In Kira Brady's debut HEARTS OF DARKNESS, the first book in
the Deadglass Trilogy, Kayla Friday went to Seattle to
claim her sister's body and find out what killed her. She
stays to try to unravel the mystery of a necklace; an
attraction to a hunky mercenary werewolf named Hart and
ends up in the middle of a long-standing feud between two
paranormal races. The Kivati are shape-shifters—mostly
powerful birds, but also wolves and deer—and the Drekar,
dragon shifters with no soul.
Kayla meets Hart at the morgue where she learns about the
necklace that both the Kivati and the Drekar leader,
Norgard want. Hart, who is a blood slave to Norgard, is
charged with finding it and returning it to Norgard. Then
he'll have one more thing to do to gain his freedom. Kayla
and Hart fall for each other, so when Norgard's last
request is for Hart to deliver Kayla to him, Hart has to
choose between his heart and his freedom.
As with many books, there are parts of this book that
worked for me and parts that didn't. I really liked the
world that Brady introduces: the two different races, a
lack of electricity because of wraiths (souls who wouldn't
get through the gate) and a dependence on steam engines and
older technologies. I also enjoyed the mix of Babylonian
and Native American mythologies. But as much as I liked the
world, I didn't like the main characters so much but Kayla
in particular. She went from grieving over her sister's
body to an attraction to Hart in a nanosecond, and I've
always had issues with instalove.
That said I really liked the character of Grace, so I'll
stick around for that book. For some reason, Grace had the
depth and mystery that Kayla lacked. So too, does her love
interest although I definitely liked Hart better than
Kayla. Hopefully, this is one of those series that gets
better with the next books, and if the excerpt is anything
to go by, it seems like that will be the case. So for those
who are willing to read an okay first book as prelude to a
second book with more promise, give it a try.
In the first of a dazzling new romantic trilogy, one
woman's courageous search plunges her into a millennia-old
supernatural war--and an irresistible passion. . . Nurse
Kayla Friday has dedicated her life to science and reason.
But for her, Seattle is a place of eerie loss and
fragmented, frightening memories. And now the only clue to
her sister's murder reveals a secret battle between two
ancient mythologies. . .and puts Kayla in the sights of
lethally-sexy werewolf mercenary Hart. He'll do whatever it
takes to obtain the key to the Gate of the Land of the Dead
and free what's left of his soul. But seducing the
determined Kayla is putting them at the mercy of powerful
desires neither can control. And as the clock ticks down to
hellish catastrophe, the untested bond between Kayla and
Hart may lead to the ultimate sacrifice.