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Summary: Must Read 'Keeper' Series
Review: Dark Gold is about Aiden Savage the latest Carpathinian to be saved from becoming a vampire by his psychic soul mate. It is the third book in a series that I hope continues indefinitely about a dying race, the Carpathinians. After being alive a couple a hundred years they lose the ability to feel, and to be decent beings without the love of a good woman. Unfortunately, women are not being born to Carpathinians and generally humans can not give birth to Carpathinians. Except it seems a woman with psychic abilities. When a Carpathinian male has lost his ability to feel, and his hope of finding a mate he turns and becomes a vampire. Even though Dark Gold builds on the two proceeding books in the series it stands alone as a great fantasy romance with a compelling hero, a likeable if not too bright heroine and great supporting characters. If you like vampire books this book and the series is a must read.
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Summary: Unqiue and carnal and romantic! Too good to miss!
Review: I was talked into trying the first of the Carpathian series, Dark Prince -- and was immediately hooked. I've read all three books now and am impatiently waiting for Gregori's story. (hurry up July! ) What I loved most about the heroes is how protective and strong they are, emotionally and physically. The books are fantasy based but the emotions are everything we want in reality. It was wonderful, too, how the author made each book unique. Dark Prince oozes sensuality and is the perfect introduction to the Carpathians. Dark Desire is darker, more intense, and while we still get the setting and sense of the Carpathians and their world, we get a story totally different for the characters. The same is true of Dark Gold, which was lighter, more playful. They're all very sexy with to die for heroes who have larger-than-life abilities (which make them the ultimate alpha guys!) and intelligent heroines, but the characters have their own individual personalities, too. This is by far the most entertaining, original series of books I've found in a long, long time. I highly recommend them all.
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Summary: Lackluster
Review: So, going into this book I hadn't read a romance novel in several years. I've always found that romance novels are extremely hit or miss. I don't like the contemporary ones at all and the historical/fantasy ones range from tawdry fairy tales with little substance to masterful works that are only seperated from regular sci-fi/fantasy by an overabundance of sex and fewer fight scenes.My co-worker was an avid fan of Christine Feehan's work, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Dark Gold is apparently the third in the "Dark" series, but my co-worker recommended it as her favorite. Though the setting links the various novels, they can be read independently of each other without confusion. Her latest installment in the series, Dark Symphony, just came out this week. Each book tells the tale of a particular "Carpathian male" and his future "life-mate" as they find one another and overcome various obstacles on the way to spending the rest of eternity together. In essence, the Carpathians are a race of predatory, immortal humans. Over the centuries, the number of Carpathian women has dwindled and the males have been forced to wander for eons in search of a life-mate. A life-mate is the only thing that can assuage their savage nature and ensure they they do not succumb to the dark side and turn vampire. Very few human women have the mental fortitude to survive the transformation into a Carpathian, so most of these guys must wait for a long time. Imagine all that pent up sexual frustration! Fortunately for them, they cannot feel strong emotion (or even see in color) until they meet that special someone. In this particular novel, we bear witness to the romance of Alexandria Houton and Aidan Savage. I, personally, found much lacking in this book. There was a lot of sexual tension and very little plot. They spend most of the book in Aidan's house while Alexandra undergoes her transformation and then Aidan tries to convince her that she is not damned for all time. Very little actually happens in this book. I was bored to tears halfway through it and even the forthcoming steamy sex scenes couldn't completely overcome my apathy. The characters were one-dimensional. They did not undergo any real growth during the course of events. This is particularly true of Alexandria, who spends most of the book being defiant and then suddenly changes her tune in time for the books climax. Apparently the sex really was that good! Unfortunately, the most interesting character, Aidan's mentor, doesn't appear until the end and is only present for a few scenes. All in all, there was plenty of sex and much of it was suitably animalistic. Ms. Feehan has a firm grasp on the necessary romance novel terminology; the sexual tension and sexual encounters were well done. Unfortunately, I like a little more substance to my stories, even in the context of a romance novel.
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Summary: Dark Gold
Review: Unlike other reviewers here, that's the first one I've read of the dark series. So my review probably won't be enough since I haven't compared with the other two books. When Alexandria Houton and her little brother are taken captive after they witness the murderous rampage of a crazed vampire, she holds little hope of ever living to see the next day. Little does she know that the tale she spins to reassure and calm her brother of a golden haired savior coming to their rescue is about to come true, or is it? Has he come to save them or are his golden good looks hiding the heart of a monster? Alex soon learns that although this dangerous being has saved her life, the price he requires in return may be too high to pay. Aiden Savage has taken on the task of hunting down and destroying the creatures of his race who have given up hope and given in to the lure of the thrill of killing. Until he rescues Alexandria, he fears that he too is on the edge of turning. When he meets Alexandria he realizes that she is the only one who can save him, the only one who can bring color and emotion back into his cold, gray world. But Alexandria is not like any woman he has met before. How can he find a way to balance his inbred need to control and protect her with her desire for independence? He knows he can never give her up. With Dark Gold, the third one of her Carpathian series, Christine Feehan establishes herself as the mistress of Torture and Suspense. The torture of waiting for her next book to come out and the suspense of turning each page to find out if this book will be even better than the last! I am happy to say that Dark Gold gives us everything we have come to expect from her books and more. Making it a worthy addition to the series.
