Dark Prince [Paperback]

I have never read a story like this one. There is nothing to compete with it out there. Michail is the Prince of the Carpathians who is loosing his battle against turning into a vampire. He has to find his lifemate in time to save himself. He has lived for about a 1000 years and for the last 800 years has lived without any emotion and colour in his life. Raven his lifemate can feel his pain and reaches out to him in his mind. They talk and Michail realises he has found his lifemate.

I won't give to much of the story line away as it will only spoil one of the best books you are ever likely to read along with the rest of the series.

This series is not your usual romance it has a lot of action, voilence, sex and magic, in short a very exciting read.

I have read books 2 & 3 in the series and am now starting book 4 and the series promises to be one of the best I have ever read.

For those who haven't got them here is the series in order: 1-Dark Prince. Michail & Raven 2-Dark Desire. Jacques & Shea 3-Dark Gold. Aiden & Alexandria 4-Dark Magic Gregori & Savannah(daughter of Michail & Raven) 5-Dark Challenge Julian(twin brother of Aiden) & Desari.

This is the first book in the 'Dark Series' following the species known as Carpathians as they try to prevent the destruction of their race, and fight off the ever pressing desire to turn 'vampire'.

I've read a lot of vampire books over the past year (Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Susan Sizemore's Laws of the Blood series to name just two) and 'Dark Prince' by Christine Feehan begins as it means to continue, that is to say this is a wonderfully provocative book, perfect for those of you that love the vampire genre.

In this book you are introduced to the series by way of Mikhail, the Prince of his race, tormented and haunted by his own terrible urges and contemplating suicide before he meets Raven, a modern American woman that's about to 'tick all his boxes', but modern women aren't exactly accustomed to olde worlde ways, and Raven isn't about to let Mikhail, Prince or not, walk all over her - you get the idea.

The romance in these books isn't what keeps them riveting, it's the complex characters themselves. The hero isn't perfect, and we love flawed characters!

I actually started this series by reading the second book 'Dark Desire' before this book, but such is the nature of these books you can pick them up in any order and instantly get pulled into the story. However, I would recommend that you start here, with Dark Prince, and let yourself be immersed in the world of the Carpathians.
Expect to be buying the whole series over the next few months!

(WARNING - REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

I thought this story was very inventive and creative and I enjoyed the story but I didn't like all of it. Mikhail infuriated me with his commanding ways and his obsession with Raven. I understand they are true life mates etc etc etc, but can you imagine never having a moment to yourself to do the things that you enjoy but instead always having to be around the same person for all eternity. On top of that you aren't able to leave them or else you will both die. I think I would scream blue murder. Don't get me wrong, I love my other half and can't imagine life without him, but I need my own personal time too.

I get it if they both fell in love and got to know one another before all that happened, but instead Mikhail performed an everlasting act upon the both of them without even consulting Raven first. If I was Raven I would have went nuts and wouldn't have given into him. But saying that, love at first sight is said to be a rather powerful thing.

It was rather irksome that Raven gave into Mikhail's every sexual advance but at the same time I can understand her need to be with him to make everything seem right. How their love for one another came about is a tad unbelievable to me but it works in for the story.

I wasn't sure where the story was heading from the first couple of chapters as it all seemed to be about Raven and Mikhail. I thought to myself at this point - this can't be all that happens. I kept going on with reading it and found half way through the book there was some action scenes but thought oh well that's over, what's on the agenda now, what else can happen? Then the bad guy shows up finally and it doesn't all work out great for him but I thought it all worked out a bit too easy for Mikhail. I thought Andre would have had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

All in all, I was rather annoyed most of the way through because of Raven giving into everything so easily and not really questioning who or what Mikhail was and putting her trust so easily into someosomeone before he laid everything out on the table for her. The ending was lacking slightly for me, I think I expected too much. The sexual scenes were tastefully done and leaves a little bit to the imagination. I do think there was a rather lot of sex scenes, it seemed like every time you turned a page they were at it. I most likely will continue with the next book to see where the series leads me.

Disclaimer: I have not bought this book or been given it free of charge and I am not receiving any money to review this book. I borrowed this book from the local library and everything I have said is based on my honest opinion and wanted to share it with you.