Tempt Me With Darkness (Doomsday Brethren #1)by Shayla Black is a book I picked up at the library after someone on twitter told me I should read Shayla Black to end my recent book slump. Is it a sign that I'm in too many challenges that when I noticed that the characters were based (loosely) on King Arthur and Camelot that I went "Bonus! I can read this for the Arthurian Challenge?" The Arthurian Challenge is hosted by Becky at Becky's Books Reviews. This book completes the challenge for me-it turns out that I had signed up to read 1-3 books not 3 as I thought I had. This is one of those books that I had a love-hate relationship with. There were times when this book was so good that I couldn't put it down and others when the storyline seemed to drag on forever a result of world building for a new series, I'm sure. I'm rambling, aren't I? Enough of that-lets get down to business!
The Plot
Marrok is an immortal warrior from the court of King Arthur. He made the mistake of making Morganna mad. She cursed him with
Once they meet they are drawn to each other, and Marrok thinks that Olivia is actually Morganna Le Fey and the key to ending her curse so he (of course) kidnaps Olivia...where despite their distrust of each other begin to fall for each other. However, there are many perils that keep these two apart. For starters there is the Book of Doomsday-the book that Morganna wrote Marroks curse in. It's very powerful, and in the wrong hands can do some serious damage to the magic world...oh, have I forgotten to mention that there are wizards as well as immortal warriors in this book? I think I have...Marrok and Olivia's friend Bram is actually a very powerful wizard who wants is after the Doomsday Book to keep it in the hands of good magic instead of falling into the hands of a wizard gone bad. I don't want to give anything away, but a Dommsday Brethen is formed by Bram to help fight the wizard and his army of human zombies. (Did I forget to mention that there were zombies in this book? There is a whole army of them.) Somewhere along the way Olivia discovers that she is actually an ancestor of Morganna, and about to become a very powerful witch when she comes of age at 25. The distrust between Olivia and Marrok continues to grow, but will their love be able to conquer all and free Marrok of his curse?
My Thoughts
The beginning of it moved super fast-the bedroom scenes were super hot. (I do mean HOT!) However, the middle of the book just seemed to last forever. There were parts when I just wanted to shake Olivia and Marrok for being so stupid. I also wanted to scream-I get it, they don't trust one another-enough already! However, this was the first book in a new series, so I think the middle dragged on and on in order to fit in the background for future books. The romance almost got lost in the middle of world building-but resurfaced in the end of the book. The last half of the book almost made up for the middle of the book. There was a lot of action and sigh worthy moments-but I almost didn't care b/c the middle drove me nuts. Despite the problems I had with the middle of the book this was a pretty good read, and I do want to read the next one in the series. I just hate it when world-building gets in the way of a really good storyline. I almost forgot-the secondary characters were great, which is why I'm willing to read the second book in the series. :)
Sigh Meter: High
Swoon-worthy Meter: Low
Hot Love Scene Meter: High
Contest Alert:
I almost forgot: Cindy Gerard left a comment and wanted to let everyone know she's running a contest on her website through the end of the year where she'll give away $100 B&N gift card. All you have to do is sign up for her newsletter!
