REVIEWED by Caroline
TITLE: Surrender the Dark
AUTHOR: Tibby Armstrong
PUBLISHER: Loveswept
LENGTH: 251 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2017
BLURB:
As a provocative series of paranormal temptation begins, a vampire king seduces the supernaturally gifted man hunting him. But when the stakes are literally life or death, their struggle for control is no game.
Benjamin Fuller is a hunter, born and bred. Blinded as a child by the vampire who slaughtered his family, he’s blessed with a second sight that allows him to catch and kill his quarry. What his gift can’t help him see coming is his fierce, almost carnal attraction to the mystery man who claims to be a fellow hunter and whose touch triggers both lust and revulsion. When he gains the upper hand, Benjamin vows to bring his enemy to his knees.
After many years spent in exile, the only one who can help restore Tzadkiel Dragoumanos to his rightful place as War King is a blind hunter with golden curls, a lithe dancer’s physique, and distinctive facial scars—scars Tzadkiel gave him two decades ago. The mere scent of Benjamin Fuller provokes an unwelcome rush of insatiable desire. Yet to win an all-out supernatural war, Tzadkiel must resist the ravenous hunger to possess his prey—for now.
REVIEW:
Surrender the Dark is an enemies to lovers story with two characters who are driven by the need for revenge in a paranormal world that is out of control.
Benjamin Fuller is a hunter born and bred. His childhood seems to have been taken over by a vicious uncle who was determined to make this eight year old child as warped and evil as the rest of the family. When a captured and tortured vampire makes his bid for freedom Ben finds himself alone in the world and blind. Jump forward 20 years and Ben and his vampire foe Tzadkiel meet again – revenge is the only thing on their minds but circumstances see them having to work together.
The first half of Surrender the Dark is slow and a lot of the detail is told but not seen. Ben had a solid relationship with only two people in the entire world and I would have liked more detail on how they became such trusted allies. The pace picks up for the second half of the book and I felt the story was less confusing in the latter stages. Ben and Tzadkiel have a difficult relationship and one that is built on a lot of incorrect perceptions. There is a grey area of good versus evil and both men have suffered badly – the main question throughout the book is whether they will be able to move on and trust each other.
I didn’t really connect with Ben – but then I didn’t really get to know him that well. Tzadkiel was easier to like and I think that was because he was so honourable in everything he did even when that honour looked set to cost him his chance at happiness. Tzadkiel would think things through whereas Ben would just get drunk.
Surrender the Dark felt like the start to a new series that concentrated on the world building and introduction of a lot of different paranormal creatures at the expense of any romance between the main characters. It felt like it was setting the stage and preparing us for what was to come whilst giving us a HFN ending for Ben and Tzadkiel and the world they were fighting for.
RATING:
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