Werewolf Finn Stavros and Vampire Lyra Marius defied the confines of their races and fell in love – 17 years ago. Only Finn, scared for Lyra’s safety, cut the relationship off while he fought and won the Alpha position in his pack. He began searching for her as soon as he became Alpha, and has been searching ever since, with no luck…until she shows up on his pack’s doorstep, desperate for help.

Lyra has a secret she’s afraid to share with Finn, a secret that cost her her position in her Coven, and resulted in her building a life with her daughter in the human world. Now her daughter has been kidnapped, and Finn is the only person she can turn to for help.

Someone is releasing Akkadian demons, and Lyra is fearful they’re trying to use her daughter to fulfill an old prophecy…a prophecy she’s not told the full truth about. But it only takes their eyes meeting for them both to realize feelings are still there, the WANT is still there.

I really liked Lyra – she’s built a life as a single mother for herself and her daughter, and she’s done it with no help from family OR friends. She comes across as a strong, likeable woman whose goal to this point has been raising her daughter. Now the very center of her world is being threatened and she’s willing to ask for help from a man she believes didn’t want her. I liked the way Lyra and Finn interact – while this isn’t a long story, I felt like the past relationship worked perfectly for them to fall for one another so quickly. Not once did Katie Reus lose the perspective of Lyra’s daughter being the focal point of the story.

Finn’s focus has been his pack – and finding Lyra. He’s never been able to find another woman who even tempted him…Vampire or not, she’s the woman for him. And he’s all in to help her find her daughter, no matter the cost. He’s strong, sexy and more than willing to show his pack that Lyra is the woman for him. There’s lots of sexy, smokin’ moments!

This was a great sexy shifter story!

LOVED the narration – I’m not always a fan of a male narrator, but he does a great job with the female voices AND the male voices. And WOW, Katie Reus teases us with a brief glimpse of a sexy Dragon shifter I have already read that as well just haven't been up to date with my reviewing. ( )

Okay so for the record I know that one of Reus' most used tropes is the "Once lovers but ended for his/her/their safety", but damned if it doesn't get me every single time.

Reus' paranormal romances never fail me. Her heroes are always smoking examples of men, her heroines don't let themselves be torn down and there is always a heated chemistry both in and out of the bed. DARKNESS AWAKENED is no exception.

In one corner you have Finn - uber Alpha leader of Biloxi, he challenged and defeated his maniacal ruthless uncle years before and has spent the time since rebuilding the Pack into something admirable. In the other corner you have Lyra - a natural born vampire princess in exile ever since her relationship with Finn ended in flames 17 years before. She's lived on her own all these years in the human world and will be damned if anyone tries to harm her or theirher daughter.

Then you have assorted other characters, a lot of whom will feature in the next book TASTE OF DARKNESS to varying degrees.

I say "assorted other characters" because while they were interesting, and were part of the reason why I am so eager to read the next book, this story was squarely about Lyra, Finn and their daughter Vega. Everyone else existed as peripherals to their little family. Oh hey pack member you have an issue with my future mate? Go ahead and die now. You think I'm not good enough for your alpha? Go ahead and eat your heart okay? These two, once they committed to the idea (in Lyra's case mostly unconsciously), everybody else could go screw themselves because nothing would keep them apart. Not even each other.

I liked that Vega wasn't just a damsel in distress, she actively sought ways to exploit her captors' weaknesses and plotted ways to thwart them. Yes the telepathic bond with Lyra was a bit convenient...but that could be overlooked since she was supposed to be the Uber Child of Prophecy (aka The Star Child) and that only accounted for a small amount of how she was eventually saved.

My only complaint was that this felt as if it belonged to a larger universe, but I'm not entirely sure if that was true. Some of the "events" that are mentioned in vague ways could point to other books Reus has written, but specifics were not very forthcoming. Add to that the abbreviated world building and I sometimes wondered if I was missing something vital.

This was, in all the ways that matter, an engaging and steamy read. If you've enjoyed her previous books definitely read this. If you're new to her body of work this is just long enough to satisfy, but short enough to only take a night or two of reading to know if you like her style. ( )

I don’t know if it is because I just came off of reading five books from five of my favorite authors but I can’t seem to enjoy the books I have read since. I couldn’t finish one book and this book, although good, was not extraordinary like those written by the authors of those five books. I am being unfair, I know. If I had read this book any other time, I would probably have had better things to say about it.

It just seemed like a typical paranormal romance book where the male is an alpha male wolf shifter, leader of his pack and the female is a vampire. They had previously been involved but he had cut off the relationship because his uncle who led the pack at the time and who hated Finn would have hurt or killed Lyra.

She comes to him because her sixteen-year-old daughter has been kidnapped. Her daughter is his daughter too but she keeps that to herself. The kidnappers need her daughter for some prophecy to open a hell gate to let in demons.

It was an interesting enough story but I felt the characters were lacking personality. I think there is room for humor no matter the situation and there was absolutely no humor in this book. I think it is a mistake that a lot of authors make when writing paranormal romance novels.
The one thing that made me want to go on and read the next book was a character who appeared later in the book. Because he seemed interesting, I may revisit this series in the future.

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"5 out of 5 stars! This fast-paced, action-packed, paranormal romance is one that will hold your attention and wish you could keep on reading even past the ending!!

Finn and Lyra are an unstoppable duo!"

Read more of this review and a teaser here: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2013/11/idolizing-in-darkness-series-b... ( )

**Review written for an originally posted on my blog, Book Bliss.I received a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review**

Review: 5 stars

General: Darkness Awakened is full of heat, chemistry and action from cover to cover complete with an awesome set of characters. I always love when opposing supernaturals are put together, it adds an extra layer of drama and things to go wrong and it certainly didn’t make things any easier for this two.

The storyline was incredibly strong and the world building filled with perfect detail. Everything that happened was filled with plausible emotions and page turning reactions from me. I love that in a book and the romance was steamy. Using two characters that have a troubled past combined with the worries of Vega was a perfect way to develop dependent characters that you root for.

Characters: Lyra Marius- Lyra is a vampire queen in her own rights, even if not yet. She is undeniably powerful in her poise and determination. I loved her inner conflicts as she had to put it aside and ask for help. Her reactions and actions to everything in the story were wonderfully believable.

Finn Stavros- Finn made Lyra look a little weak he was so alpha male! He was dark and brooding and commanding in ways that all male heros in novels like this should be. He was incredibly prideful and stubborn as well and it made watching the two come together more explosive. ( )