Manic Monday - Darkness Awakened!

Darkness Awakened:

Order of the Blade, Book 1, 

Stephanie Rowe, March 2012

The Calydons are a race of ancient immortals cursed with a dark side. Each Calydon is destined to meet his soul mate, to be so drawn to her that he is unable to resist bonding with her through the rituals of his race, but their destiny is to destroy each other and all they care about the moment their bond is complete.

Quinn Masters will stop at nothing to rescue his rogue teammate. To save his blood brother and ensure his brand of justice triumphs, Quinn will break every rule of his kind and partner with the sensuous, courageous woman destined to be his ultimate destruction.

Haunted by a brutal past, Illusionist Grace Matthews will risk everything to save her kidnapped sister, including putting her life in the sinfully capable hands of an immortal warrior whose ravaging kisses and intense passion propel her ruthlessly toward a fateful destiny she can't afford to believe in.

 Stephanie Rowe's latest series, Primal Heat Trilogy: The Order of The Blade, takes you to a world where cursed warriors are willing to kill to spare the innocents of the world, including their destined soul mates. Darkness Awakened drags the reader into her uniquely new world of seriously butt kickin immortal warriors and once there holds the reader in her thrall as battles are waged and passions flare like the firestorms created by their Illusionist counterparts. 

Quinn Masters has just had his world tilted on it's axis - his trainees have been slaughtered, one of his body bound weapons is missing and one of his closest allies may be to blame. The frosting on his cake: he just met his sheva (soul mate) and he must either kill her or doom his entire race.

Grace is fighting for her life, her sanity and her sister. Her only hope lies in the very one man and his not so merry band of brothers who want her dead. What's a girls to do when surrounded by all that gorgeous, dangerous muscled flesh - fight fire with spitfire and spunk (and some snark for good measure). The passion explodes between the two and try as they may, there is no way they can stop the completion of their bonding ritual (it's hot - readers take note - it may take twelve steps to overcome addiction, but in five steps the Calydon complete the most dark, edgy, sexy bonding ritual that sizzles on the page!

For those unfamiliar with Ms. Rowe writing, listen up - this gal knows how to create dramatic characters that grab you and haul you on a thrill ride. The world building of book one gets established with just enough details to tease the reader into craving more - more warrior stories, more bonding rituals, more battles that hopefully will change the fates of a race nearly doomed to miserable lonely extinction!  Darkness Awakened delivers the kind of writing one would expect of this talented author:  tight plot lines, well written, with humor and action to captivate a wide range of readers.  There is no doubt that this series will have a cult following: The Order of the Blade series brings a whole new sub genre to the paranormal world - bring on the next big "crack", Calydon style!

For a sneak peak at Book Two - Darkness Seduced, check out my earlier review:
http://guiltyindulgencebookclub.blogspot.com/2012/04/darkness-seduced-stephanie-rowe.html

RATING: FIVE Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries This book was given to us by the author for an unbiased review. Many thanks.

Contest alert:  Comment to win choice of any one of Stephanie Rowe's backlist (ebook or print depends on availability. International winners, ebook only.  Not all books available in ebook). 

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-darknessawakenedprimalheattrilogybookone-738740-140.html 

http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Awakened-Primal-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007JE1B1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340674383&sr=8-1&keywords=darkness+awakened+stephanie+rowe

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/darkness-awakened-stephanie-rowe/1109480555?ean=2940014334105

About the Author:

Four-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Heart® Award winner Stephanie Rowe is a nationally bestselling author of more than twenty books. She writes romance (paranormal, suspense and contemporary), as well as teen, pre-teen and motivational nonfiction. A life-long reader, she began crafting stories at age ten, but didn't realize it was her dream until she was an adult.

Once the light dawned, she immediately left behind "work" as the world defines it and went to "work" as she defines it, which means getting up every morning with a smile in her heart so she can spend the day doing that which makes her spirit sing.

Stephanie believes in learning to listen to your heart in order to figure out what your dreams are, and then opening yourself to the inspiration that will direct you there. She believes we all deserve the right to enjoy life, and for the ride to be as easy as we want it to be, and that we all should accept nothing less than making our dreams come true.

Stephanie lives in New England, and spends every day doing her best to fill it with people, observations and activities that uplift her soul, which include writing, tennis, friends, and her amazing family.

http://www.stephanierowe.com/index.html