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Summary: Stirring and interesting!
Review: This is the third in a series of spectacular books about the Carpathians (who become vampires if they succumb to evil)--the first two being "Dark Prince" and "Dark Desire". Like "Dark Desire", this book can stand alone without you having to read the previous ones. In this book, Dark Gold, Alexandria who is human matches wits with one of the "golden twins" Aiden Savage. Aiden, unlike most of his species, has much more interaction with humans, trusting his secrets to his family (a family who has known his secrets down through the years, passing the tradition of protecting Aiden down through the generations). Aiden has his hands full with his lifemate, Alexandria, who is as independent as the wind and about as tamable. Like the other "Dark" books, the lifemates must learn the true art of compromise. I think this one was the 'lighter' of the four books in the series that have been released so far, if you can consider it "light". I found this to be just as much a keeper as the previous ones and have reread it numerous times. I would highly recommend this book to all romance and paranormal readers.
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Summary: What Would Happen If She Surrendered...?
Review: Alexandria Houton desperately needed the job that Thomas Ivan could give her. She was an excellent computer programmer and knew that she could design Ivan's games so that they were better than ever before. But, before she could close the deal in the restaurant, she heard a voice calling to her. She didn't want to follow it, but, when she saw the creature holding her beloved little brother captive, she knew that she had no choice. The vampire chained her in a cave where she could not escape, too weak with blood loss and the poison now flowing through her system from the vampire's tainted blood to even try to get free. When the vampire rose the next evening, she prepared to face her death, but found an avenging angel who came to save her... Aidan Savage had volunteered to leave his beloved Carpathian mountains to hunt the vampires in San Francisco and its surrounding area. He had lived for so long without a life mate that he didn't believe his eyes when he started to see color and feel emotion in Alexandria's presence. He knew that Alexandria was afraid of him, but could never let her go. Aidan tried to ease Alexandria into her life as a Carpathian, but she defied him at every turn - demanding that they drop her brother off at school even though the sun was exquisitely painful, going out on a date with Thomas Ivan and continuing to work with him, refusing to take his blood until forced, in short, doing everything in her power to deny what she had become. How long would Aidan be able to be patient with his beloved Alexandria before she would finally accept who and what she truly was? I really liked Aidan's character and thought that he made a nice change from Ms. Feehan's other heroes. For one thing, Aidan is blonde, where all the other Carpathians are dark, and he seems to have keep more light in his soul than the other men in the Dark series. He is very playful and patient with Alexandria. Aidan also has a human family who have cared for him for generations, a son or daughter always choosing to stay on and to take care of his house and other affairs while he is resting during the day. The only problem was that Aidan was such a strong personality that all of the other characters seemed to pale in comparison. I would have liked Alexandria to be a richer character, less superficial, but I did like her. This was a great addition to the Dark series and I enjoyed the new setting as well as the new kind of hero. Keep up the great work Ms. Feehan!
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Summary: Excellent!
Review: ...I am not a huge romance fan, but I love her books! This is another tour-de-force from Christine. Her characters are rich, deep and complex. There is passion, mystery and the fight over evil. Aidian and Alex make a terrific pair and the extended family is wonderful. I highly recomment all her books. I've not been disappointed yet!
Rating: 
Summary: No glowing review for DG here!
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this series. When I heard about it I immediately headed to the bookstore to buy it. To my dissapointment they did not have it in. It took a couple of more try's but I finnally had it in my hand and was anticipating sitting down and reading what looked like an exciting vampire/romance novel.
I sat down, I read halfway through, then I put it down and never picked it up again. It started out interesting but went down hill once Aidan a dominant caparthian male, became the dominant character in the story. His personality was to overpowering and the heroine just seemed to fade into the background. When he started acting like the heroine couldn't move an inch without him there to protect her that's when I realized this was going to be one of those boring novels where the woman is protected like a piece of china . It looked like a good book but Aidan cast to much a shadow over the heroine's personality so she became just a meek shadow of what she might have been.
If you like a little horror in your vampire romance you might want to check out Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blakes series instead. A series were there's a heated romance triangle and a Heroine who actually has a voice.
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Summary: I've read 5 and this was my favorite so far!
Review: After reading Dark Challenge, I can still say that I refer to Dark Gold as my favorite so far. The heroine was sympathetic and I really cared about her, and Aidan was just wonderful - not the flawed character Gregori or Julian are. The chemistry was great, the human factor was wonderful and I really enjoyed this one the most so far I believe. It's tough to say, but I have 3 or 4 more books left to go...
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Summary: Oh yeah! This'll work!
Review: Okay! This was the first of the Dark Series that I found by accident. Ohmygosh!!!!!! I was hooked! The first chapter or so kind of made me grimace; Not knowing what the rest of the book was like, I wasn't certain I could continue.... I don't do violence very well. LOL Was I ever wrong! This is the ultimate in sensuality. I'm not much on domineering men, but I think I could adjust! :) It's hard to say which is my favorite in the series, but Dark Gold was definitely one of them.
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