#BookReview – “Dark Legend” by Christine Feehan

Blurb

Gabriel wakes deep within the ground, and the first sensation he feels is an overwhelming hunger for blood. But as he hunts the dark streets of Paris for prey, a voice calls to him, soothing, calming, giving him the strength to control his craving.

Francesca Del Ponce is a healer, a woman who radiates goodness as powerfully as the sun does light. Though Gabriel can only imagine what she will feel like in his arms, he knows the taste of her will be addictive. And yet he fears for her life and his soul if he gives in to his desire...

Review

In the seventh book of the Dark/Carpathian series, Gabriel Daratranznoff and his twin Lucian are legends among the Carpathian people. They’re the most powerful and the oldest of the old, and they made a pact with each other that if one of them turns vampire, the other twin will hunt and kill the vampire twin. Then Lucian turns, but only sometimes did he act like a normal, deranged, maniacal vampire. After years of fighting with no winner, Gabriel finally trapped Lucian in an underground Parisian cemetery.

Now, in the modern era, the cemetery undergoes construction, which wakes the twins. When Gabriel rises from the ground, he’s starving and out for blood. Luckily for him, a kind woman takes him home with her.

Francesca Del Ponce doesn’t realize the gaunt, hungry, homeless man she took pity on is actually a Carpathian warrior and her lifemate, presumed dead. She, too, is an ancient Carpathian and a great healer, but she’s given up her people and her homeland to live as a human in Paris.

She’s such a strong, stubborn, self-sacrificing woman. Like most of the heroes in this series, she’s ready to greet the dawn when she finally meets her lifemate. She doesn’t want a relationship with Gabriel, but he has other plans. Gabriel is more patient, amusing, and less of a chest-beating he-man as the majority of heroes are in the other books. Granted, Gabriel does have his moments of being overbearing, but it’s not that bad compared to some of the other men.

My favorite characters are Lucian and Skyler. Lucian is a great actor and isn’t the bad guy everyone thinks he is, but he is a lot darker and moodier than Gabriel. He’s lived a harder life than Gabriel has, but did so of his own free will. In that aspect, he’s more like Gregori, the twins’ heavy-handed younger brother. Skyler is the human teenager Gabriel and Francesca have taken into their home. She’s psychic and could possibly be someone’s future lifemate (I love Dimitri!), but she’s dealing with loads of personal trauma. Her past is heart wrenching.

Despite the friction between Gabriel and Lucian, they have a great bromance, and I love their sarcastic remarks to one another.

As with all of Mrs. Feehan’s writing, the POV jumps between various characters. I do like, however, how the heroes always sound so old-fashioned and respectable.

This book leads up to Lucian’s story, which is one of my favorites.

4 Stars