DARK SENTINEL (Carpathians / Dark Series #28) by Christine Feehan-Dual Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

DARK SENTINEL
Carpathian / Dark Series #28
by Christine Feehan
Release Date: September 4, 2018
Genre: adult, paranormal, erotic, romance

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 4,2018

After the devastating loss of her entire family, Lorraine Peters heads to the woods searching for peace of mind and anything to quell the anger in her soul. Instead, she stumbles upon a scene of horrific violence, as one man lies helpless in the face of three attackers.

Andor Katona’s existence has been a harsh one, living for centuries as a monk in the Carpathian Mountains. Unable to find his lifemate, he almost welcomes his release from a colorless and unfeeling world at the hands of the vampire hunters who have mistaken him for their prey. That is, until a whirling ball of fury bursts onto the scene, determined to save him.

In one glimpse, in one breath, Andor recognizes Lorraine as his lifemate, but it will take more than their telepathic connection to convince her of their immortal bond. Lorraine is a lethal combination of cunning and courage. So much so that she captures the attention of a master vampire, one who has already lost what was once irreplaceable to him. One who will strike with deadly precision at Andor and his ancient Carpathian comrades in a war to end all wars.

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Sandy’s REVIEW: DARK SENTINEL is the twenty-eighth instalment in Christine Feehan’s CARPATHIANS/DARK erotic, paranormal, romance series. This is ancient warrior Andor Katona, and Lorraine Peters’ story line. DARK SENTINEL can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty although there is an ongoing series arc that continues in Dark Sentinel. Several of the previous story line characters play secondary and supporting roles including a number of warriors, from a Carpathian monastery, who have yet to find their lifemates.

SOME BACKGROUND: All Carpathian males must find their lifemates before they turn vampire or greet the dawn. Without a lifemate, the males no longer see in color, feel pain or experience emotions. A lifemate is the light to their dark. She is the keeper of his heart and the keeper of his soul. As the unmated Carpathian male ages, the darkness begins to envelope his soul.

 Told from dual third person perspectives (Andor and Lorraine) DARK SENTINEL continues to focus on a group of ancient Carpathian warriors, nearing the end of their search for a lifemate, who had previously locked themselves away from the world in a monastery high in the Carpathian mountains. A call to help their fellow warriors in America found our hero Andor Katona fighting the evil that had once been a proud Carpathian male. Close to death, Andor would face his future in the guise of human female Lorraine Peters, a woman willing to risk her life to protect a stranger who was telepathically announcing the end of his life. With just a few spoken words from our story line heroine, Andor knew that the brave but stubborn female was his fated lifemate. What ensues is Lorraine’s effort to help heal the man with whom she is falling in love, as a powerful vampire resurfaces in an effort to find his own fated mate.

DARK SENTINEL follows the building relationship between ancient warrior Andor Katona, and Lorraine Peters. Lorraine easily accepts the existence of vampires and the Carpathian species but struggles with the ‘fated lifemate’ aspect of their lives. As a human female with strong psychic capabilities Lorraine soon finds herself traversing between ‘planes of existence’ as the Carpathian healers battle to save Andor’s life but our heroine remains hesitant to give up control of her human life.

Andor Katona gave up all hope of finding the light to his dark; his other half knowing to hide away in a mountainous monastery would in effect hide the warriors from any potential mate. Moving to America to aid in the war against the growing army of vampires, Andor knows that Lorraine is his salvation but convincing the woman, is a task on its own. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

DARK SENTINEL follows all the hallmarks of Christine Feehan’s CARPATHIAN/ DARK series including the stubborn heroine, and a Carpathian male who is duty bound to protect the woman he loves. There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including the reappearance of infamous healer Gary Daratrazanoff, as well as a number of former Carpathian monastery warriors. Details continue to emerge regarding the Malinov brothers and their decision to turn vampire, including new information not previously revealed. The vampires have acquired the ability to formulate plans, something else that is slowly changing the series arc. The premise is entertaining and revealing but bogs down with too much repetition; the characters are bold and colorful; the romance is fated and spicy. DARK SENTINEL is an intriguing and detailed story , one that will be enjoyed by die-hard Feehan fans.

 

Barb’s Review: Dark Sentinel by Christine Feehan is the 28^th book in her fantastic Dark/Carpathian series.  I must say that I am thrilled that Christine Feehan has returned to what made the Dark series so successful.  After a number of books where the Carpathian men were very abusive, I had thought perhaps the time had come to move on, but that has happily changed.

Andor Katona, our hero, is one of the men who spent years in the monastery living as a monk, and is now living with Tariq’s group in their compound in the US. After a major battle where he killed a few vampires, Andor is attacked by humans who have become puppets by a master vampire, and he lays badly injured; he decides that perhaps now is the time to end his life.  But out of nowhere comes a woman swinging a saucepan at the three men to protect Andor.  To his shock her voice reaches him and he begins to see color; finally after centuries, he has found his lifemate.

