Dark Possession by Christine Feehan

Book Description:

Manolito De La Cruz discovers his lifemate only to hear she would never accept a male of the species. MaryAnn Delaney has been around the Carpathians for a little while now, and having met several of the men, she knows she would have a difficult time being a lifemate to any of them. She's a city girl, a counselor for women and she wants to go back to her home turf. Manolito was born and bred in the Carpathian mountains, but has lived in South America with his four brothers on their extensive cattle ranch. They are laws unto themselves, and have long ago taken on possessive, passionate and arrogant ways that only magnify the already dominant traits of their race. MaryAnn, modern city girl, is about to meet a rainforest predator.

I believe this is the 18th (or some such other crazy number) installment of Feehan's Dark series. This series has always been special to me because my first vampire/paranormal book was Dark Prince back in 2000. I remember being home with my son, who was born in September of that year and reading books faster than I could buy them. I was in the used bookstore and looking at this book thinking 'Vampires?'. Then I read the first few pages and thus began my love affair with Mikhail Dubrinsky. Through the years, there have been hits (Dark Prince, Dark Desire) and misses (Dark Symphony) for me. Honestly, how original can an author keep it after this many releases? Though I am a diehard fan, I definitely think that Feehan ought to consider winding the series down. Unless she can come up with some new meat.

Well, she tried (and somewhat succeeded) to do that in Dark Possession.

We first meet MaryAnn Delaney in Dark Destiny. She returns in Dark Celebration where she is unknowingly mated to Manolito De La Cruz. When Manolito dies by saving the life of Shea Dubrinsky (Dark Desire), MaryAnn has no idea the profound effect that it will have on her life. By the end of Dark Celebration, she is still totally clueless to the fact that she was mated to a Carpathian male (who she thinks are overbearing, arrogant, and pompous).

Fast foward to Dark Possession. Somehow Riordan and Juliette (whose book I don't remember) talk MaryAnn into coming to South America to help Juliette's sister, Jasmine (who I vaguely remember), after she was kidnapped and held by the jaguar people. MaryAnn has the unique ability to help people, which is why she's a counselor. Unfortunately MaryAnn finds herself depressed and unable to help for the first time in her life. Looking at the situation as a counselor, MaryAnn knows that she's clinically depressed, but she can't understand why. She refuses to believe she's depressed over the death of a man she only saw from a distance. It doesn't matter that she's cried buckets of tears over the death of Manolito.

When Riordan and Juliette tells MaryAnn that Manolito is still alive, her heart believes it even if her head tells her it can't be true. Apparently Feehan has divised a way to bring people back from the dead. There's a world between alive and dead and that's where Manolito is. He's really effed up because he can't remember anything. All he knows is that MaryAnn is his lifemate and she isn't there. In the soul world, the vampires insidious whispering cause him to doubt himself and MaryAnn. Talking of joining the ranks of the vampire and having endless power, Manolito finds himself weak. Not that he wants to join the vampires of course, just that he doesn't think anything is worth fighting for without his lifemate.

Eventually Manolito and MaryAnn reunite and there is an explosion of chemistry, which is very Feehan-like. Lots of sex, of course. Possessive jealously from Manolito. Confusion from MaryAnn. Exactly what you expect when you read about Carpathians. I did giggle a little bit over Feehan's descriptions of a woman's va-jay-jay. I really hate flowery descriptions (unless it's a historical), especially considering how "earthy" these books are supposed to be. I mean, they're getting down and dirty in the jungle, fcol.

Feehan reintroduced the Jaguar shapeshifters, who have always intrigued me. She hasn't written a Jaguar book since Wild Rain. Personally, I think she's overdue. She also introduced a new species into the series. What you ask? Werewolves. Yes, you read that right. The Werewolves are the only other species that can bring absolute destruction to the Carpathian people. Though they were allies, over time they separated and lived their own lives. Eventually the werewolves disappeared off Carpathian radar.

I'm sure you can already guess why this is important. MaryAnn is a werewolf. Of course she has no idea. I figured it out though. A page before it was revealed. LMAO. When I think back, that fact all but smacks you in the face throughout the book. Since MaryAnn didn't know, Manolito didn't know which meant that she was unknowingly converting Manolito everytime he fed from her. Then the arrogant ass has the gall to blame that on her. *snort*

I think that Dark Possession infused the Dark series with a much needed and long overdue new life. It was seriously lagging. I really thought this was a good addition to the series.

