Saving Daylight by Shannon K. Butcher – Dual Review

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Description:
After being locked away in isolation for two-hundred years, Serena Brinn returns home to find nothing left of her old life. Many of her loved ones are dead. Life has moved on without her. Even her betrothed is now bound irrevocably to another woman.

In an effort to create a new life for herself, she leaves the safety of her home and sets out alone. But the world has changed. Customs are different. Technology has advanced beyond her comprehension. Even the tide of war has shifted. Their ancient enemy, the Synestryn, are winning. She is needed in battle, but is it worth losing her freedom?

Morgan Valens, charmer of women everywhere, has been tasked with bringing home the willful beauty, Serena, no matter what it takes. More than one man has tried and all have failed. He will not.

What Morgan doesn’t expect is the swift, intense desire he feels for Serena or the buried memories those feelings unearth.

When an ominous prediction warns them of a new threat to their people, Serena and Morgan must find a way to overcome their past and work together. Because if they fail, not only will they lose each other, their people will lose the safety found in daylight, forever….

Barb’s Review:

Saving Daylight by Shannon K. Butcher is the 11^th book in her wonderful The Sentinel Wars series. I am a big fan of this series and Butcher’s writing, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book.  Brief refresher: The Sentinel Wars series revolves around immortal warriors that protect the humans from the evil demons, Synestryn.  The Sanquinars are healers, who need blood to survive, and they are dwindling; and the Theronai, who are elite protectors, who need to find their life mates to survive. The Synestryns are determined to kill all the Theronai woman and children, in order to destroy the Theronai warriors; as they continue to lose the leaves that will eventually kill them without a mate.

We meet our hero, Morgan Valens, a Theronai warrior, who has been assigned to find one of the women whom they need to help them in their battle against the Synestryn demons.  Things are looking bleak for everyone living at the stronghold, Dabyr, as the enemy is starting to win the war.  Morgan finally manages to find the woman he needs to bring back to Dabyr.

Serena Brinn, our heroine and a powerful woman in her own right, is determined to destroy all the demons on her own, and does not want help from Morgan or any Theronai.  Serena was locked up in isolation by her mother for two hundred years, and now she will do anything to never again allow herself to not be free. Morgan does his best to convince her she is needed to work together with the other Theronai in order to defeat the enemy, but he gets nowhere.  The demons have found a way to create daylight demons by the thousands, and no matter how fast those in Dabyr or Morgan and Serena together kill them, more continue to arise:  the desperation escalates; Serena has been told to find the source of the creation of those daylight demons before they all die.

What follows is an exciting, action packed adventure, where Morgan and Serena find themselves in disastrous situations often, which each needing help from the Sanquinar healers to bring them back to health. Despite neither of them wanting to act on their growing attraction to each other, the chemistry between them is hot.  Serena wants her freedom, fearing Morgan will take that away from her; Morgan lost his wife years ago, and feels he is betraying her memory.  Will they both find a way to bond together, making both of them even more powerful?

Whereas, in previous books, the story mostly revolves around the lead couple, in Saving Daylight, we did get a number of other POV’s of the pregnant woman in Dabyr who are using their power to help fight off the enemy.  At times, I felt it was a bit confusing, but since this was a major battle of survival, it was needed to keep the flow going.  As we raced to the finish, this was a wild crazy battle with so many of our old and new favorites in a fight to death; keeping us on the edge of our seats

Saving Daylight was a wonderful addition to TheSentinel Wars, and Shannon Butcher once again gives us a great exciting story, a great couple, and wonderful secondary and recurring characters.  If you enjoy paranormal fantasy, with lots of action and romance, then you should start reading this series.

Sandy’s Review

SAVING DAYLIGHT is the eleventh instalment in Shannon K. Butcher’s contemporary, adult SENTINEL WARS paranormal, fantasy romance series. This is Theronai warrior Morgan Valens, and Serena Brinn’s story line. SAVING DAYLIGHT can be read as a stand alone but for cohesion and back story I recommend reading the series in order as many of the storylines overlap and continue in each successive instalment. Shannon is an author who builds up future storylines in many of the previous novels.

SOME BACKGROUND: The Sentinels are three races descended from an ancient race of guardians known as the Athanasians, who defend and protect mankind from the demons at the door. The Theronai are the protectors whose Theronai lifemark-The Tree of Life-begins to lose its’ leaves if a Theronai warrior does not find his mate. The lifemark is a visual gage of a soul’s health, and all of the warriors suffering with the pain are running out of time. The Synestryn have killed most of the female Theronai and the warriors are in need of women whose DNA and heritage will match with their own: the Sanguinar are the healers (as well as blood feeders) and the Synestryn are the demons whose humanity has been lost for centuries.

Told from several third person perspectives including Morgan and Serena SAVING DAYLIGHT follows Morgan and Serena as they fight for their lives, as well as the lives of everyone they know. Morgan Valens has been tasked with retrieving one of the few remaining female Theronai but Serena Brinn wants nothing to do with another captivity having lived two hundred years in a prison of her mother’s making. Refusing to go from one jailer to another Serena battles both head and heart as she fights to destroy the demon-like Synestryn, all on her own but Morgan isn’t willing to face the future without her, having realized Serena is one of the few compatible females to save his Theoronai lifemark. As the battle continues to rage on at the Theronai compound, another battle begins to tear down the walls of Serena’s heart when Morgan is left fighting for his life alongside another warrior who is close to losing the last of his leaves. What ensues is the acrimonious relationship and détente between Serena and Morgan, and the potential fall-out as both believe they are not worthy of love or finding their own happily ever after.

Serena found the price of freedom meant battling the demons that were destroying her world. As the Theronai warrior slowly succumbs to losing his soul, others will find themselves facing an enemy that is much more than anyone could have imagined.

The relationship between Serena and Morgan begins acrimoniously when Serena refuses to return to the Theronai compound. As one of the few known remaining Theronai females in existence Serena has no desire to become someone’s mate, let alone become subservient to a man who only wants control. Knowing Serena is reluctant to tie herself down to eternity, Morgan is willing to sacrifice himself in order to give Serena her freedom, no matter the cost. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Meanwhile, the Theronai compound is still under attack, and their defenses are slowly falling to the maurading hoards. Somehow, a new breed of Synestryn have developed the ability to move about in daylight, time when the Theronai could have taken the advantage. Lives will be threatened, babies will be born, unmated females will soon discover there are others looking to guard and protect.

SAVING DAYLIGHT is a story of survival and war; of fated mates, power and working together. The premise is startling, wonderful and gripping; the characters are feisty, dynamic and spirited; the romance is tender, encouraging and sensual. Shannon K Butcher invites the reader into a dramatic and intense instalment in the Sentinel Wars paranormal, fantasy series.

Copies supplied for review