I just read over my very glowing review of Drake's first book in this series, "Nightwalker", and I gotta say, I am just as excited if not more so to be writing about this second entry. For some unknown reason, I kept putting off reading this book ("Dayhunter"), even though I'd been looking forward to it. Call it fear of the sophomore slump or something like that. I still held off even after my hubby read it and said how good it was.
My advice? Run, do not walk, RUN and find yourself a copy of this book today! Drake has hit the jackpot with this series; the writing is just as good as the first book, the plot development is excellent, the action is edge-of-your-seat exciting. I was amazed that this book is not only just as good as the first, but even better. No sophomore slump here!
The book immediately jumps into the action, literally picking up right where we left off at the end of "Nightwalker". Mira and her new ally, Tristan, are injured and in need of blood after the fight at Stonehenge. They are trying to obtain a meal without drawing attention when confronted by an odd trio: a witch, a lycanthrope, and a human. What's worse is that the witch knows who Mira is - the infamous Fire Starter of legend. So much for flying under the radar. After a small skirmish, Mira and Tristan rejoin the hunter Danaus to plan their next move against Rowe, the leader of the naturi who plans to break the seal between the two worlds and bring over his queen, Aurora.
Unfortunately, the next move is made for them. Mira is summoned to Venice, home of Our Liege and the Coven, which includes her old mentor Jabari. Mira is quite nervous about why she's being summoned; are they planning on killing her now? Are they going to try to kill Danaus? And what about Tristan? His maker (and Mira's) is there, and she's none too happy with him. There are several plot twists, including a possible bargain between the Coven and the naturi trapped in our world. There's also the small issue of the open seat on the Coven, vacated when Tabor was killed. It becomes increasingly apparent that Mira is expected to claim that seat, even though she wants nothing to do with the politics of her people. And there's the increasing attraction between Mira and Danaus to follow, something that both of them have their doubts about. The sexual tension is definitely building in this series, but at a nice pace.
Speaking of sex, the author does include a sex scene, just one, and I've got to give her credit. It's a very realistically written scene, which was a relief after some of the schlock I've read lately! The scene takes place fairly late in the book, and it's just sex - a release of tensions for Mira and another character (not Danaus, I'll tell you that much). The scene plays out and wonder of wonders, our author dares to use the "o" word, rather than go for the typical descriptions such as "shattering", or "breaking apart", or any of the other euphemisms for that particular event. I was so happy!
As I said for the first book, this is an excellent series by a promising author. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the paranormal world and wants more substance to their reading. Good character development, interesting plot, tight writing - Drake has it all. Check out the "Dark Days" novels soon - the next installment comes out in late September!
