Review Heart of Darkness by Lauren Dane
Meriel Owen, next in line to control the largest organization of witches in the country, is asked to investigate the owner of a notorious club reportedly siphoning magic from the font of the Clan. It’s a direct violation of the Clan Code of Conduct, but one look at Dominic Bright and Meriel’s willing to make a deal. One taste of the sexually feral outlaw witch, and she’s eager to go further: he’s her bond mate, a legal conduit into the world of Clan witches and their magic.
Playing by the rules isn’t Dominic’s style, but bonding with Meriel–night after explosive night–is. However, Meriel has unwittingly invited someone else into her world: Dominic’s mother, a dangerous and poisonously influential magic addict whose lust for death and power corrupts all she touches. Now her shadow is closing in on Meriel, her Clan, and the man Meriel loves, and it’s casting them all into the inescapable heart of darkness.
I love love love it when an author can successfully tie a hot new series to a successful older one that we’ve come to know and love, and miss. So when I saw that Ms. Dane was tying into her Wolves series with the witches who had become an integral part of packs and puma tribes I was intrigued and a little suspicious. The worst thing in the world is when an author tries to piggyback off a successful series and it doesn’t work.
Luckilly for all of us Heart of Darkness is the former, and it is stellar.
One thing I have to get out early is that I was so glad for the explanations woven throughout Heart of Darkness about the magic, and the power, where it comes from, how it could be stolen, or how it could be added to or transfered. SO often with paranormals, especially the paranormal stuff thats common place now, witches, werewolves, magic, vampires, we get this brush off, like we as readers are just supposed to intrinsicly figure out where these powers come from, or that the author doesn’t bother to put the explanation in the book because they didn’t think its important.
IT IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT. WHY?? I want to understand the world. And me understanding the world the characters inhabit helps me understand and more importantly connect to them. I loved that we were able to discover the magical world through Meriel’s teaching it to Dominic. (GENIUS). What better way to introduce us to the world both on the surface and in depth, by having one character, the future leader of her clan, teach it to the man who would be her soul mate. Perfect.
And because I was able to completely understand the world they lived in, both the paranormal and normal aspects, because the Clan was set to operate like any company with a clear chain of command and corprate structure, because these things that are seemingly innocuous were taken care of, explained, and questions answered, it allowed me, to focus on the heart of the story. The why behind the murders, the danger, the growing power because of Dominic and Meriel’s bond and of course the romance.
I’m sure if you’re reading this review you have either found it because you’re a bookaholic like me and you all ready know Ms. Dane’s work and her reputation. Or you’re Ms. Dane fan. On the off chance that you’ve managed to find this obscure blog without either of those two devices let me introduce you to the the three standards of a Lauren Dane book. 1) An extremely strong alpha male hero who wants to be challenged by his mate, mentally, emotionally, they are unafraid of strong women. 2) Strong female characters, who are still intrinsically female, not butch or overcompensating, just female, graceful, but able to stand their ground when its necessary, but still able to accept help, and 3) a romance that is neither easy nor impossible, simply realistic. They have problems, communication issues, the occasional jealous fit, insecurity, sometimes, you don’t know if they will or should make it, but somehow, she manages to surprise us with how they were ever able to live apart.
We get all that and more in Heart of Darkness, Dominic is a witch who has grown up very separate from the clans and cabals of the witch community, and has actually lived separately and never learned anything about how powerful he actually is or how powerful being part of the community could make him. Meriel had the opposite problem she grew up insulated, never having to worry about being found out, so she, especially as the heir apparent was encouraged to develop as quickly as she could. And when this dark, dangerous club owner, whose clawed and scratched his way up, and the witch princess who knows all too well how to defend herself and isn’t afraid to do exactly whats necessary to protect her own get together… Fireworks.
But perhaps the best part of Heart of Darkness was the complete honesty of their relationship. One thing I love about Ms. Dane’s work, I’ve said it and i’ll say it again is her absolute honesty and commitment to detailing even the ugly parts of relationships, the doubt, insecurity, the back and forth, the struggle. Its what makes the Happy ending sweeter, and more deserved.
Look I’ll put it this way, if you’re a fan of great writing, fantastic realistic characters, and want to read something thats not only hot but even if you took the sex away would still be mindblowing, buy this book.
Overall Rating: A
