Rating: 
Summary: She Was the Light to His Darkness...
Review: Shea had always been different from those around her. She needed daily blood infusions and her skin and eyes were very sensitive to the light. She was determined to find a cure to her rare blood disease and pursued a career as a renowned surgeon who could almost perform miracles. Her life grew even stranger when she started having these horrible nightmares about a man who was tortured and buried alive. He kept calling to her in her dreams, alternately begging and demanding that she come to him. When a fanatic group of vampire hunters target her as a member of the undead, Shea is forced to flee. Eventually, she ends up in the Carpathian mountains where a voice calls to her. Almost against her will she finds a cave with a door on the floor. She is horrified to find that the man of her dreams is real and that he has been buried with a stake in his heart for 7 years. Although she knows that he is dangerous, as a doctor she cannot leave another person to suffer so. At first, Jacques believes that Shea helped capture and torture him, but he soon realizes that she is his lifemate, but he cannot remember exactly what a lifemate is. Jacques was captured by an evil vampire, but most of his life before he was entombed is a big blank. Shea sets out to heal him and to make him as whole as possible before she leaves to continue her research. However, her plans go awry when another Carpathian finds her and Jacques and brings the Prince and Gregori to help heal Jacques. How Shea eventually discovers who - and what - she really is and what love is make for a deeply satisfying love story.I read Dark Desire right after the first book in the Carpathian Series, Dark Prince, and it is quite different from the first book. At first, I didn't really like the characters, but they really grew on me. Jacques is a tortured dark hero who cannot remember anything of his past and is completely reliant on Shea. Shea was a very strong female who was determined to go it alone and prove that she didn't need help from anyone. It was also wonderful to see some of the characters from Dark Prince pop up here, but you do not have to read the first one to understand what is going on in this one. I thought that Christine Feehan did a great job with this story and the time just flew by as I sat down and devoured it in one sitting. If you have not yet experienced the pleasures of Feehan's Dark/Carpathian series, treat yourself - every book is a keeper!
Rating: 
Summary: Had amazing potential , but sadly didnt live up to it..
Review: "Dark Desire" is the first "dark" book that Ive gotten my hands on. The whole idea behind the book had me wildly curious and I couldnt wait to read it. I was disappointed. I liked Jacques and Shea was ok, but I was bored. The story moved along very slowly and there was too little dialogue. Also, Shea was constantly changing her mind about how she felt for Jacques..she annoyed me. I also felt that a lot of the time the characters acted out in ways that were just totally unbelievable. This was mediocre at best. It could have been a fantastic story, but the writing was repetitive and the plot uninteresting. All in all woefully average.
Rating:
Summary: Better than 4 & 5, Magic & Challenge
Review: I've now read five of the "Dark Carpathians" books by Ms. Feehan and I keep going back to this one as very good. The heroine had more substance to her than subsequent heroines Savannah & Desari. OK Desari had some skills, but still disappointing.
The heroine, Shea, of Dark Desire is a reknowned surgeon and there's a lot of intelligence there. Her interest in learning from Gregori was intriguing. My favorite of the five so far is Dark Gold. Aidan was not the flawed character some of the other men are; he was radiant. But Dark Desire is my 2nd fave.
Rating:
Summary: I like Gregori but not Savannah
Review: I fell in love with Gregori long before I read this installment. Everything is just right for me, the plot, the action scenes, the characters of Gregori (or even Gary). The only thing I felt irritated while reading this book is the character and the role of Savannah. Given that the heroine is the daughter of one of the greatest Capathians and she's also a Capathian herself, I didn't expect to see her being in spotlight only in bed (in love scenes, to put it another way). CF made me think that Savannah is nothing but a nuisance, a sex slave, a dumb black etc. Her character just doesn't make sense to me, especially the way she falls in love with Gregori (I know nobody could resist him but after all these time that she refused to merge with him, she suddenly and abruptly falls for him). I would say that there is no difference between Savannah (a Capathian) and other installments' human heroines. I mean, it's a good excuse to write about macho-heroes who always obsess with protecting their female heroines. It sounds convincing because the heroines are nonetheless human, living in a harsh Capathian world. But as Savannah also a Capathian herself, I don't understand why CF treats her like a child and more even more human than does her mother (Raven in Dark Prince) or red-head Shea (Dark Desire). Well, that's not really a negative comment, just a wonder. Anyway, this book is very nice to read, especially for those who have been waited so long for the book about Gregori. He's still as charming as he has always been and he's my most favorite hero in the Dark Series.
Rating:
Summary: The best of the Dark books, perhaps.
