“Dark Dream” by Christine Feehan

In book 6.5 of the Dark/Carpathian series, Sara Marten lives her life on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the vampire who killed her family. Her psychic gift allows her to sense the history of an object when touching it, so she knows the fifteen-hundred-year-old diary she found as a teenager was written specifically for her. By touching the book, she can see the author’s face and translating his words over the years has kept her sane. She’s now living in Romania, trying to help a small group of psychic homeless children when the vampire once again finds her.
Falcon left his homeland a thousand years ago to protect the humans from vampires and to safeguard the Carpathian race from afar. By leaving his home, he never expected to find his lifemate, so he left behind his diary, knowing the woman he was destined for was out there somewhere. After so many years alone, he decides to end his life, but finally finds Sara as she attempts to save his life from a gang of human thieves.
I absolutely loved this book. Sara and Falcon fit perfectly together. He respects Sara and her ability to fight, knowing she can handle herself. He’s protective, of course, but not controlling like most of the other heroes are in this series.
It was great to see the series return to Europe and to see Mikhail, Raven, Jacques, and Shea again. The pacing was fast and tight. Even though this book is a novella, it told a full story with a strong, solid plot.
5 Stars

“A Dream of Stone and Shadow” by Marjorie M. Liu

In this Dirk and Steele novella, Agatha Durand works as an agent for a private paranormal detective agency and is tracking down people involved in a child porn ring. Though she finds the bad guys and saves a child, she and her partner feel as though they aren’t doing enough to help people.
Charlie is the prisoner of a witch and only finds solace after she kills him. As his body regenerates and heals, he can travel in spirit-form all around the world and eventually connects with Emma, a little girl held captive by child molesters. Desperate to help Emma, he seeks out someone tough enough to take on the girl’s captors, and he finds Aggie. As they work together to save Emma, their unlikely partnership quickly evolves into something more.
Aggie and Charlie are wonderful characters. She is a strong, kickass woman. He is just as strong and willing to sacrifice himself for others. They have instant chemistry and often bantered and joked with one another, which served to ease the tension and darkness of the overall plot.
I really liked the secondary characters. Roland (the boss), Quinn (Aggie’s partner), and Amiri (a fellow agent) were great. There’s definitely a strong sense of friendship, respect, and unity between them.
The story is realistic about child abuse, but also tastefully written. I love Ms. Liu’s crisp, flowing writing style. This story kept my attention, and I’m interested in reading more books in the series.
5 Stars

Book Overall – 5 Stars ( )

While I am well-aware of Feehan's work, I'd never gotten the opportunity to read Liu. I enjoyed her originality and "easy" style of writing. Will definitely be buying some more of her work! ( )

A Dream of Stone and Shadow is so very, very good. It deserves more than 5 stars. ( )

Dark dreamers is a lot shorter then most if the dark series but still manages to pack in the action and still has a good build up to the love scenes between Falcon and Sara, the main characters. If you are a Feehan and dark series fan you should really read this as Feehan talks about them later on in the dark series and you will fell you have missed something if you don’t know the characters. It was a refreshing read. It didn't have quite so many love scenes in it as usual. them A good read and Falcon sounds very…well “very”.
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*Rating is only for the Marjorie M. Liu story*

The Marjorie M. Liu story is a prequel to her book [b:The Wild Road|2712887|The Wild Road (Dirk & Steele, #8)|Marjorie M. Liu|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255710250s/2712887.jpg|2738433] Highly recommend reading both stories since they're awesome. Love Liu's gargoyle mythology. ( )