4 out of 5 stars.

Safe Harbor by Christine Feehan

From the back cover:

One of seven daughters in a line of extraordinary women, Hannah Drake has been the elusive object of affection for Jonas Harrington for as long at the young man can remember. If only the stunning super-model was driven by a passion other than her career. But Jonas isn’t the only one with desires for Hannah.

From the shadows has emerged a vengeful figure who stalks the beauty with one terrifying purpose: to strip her of all she is and destroy her. Only one man was destined as her protection. Now, out of a storm of danger, Jonas must guide the woman he loves from a sinister darkness that threatens not only Hannah, but the entire Drake family.

Safe Harbor is the long awaited story of Hannah and Jonas. In the four previous books, I really loved to hate Jonas. He was such an ass to Hannah. We never knew why, though. Feehan clears that up in this book.

Jonas Harrington has struggled for years with his feelings for Hannah Drake. By the time he was 10 years old, he knew she was special. He just didn't understand why. For years now Jonas has stayed far away from Hannah. Not wanting to bring her into the darker part of his life, Jonas has done what he thought was best for Hannah. After a job goes bad, he knows that he can't wait to claim Hannah as his own. Almost dying makes him change his priorities a tad bit. Returning to Sea Haven, Jonas arrives at the Drake House to find Hannah packing for another modeling job. Of course this doesn't make him happy b/c Jonas hates that she shows her body off to millions of people. He also doesn't like it b/c he knows Hannah herself doesn't like it.

Hannah has loved Jonas for-evah. Though she is a world famous model and completely gorgeous, the girl has MAJOR self-esteem issues. She doesn't think that she'll be woman enough for Jonas. She also has no idea that he has feelings for her. What she does know is that she can't take his constant criticism. When she tells him that she needs him to stay away for awhile, he hits the roof. His feelings finally come out and they totally get it on. It was actually sweet b/c they both couldn't believe that the other one felt what they did. Of course Jonas being Jonas (and a man, too), he believes that Hannah will now quit her job and stay home to be a good little wife. Which is exactly what Hannah wants. However, she won't break her existing contracts. So she leaves for New York and Jonas is pissed.

While Hannah is doing her big fashion show, Jonas and Sarah are watching it back at the Drake House. It was actually very amusing. Jonas is pacing around and asks Sarah, "Why hasn't she called?" to which Sarah replied, "She did call. You yelled at her to get her ass home and she hasn't called back since.". Heee. Okay, so maybe you have to read the book b/c it was a lot more funny when I was reading it.

Then Hannah gets attacked. Savagely. Viciously. On live t.v. Jonas and Sarah are helpless to stop the attack and they can't even help Hannah. Lucky for them, Ilya Praneskii was at the fashion show. You remember the Russian hitman that's a bodyguard for the Russian mob guy? Well he was there b/c his pscyho boss is obsessed with Hannah and her sister, Joley. Ilya has his own special powers and he is able to keep her alive until the Drake sisters arrive.

So Hannah is really messed up now. She can't leave her house b/c the paparazzi are everywhere. She can't sleep b/c she has nightmares. She can't look at herself in the mirror b/c the scars remind her of the attack. She can't be intimate w/ Jonas. She can't, can't, can't. Not saying that I blame the poor woman. What Jonas and the Drakes can't figure out is why Hannah was attacked. Though she has your normal obsessive fan base, there was no specific person that would stand out. Again and again people come to try to kill her. The first time after she came home, the house ate the people. Okay, not ate them exactly, but it was pretty creepy to read. The tree's came alive. The floor swallowed men whole. Oh and then they rolled over the bluff down into the ocean. You know Jonas is totally freaked out about it. Which was funny.

Eventually Jonas figures out that HE is the reason that Hannah was attacked. This doesn't sit well with him, as you can imagine. After so long of trying to keep Hannah out of the dark part of his life, he literally brought it to her front door where it almost killed her. The sisters kicked ass and protected Hannah, which always makes me smile. There was a really sweet part where all Hannah's sisters apologized for pushing her into doing something she didn't want to do (modeling). They each wrote her a letter. Jonas did, too. It was just "awwww" inducing.

Very much looking forward to Joley and Elle's book. Considering the backstory on Jonas and Hannah, I thought Feehan pulled it off really well.

4.5 out of 5 stars.