A Review for Darkness Falls (Immortal Beloved #2) by Cate Tiernan

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Published Date: January5th, 2012
Finished Date: January 6th, 2012
Publishers: Hodder & Stoughton
Source: ARC, For Review
Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
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The Blurb from Goodreads: Nastasya has lived for hundreds of years, but for some reason, life never seems to get any better. She left her spoiled, rich girl life to find peace at River's Edge, a safe haven for wayward immortals. There, she learned to embrace River's Edge, despite some drama involving the sexy Reyn, who she wants but won't allow herself to have. But just as she's getting comfortable, her family's ties to dark magick force her to leave. She falls back into her old, hard partying ways, but will her decision lead her into the hands of a dark immortal? Or will it be her first step to embracing the darkness within her?

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The Review: We join Nastasya again as she is still adjusting to life at River’s Edge, a rehab for immortals. After shedding her darkness in a New Years’ eve ritual Nastys’ life begins to take a turn for the worst. She starts to fail in everything she does, starts having dreams of Incy and his threats, having visions of her former life with her parents and Incy and starts to realise that darkness has always surrounded her. Is it her? Is the darkness in her? As she starts on with her path of negativity, no amount of intervention from her friends will help, she refuses to allow herself to wanted and want in return, rejecting Reyn at every opportunity even though she feels for him, believing that she can never truly be rid of darkness she does what she does best, runs . . . . . straight back into the arms of the one she was trying to escape, Incy.

I feel like I’ve waited ages for this book and was wondering whether I should of re read book 1 before embarking on this but there were helpful little reminders spaced throughout the first couple of chapters so that was good.

I was going to say that Nasty was ‘back on form’ in this book but she really wasn’t. In this the normally confident, stubborn, sarcastic Nasty gives way to a depressing, doubtful, insecure woman who is always second guessing herself and  seems to have the weight of the world on her shoulders. It was great to see her vulnerable though. I loved her character in the first book, I love her sarcasm and her humour but this brought out something different in her, making her that much more human as her humanity starts to come back and take effect, softening her harshness and endearing her more to the reader as her insecurities and realisations of her past are laid out. Something was always going to give with her seemingly on a spiral of self-destruction. When she goes back to Incy we see her new found wisdom come into play as she realises exactly what kind of people she has been associating with and why she was befriended in the first place, making her question a lot of her life and Incy’s influence in it. I really like Reyn too, although there wasn’t enough of him in this and their interactions were few and far between. I’m hoping for more from the pair in the final book especially after the positive ending.

To be honest, I can’t really explain why I’m drawn to this series. They aren’t particularly fast paced or full of action (which I like in a book). They’re about an immortal on a journey of self-discovery, trying to claw back her humanity and empathy for the people and world she lives in. While doing that she is forced to face some harsh realities from her past, so its filled with a few flashbacks of her life that she needs to learn from. Maybe its that shes a train wreck and I like to see people ‘fixed’, rehabilitated, work through their issues and become better people and then there is a tiny glimmer of hope and romance born from a tragic history and blossoming through two people trying to be ‘better people’. But there is just something about it that keeps me reading, keeps my interest and makes me want the sequel again. So, I look forward to the final book in the Immortal Beloved series, hoping for that happy ever after.

A huge thank you to the publishers for providing an ARC copy of this book to review.