a lot like an erotica version of Harry Potter. Possibly why I liked it so much?
Tempt Me in Darkness is a page turner from start to finish. It brings into question loyalty and love to the extent of sacrifice and solidarity.
