Guest Review: Night Falls Darkly (Shadow Guard, Book 1) by Kim Lenox

Posted December 31, 2008 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Kris‘ review of Night Falls Darkly (Shadow Guard Book 1) by Kim Lenox

A cunning immortal who’s been called upon to reclaim a marked soul…

Ever since an accident took away her memory, Miss Elena Whitney can’t recall the secrets of her own past. All she knows is that with her mysterious benefactor Archer, Lord Black, returning to London at the behest of Queen Victoria, she should seize the chance to get some answers.

A member of the immortal Shadow Guard, Archer has been summoned to London to eliminate the soul of an evil demon—Jack the Ripper. Archer feels not only bound to protect the women of the night, but also his beautiful young ward, Elena, whom he spared from death two years before. But with a wave of panic spreading across London, Archer fears that Elena is his weakness—a distraction he can’t afford, especially since she’s likely to become the Ripper’s next target…

An interesting spin on the Jack the Ripper character. Jack is the villain in this book and Archer is the Guard who has been assigned to capture and eliminate him. This is a very good paranormal historical if you like those. It took me a little while to figure out exactly how different Archer and his friends. I think I was expecting some sort of heroic vampire character and they weren’t.
Archer and his coworkers are basically supernatural police/assassins. Many of our legendary villains were actually demons and they have to be stopped before they reach the next stage of their evolution or they will be impossible to stop. Enter the Shadow guard.

Archer saved Elena two years before while on another assignment and she has no memory of the time before that point. Archer makes one up from what he knows abut her and takes her in and does not see her again for two years. Elena only knows what she has been told and has no memory of Archer. So when they meet again she has no clue who he is. Now archer is trying to avoid his feelings for his ward so that she will go make a “good” marriage and forget him as well as try to out think Jack the Ripper.

Good book, I like the premise with Jack the Ripper. The characters were interesting to watch as they learned more about each other. I will look for more by this author.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

So Still The Night, Book 2, will be out May, 2009.