Review: I realize that many others have different favorites among the Dark books. In terms of a feisty heroine (one who actually stands up to the hero), DARK GUARDIAN is much better. In terms of a truly tortured (mentally) hero who becomes a passionate lover, some prefer DARK MAGIC. I however consider this story - that of Jacques (younger brother of Mikhail, in DARK PRINCE) and a half-human half-Carpathian doctor Shea - to be the best in the ouevre. This is an unusual book in more ways than one. The heroine's identity - that her father is Carpathian and her mother a human (who was *not* converted) - is one. Shea is also a very gifted doctor, and of course a psychic human female. One who also needs to drink blood, but cannot bring herself to do so, so she survives with frequent transfusions. The hero is a truly tormented hero, in that we meet him at the very lowest point of his life. He has been tortured and locked into a coffin, where he has somehow survived physically but with his mental powers and his sanity largely gone. [Did I mention that this book in particular is not for the squeamish?]. Shea rescues him from the coffin only to have him turn on her and nearly kill her. Even when he claims her as his lifemate, he is capable of inflicting pain on her - not something that we expect from the usual Carpathian hero. Jacques of course is not in full control of his sanity. And both he and Shea are in serious danger - from a betrayer among the Carpathians and from a group of humans hunting vampires and Carpathians alike. For those wondering - Carpathians are not vampires. Vampires are Carpathians who have "turned", who have chosen to experience the brief rush of power when they kill rather than destroy themselves when the temptation is great. And the temptation is great indeed. Without a lifemate, male Carpathians lose emotions and their ability to see in color some 200 years into their long lives. Without a lifemate, male Carpathians are in danger of turning. And virtually no female Carpathians are being born. There is quite an imbalance in the sex-ratio, and the entire race seems doomed. This was not a very easy book to read. There seemed to be less purple prose in it however, and the plot was dramatic enough. I kept wondering if Jacques would ever regain his sanity, if he would also regain the mental link to others of his kind. And I also wondered if Shea would adapt successfully to life as a Carpathian, given her resistance to drinking blood (if only from her lifemate). And for once, the confrontation between the villain of the book and the hero (Jacques) made sense. The villain was not easy to kill for many many reasons, even after his identity had been discovered.Rating = 4.6 (A)Breakdown = romance A- (4.5); characterization A (4.7); plot development A (4.8); writing A- (4.4)
Rating: 
Summary: Sadistic Strong Man vs. Fragile Woman
Review: I have read Dark Desire (it was my 2nd book of the Dark Series) and I didn't like the part about how Jacq abuse poor Shea. The violent way he attack her and then try to make it up by saying (or hynotize) to her how much he loves her. I didn't mind the other characters in the book. At least this book has some interesting plot; the vampire hunters and the vampire hunting and fighting. I just don't like the way Jacques treated Shea. He forces her to love him (finally she did) and bid her to him as a lifemate against her will. Is that love? I call that possessive obsession. I would have thought that Shea would fight it off more but no. Looks more like token fight. Anyway, I also don't like the way Christine Feehan potrayed her heroines. They are all small, petite, thin/slim and weak. Common on... is that a worthy lifemate to the strong and tall Carparthian male? Really. There should be better selection of human lifemates. For once, there should be busty and plump women in these romance novels.
Rating:
Summary: If you like men who treat women like children....
Review: If you like men that treat women like children, incapable of taking care of themselves, or even making decisions for themselves, you'll like the Carpathians. Oh, occasionally the men will attempt to let the women do what they want, if doing otherwise would make them too unhappy... but these women don't seem to mind too much that they're being controlled, so the unhappiness part doesn't seem to be much of a trump card. I've read the first two books of the series so far, and although I can say the writing is decent, the concept interesting... (which is why I gave it 2 stars rather than 1) the men and the Carpathian society are just Not a turn on for a woman who has respect for herself. The writer throws a little bit of seeming 'rebellion' in, from the women who are 'lifemated' to the men - often unknowingly, btw, as the men can 'marry/lifemate' the women without their knowing, or perhaps even willing, participation in the act. But the 'rebellion' of the women doesn't get them far, and they either change their minds or the men ignore it. The Carpathian men claim their most basic instincts are to 'protect' the women, but the protect them like children, not like their equal partners. If the women don't want to do something that the men think would be good for them, they are usually forced to do it anyway with the mind powers of the men. All in all I'm disappointed. It's a decent concept, but it plays on the stereotype that all women really want is a man to take them over and take care of them, so long as he 'loves' them, it's all right. I'm disappointed that authors are still writing women and men this way, and that many readers prefer it.
Rating:
Summary: Tall, Dark, and Handsome
Review: Tall, dark, and handsome are three words that can be used to describe Jacque. Other words can be used such as wild, crazed, and lethal! He is a carpathian who was captured and tortured and left buried with a stake in his chest for years. He survived but as a result is a wild man who does not remember his past. His only link is with a woman's mind. He cries out for her to help him but when she doesn't he waits for revenge...
Shea O'Halloran was studying one evening in her dorm when she felt horrible pain and was mentally linked to a man she did not know as he was tortured and staked. She thought that she had been hallucinating and whenever the man spoke to her she thought it was a hallucination. She had always been different from others. She had a rare blood condition which required that she need blood transfusions. She could connect with her patients and use her gifts to help ease them. Shea is suddenly on the run after a confrontation with some men who showed her pictures of people they had killed and beheaded. She ends up in the Carpathian Mountains and tries to save the man who had been in her head for years. She saves him only to be attacked by the wild man. Shea must save him and help keep him sane as they are hunted by vampire hunters and an unknown traitor.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising and just amazing
Review: I loved this book I think more than first. Jacques is a strong hero even in his tortured state. I found this book to be even more romantic and couldn't wait to read the rest (I have read them all) Ms. Feehan deserves all the praise and accolades she receives for this wonderful series.
Rating: 
Summary: I love these Carpathian Males. Yummy!
Review: This is the best of all Ms. Feehan's Carpathian males. The Ancient Gregori is so very dark and sensual. His lifemate is young and naive. A Startling mixture of sexual tension and adventure. If you have read the earlier works in this series you will already know how powerful and dangerous he is. Read this book and fall in lust!
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