Mikhail Dubrinsky is prince to the Carpathians, a not quite vampire race that can shape shift and has psychic powers. Mikhail has spent countless centuries caring for his people but the long ago loss of his emotions and all colors from his life has pushed him to the end. He can no longer wait for the one female who is destined to be his mate; the one who will bring color back into his life. He's ready to seek the morning sun and end his eternal life, until a voice comes out to him in the dark and pleads with him to reconsider.

Raven Whitney is a telepath who works to bring depraved serial killers to justice. In the Carpathian Mountains on a much needed vacation after her last case, Raven uses her gift to mentally reach out to a man in distress, unable to ignore the stranger's pain. Though she's afraid of the power Mikhail seems to wield, Raven is much too intrigued by him to stay away. Their instantaneous connection has her coming back for him again and again. When vampire hunters target Mikhail's people, Raven knows she has to use her powers to help, but with no protection from Mikhail during the day, will Raven fall victim to the hunters as well?

I'm one of the rare (or so I tell myself) people who loves Christine Feehan's Carpathian series but has never read the first book, so I was thrilled when they re-released DARK PRINCE, in an author's cut special addition at that. It doesn't get any better than this. I dove into the writing as soon as I got the book and pretty much didn't come back up for air until I got to the last page. Like with all of Feehan's books, I was engrossed to the point of nothing else mattering. I did enjoy the book, but I think part of me had built up Mikhail and Raven so much from the other books in the series I have read that no matter what happened, I was going to be left a little disappointed. I expected birds to fly out of the pages and the heavens to open up, which, of course, didn't happen. But regardless of that, this is a great book. I can see how, over the last twelve years since it came out, Ms. Feehan has influenced the next generation of vampire/paranormal writers. With her unique concept and absorbing writing style, it's easy to see why this series is still going strong today. Here's to the next twelve years of Carpathians!