SCENT OF DARKNESS by Christina Dodd
Title: Scent of Darkness
Author: Christina Dodd
Series: Darkness Chosen Series (Book #1)
Publication Info: Penguin Group, July 2007
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3
Dear Ms. Dodd,
Thank you so much for writing this book. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked it up, but I really really enjoyed it! Your love scenes, especially the first one, are super Hawt. They are Ravishing without crossing the line. One question though: have you ever backpacked in the Olympic Forest in the rain? The rain here is freeeeezing, limb numbing, my-fingers-are-going-to-fall-off misery. I can attest that the last thing I want to do is get nekid in it and roll in the mud. It’s COLD, even in the summer, and when I hike in it I spend the whole day fantasizing about hot showers. A fire is not enough to warm a body up after being soaked in the frigid drizzle. (And more importantly, the first rule of hiding in the forest from the bad guys is BUILD NO FIRES cuz they can trace you by the smoke.) But let’s just pretend it’s warm rain cuz frolicking in warm rain sounds plenty sexy and your scene is awesome. I REALLY love your setting (forgetting the cold rain). Your evocative imagery captures the wild beauty of the Olympic Peninsula: “the bones of the mountains stuck through the soft earth” (p251). Your heroine has a fabulously dry sense of humor. Your hero adopts the personality traits and strong sense of smell of the wolves he runs with. I can’t wait to read the next one, Touch of Darkness!
Ann Smith makes the long drive up highway 101 to surprise her boss Jasha Wilder at his vacation cabin on the Olympic Peninsula and seduce him. The surprise turns out to be hers when she finds a wolf in the living room and watches it turn into her boss. She runs, he pursues, the storm breaks, he hunts her down through the forest and the cold rain and lightning and ravishes her in the mud. (It’s hot.) Turns out Jasha’s family is afflicted by a thousand-year-old curse that allows them to change into wild predators but damns their soul. When the bad guys show up, the lovers flee over the mountains and through the forest. Ann, an insecure, straight-edge, orphan, must grasp the bizarre world she has been thrust into and learn to trust Jasha with her life and her heart. Jasha must learn to trust Ann, though she keeps secrets from him. They must work together to break the family curse and stay alive.
It’s good. Read it.
Tags: "romance novels", Christina Dodd, Paranormal Romance, shape-shifter
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February 11, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Sounds very exciting – although this reminds me of your comments before regarding the rape/not-rape scenarios in a lot of romance novels and the blurry lines there. Do you think so?
February 11, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Yes, but that’s why I liked this book and the scene so much. It is definitely NOT rape, but has all the possessive, unbridled elements of a ravishment. The heroine is “taken”, but not against her will. And the hero doesn’t do it in anger or as a punishment – sex should never be used as a weapon. He does it because he’s overcome by his animal nature and his lust for her. They both are willing participants, no drugs/alcohol involved. It is very well done.
March 26, 2008 at 11:20 am
[...] by Christina Dodd (Dark and rich – I reviewed the 1st book in the series, Scent of Darkness, here) Penguin Group USA, NAL – (0451221842) Kara Cesare, [...]