Lorraine Peters, our heroine, loves the peace and quiet of the woods, and while camping she discovers the badly beaten man being attacked, and instincts push her to help save him. Of course, Lorraine doesn’t believe in vampires, and in a short time, she will learn that there is a different life out there.   Lorraine tries to protect Andor, whom she feels some attraction to, from being attacked further.  A few of Andor’s friends come to his rescue and to Lorraine, when she is attacked.  One of our favorites, Gary, plays a big part in this story, as he is the healer who will save Andor, along with two other Carpathians. 

What follows is a wonderful story, where Andor and Lorraine, work with Gary, Sandu and Ferro to destroy the puppets, and quickly return to Tariq Asenguard’s home, to prepare for whatever Sergei Malinov is planning against them. When Lorraine was attacked, they feared Malinov implanted something in her, but nothing was found.  In the previous book, we learned that Sergei is trying to take Elisabeta, who is underground healing. I expect we will learn more about her in the next book.

I loved Andor and Lorraine together.  She was a great heroine, a tough fighter, who willingly accepted Andor’s and Carpathian’s lifestyle.  Andor was so wonderful & patient with Lorraine, such a welcome change. Their romance heated up quickly, but though very sexual, Andor was so good with Lorraine.  It was also nice to spend time with Tariq, Charlotte, Genevieve, Emeline, Dragomire, and the children we got to know in the previous two books. 

In Dark Sentinel, so much happens to keep us glued to our seats, and I could not put the book down.  The exciting storyline plots; the return of Sergei Malinov;  a strong wonderful  heroine and a hero who not only worshipped his life mate, but treated her  like a queen, and the great recurring characters in Tariq’s compound. I loved Dark Sentinel.

Dark Sentinel was a fantastic, exciting, non-stop pulse pounding story, with a wonderful couple we rooted for from the beginning. The story does end somewhat abrupt with knowing that we still have more with the Malinovs still around, I can’t wait to see where Christine will be taking us in the next book.

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

“Are you comfortable?” Andor kept his gaze fixed on Lorraine’s face. She clearly had no idea how beautiful she was, or what danger she was in. She was confident in her skills to protect herself, and he understood why. She had training. She was far better than average when it came to defending herself, man or woman. The problem was, she was dealing with a Carpathian, not a human and he had no intentions of letting her get away.
“Yes. I should ask you the same thing.” She turned her head to look down at him.
She had finished covering him up to his neck in rich, dark soil. Already he could feel the healing properties working on his wounds. He wasn’t out of the woods, so to speak. He needed more blood and a good healer. He had sent out the call to his brethren, using their common path, not the one used by most Carpathians. Vampires would have been able to hear that one as well.
“I am as comfortable as possible.” He was, as much as he could be under the circumstances, but he needed to shut down his heart and lungs, to keep from losing any more blood. He had definitely slowed the leaks, but until he could get a healer there to help him, he was still in trouble.
He sent her a small smile. “You’re indulging me.”
She turned on her side and propped her head up with one hand. “Yes. I figure if you’re right, and the soil helps, it’s all to the good. If you’re wrong and you get some raging infection, at least I granted your last wish before you died.”
“I have decided I want to live.”
“The great debate you had going earlier. It didn’t make sense until I saw all those wounds on your body. You really were in a battle before the three stooges showed up.”
He picked up from her mind that the reference to “three stooges” was from a long-ago television show. Her natural shields were lowered because she’d started to grow comfortable with him. He knew he would have to work on that with her. They could never take the chance that a vampire nearby might read her thoughts, or creep into her mind.
“I was in a battle. I know I look like I didn’t do very well against them, but in my defense, there were several of them. I managed to defeat them, and while I was trying to heal the wounds, the band of assassins showed up.” There was just the slightest bit of ego in telling her the truth. He didn’t want her to think her lifemate couldn’t take care of her.
“I wondered how they managed to sneak up on you and do so much damage.”
“To heal a body, one has to shed their own body and become pure spirit. I didn’t have anyone guarding the empty shell I left behind. That gave them their opportunity.”
Her eyes widened. “Could you do that now? I could guard you. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” Her tone was skeptical but hopeful.
He nearly groaned. He wasn’t making a good showing as a potential husband or mate. “I’m too weak.”
“I’ll give you more blood.”
It was a generous offer considering she didn’t like anything to do with blood and she would have to remove the shields completely from her mind as she’d done before. “Thank you, sívamet. I appreciate your offer and certainly will take you up on it later, but at the moment, I wish to hear your voice. It soothes me and keeps the pain at bay.”

 

Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 70 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, Ghostwalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series and Torpedo Ink. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.

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