Night Falls Darkly (Signet Eclipse) [Mass Market Paperback]

What if there was more to the most famous serial killer in history than we ever imagined? What if it was 1888, and Jack the Ripper's atrocious crimes were about to usher in an unprecedented age of evil?

What if Archer, the gorgeous immortal hunter who came to slay him, found Jack as elusive as he was deadly, and what if the intrepid woman that Archer couldn't resist loving was about to become Jack's next target?

Kim Lenox's first story in the Shadow Guard series will leave you breathless. Night Falls Darkly is an amazingly smooth blend of history, romance, and supernatural suspense. Sensual, elegantly written, and very original, it contains cameos from historical characters that will delight you. The writing is so evocative, you will find yourself standing in elegant ballrooms and dark alleyways with these characters.

Elena Whitney is a wonderful heroine that you'll love. She's intelligent and ambitious, while also being compassionate and charitable. She is the perfect match for Archer, the hardened dark hero who so fascinates her.

I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel, So Still the Night, because Kim Lenox's books are not to be missed!

Due to an accident, Elena Whitney is unable to remember anything significant about her past. The ward of Lord Black, Elena does not even know if she has ever met him before. Living day to day helping out in the mews of London's poorest of the poor, Elena wants more than anything to become a doctor, even going so far as to apply to schools. When it seems as if her wish is about to come true, Elena arrives home to find Archer, Lord Black, has arrived with his entourage. Mysterious and aloof, he is darkly handsome and Elena is intrigued. That is, until she finds out that Archer has never before met her and never desired to. It seems that Lord Black paid a minion to provide for Elena, and while the servant thought he was doing the right thing, Elena was never supposed to be living in Lord Black's home. Archer won't hear of her leaving and so they compromise - and they fall in love much to the consternation of Archer's fellow Shadow Guards.

Jack the Ripper is demoralizing and terrifying all of London. As a member of the immortal Shadow Guards, Archer is given the duty to rid London of this foul evil. It is an order that he takes very seriously. As a Shadow Guard, Archer knows that time is not to be manipulated and fate is not to be messed with. He knows this but two years ago he refused to allow Elena to die at the hands of a madman so he interfered. With his interference comes another thought - Elena might be the one weakness in his otherwise sturdy outer shell. When Jack the Ripper targets Elena, Archer knows that being distracted is not wise but one thing is for certain. The vile stench that is Jack the Ripper will not harm his beloved Elena. He would swear on it.

I love discovering new authors and new series. NIGHT FALLS DARKLY is such a novel. Set in the late 1800's in London, the storyline of Jack the Ripper intrigued me because I was curious to how Ms. Lenox would pull off the plot. I am happy to report that NIGHT FALLS DARKLY is well written and beautiful prosaic at times. Archer is a prime alpha male and his dark countenance and erotic sensuality held me spellbound. Did I mention he is sexy as well? I found myself cheering Archer and Elena from the sidelines and thought Elena a worthy heroine. Archer's protection of his love made me feel tingly inside and I loved every word.

NIGHT FALLS DARKLY is amazing. I found it to be highly suspenseful and deeply moving. I am desperate to read the next book of this series and am gathering bribes as I type! NIGHT FALLS DARKLY releases in October. Don't miss it!

There were definitely some interesting things going on in Night Falls Darkly the first in the Shadow Guard Series, an immortal hunter series set in Victorian England, this one at the time of Jack the Ripper.

The book very original and it held great promise as a mix of historical romance with a paranormal suspense twist: the challenge of the hunt for a dark stoic hero immortal hunter Archer, an unconventional heroine in Archer's ward aspiring doctor Elena, and Archer's fellow hunters with the hint of a mythological tie-in to their origins. While I really liked Lennox's female characters, somehow for me the individual parts of the book just didn't come together in a way that fulfilled all of that promise.

Part of it was that Archer was too bipolar for me, I get that his hot and cold streaks were supposed to be a struggle of desire against duty but, when added to his patronizing treatment of Elena, the result was that I wasn't drawn into their relationship. It also didn't help that Archer and Elena actually spend very little time together during the story, since for one reason or another one of the pair was avoiding the other. Being a period romance, Elena and Archer's courtship is mostly just stolen kisses and the lustful scoping out of forbidden body parts hidden under period garments, though they did have one interesting love scene in which Archer showed Elena the benefit of having a shadow lover.

The hunt for Jack is actually only a very small background piece of the story and instead of being a taunting game of catch-me-if-you-can between Archer and Jack its role is more to provide motivation for Archer to attempt to control Elena - for her own good - and to present a conflict between Jack and his junior Shadow Guard partners, especially the overreaching and ambitious Mark.

But for me the most frustrating part was the presentation of the mythos of the Shadow Guard and their `reclamations. I got the sense that the background there was fascinating, but the information was presented subtly, mostly as vague hints and offhand remarks by the characters. But maybe I am just not smart enough because even when an explanation of sorts is given to Elena near the end of the story, I was still confused as to the origins of the Shadow Guard, what `transcending' really meant(do evil guys get Guardian powers by transcending? if so what happens to a Guardian when they transcend?), and the significance of Archer cutting his hair. I realize that first books in a romantic series are tough even without the challenge of adding in the hunt for a killer to developing the romance and fleshing out the rules of the world, but for me the mythos, and romance of the Shadow Guard never quite made it out of the shadows.

But still there is definitely originality and potential here. If you are fan of historicals looking for something a bit different, Night Falls Darkly may be just what you are looking for and for me maybe the next one, So Still The Night will shed a bit more light on the world of the Shadow Guard.