Darkness Descends: A Skye Faden Novel....by Alisha Ashton.....Review by Kathy

-BLURB-

Skye Faden has had a crappy decade. Seriously. She survived nearly ten years of torture, then escaped and killed the vampires responsible for the deaths of her entire family. She should - by all rights - be free to spend the rest of her days on a warm, sandy beach somewhere. 

Unfortunately, those plans are quickly derailed by a bite-happy werewolf. With just a few days until the full moon and her first transformation, Skye has no choice but to accompany her ADHD-prone handler, Miko, to Scotland in search of answers. 

Faced with a supremely sexy ancient werewolf (woof!), a hushed prophecy about how her arrival will trigger a war, and a handful of unexpected new supernatural abilities, Skye is in for one hell of a ride. As the shaky truce between the breeds races toward its abrupt and violent end, she must unlock the mystery surrounding her identity and uncover a secret of betrayal that has been kept for over 4,000 years. Piece of cake, right?

Are you looking for a quick read about vampires and werewolves? Well this is definitely not the book for you then. If you want a longer novel (about 667 pages) with action, romance, suspense, humor, well developed characters, and heartbreak then you NEED to read this book. This is not some little pansy werewolf trying to find a mate. This is a story of 4,000 year old beings that have loved and lost and still fight.  

I was intrigued by the blurb for this book. The story of Skye starts out with blood, a lot of blood.  It's 3 years in the past... 

 It felt as if she was awakening from a psychotic nightmare- one that had take nearly a decade to end. 

 Her arms were crossed over her chest as her body trembled uncontrollably in shock.

 The blood that covered her from head to toe was drying now, offering her bare flesh a  layer of protection from the cold night air.

And that quickly I was totally hooked. I had to know what happened. What could have happened to cause the blood? Was it Skye's blood? A decade long nightmare?

We start in the present day, in a bad neighborhood. Not your regular bad neighborhood either...

 The only positive thing about working the graveyard shift in this neighborhood was that there were never any clients around to bother him. Unfortunately, that was also one of the biggest negatives about this job. Nobody was stupid enough to venture out after dark around here - not even the cops. People disappeared. People were violently murdered and left in dumpsters. No one ever saw or heard anything. 

 At least, that is what you said if anyone asked. 

 Bearing all this in mind, it should come as no surprise that his hand instinctively went to an ever-ready shotgun when the front door swung open. The two inch thick bulletproof glass that encased him offered very little comfort as a hooded figure slowly stepped into the lobby. 

 

There were deaths delivered by the vamps(they are known in the book as fogaraich and the werewolves are known as faol/faoil). Oh I should tell you that there are a lot of Scottish and some Irish language in the book. The author does leave some translations for the Gaelic terms and approximate pronunciations. I found this quite helpful. 

 Skye has spent years killing covens of fogaraich. They took her and her brothers after murdering her parents. Her brothers became the very things that took them and spent years torturing Skye. Once she has gotten away from them, she trains in how to kill them. She then starts hunting her "brothers" to kill them.  She does not falter in what she must do. She doesn't trust anyone. Would you? She learns that she must go to Miami to get her last brother.

In Miami she meets Miko. He knows how to fight the fogaraich and has spent years doing it.He is an ASHER. This is a group who try to kill the fogaraich as often as possible. While they are fighting them, Skye sees another one. She is not aware of the faol. She attacks him and he bites her. She will turn into a faol on the next full moon.  

 Skye's voice cut in on her pondering. " Looks like i"ll be changing about three days a month, right? The day before, the day of, and the day after the full moon. So, it'll be like PMS twice a month. I bet I'll be a real peach to be around when they coincide. Talk about upping the excuse to be bitchy."

 Aiyanna grinned. "I think it would be wise to reinforce the case on those occasions and not let any men in the area."

 "Damned straight. Wait a second, I just realized something... I really am a a bitch now, aren't I?" Skye asked.

 Aiyanna attempted to muffle her laughter as she nodded. 

 "Huh," Skye breathed thoughtfully. "Well looks like all the years I spent owning that title has finally paid off."

Skye and Miko must fly to Scotland to help her through the first change. Her is where she meets Taran the first time. He will be teaching her about the faol. He is a uber Alpha. 

 Did you hear that? Why did he have to keep slipping in those distracting little phrases? 'In case ya need me in the night','my love', 'I would nah mind an excuse to carry ya'-that last one had completely cushioned the fact that she would be in too much pain to walk. She didn't even care. 

 And why did hes accent have to make everything sound so damnably sexy? Why did every word out of his mouth have to feel like auditory foreplay? The bastard could inflict orgasms by reading aloud from the phonebook.

Skye is the first woman to complete the change. She is doing things she shouldn't be able to do for centuries. She is special, could she be the ONE? 

Okay, let me just say that I really loved this book. The interactions between Skye, Miko, Taran and Ciaran are just amazing. I found my inner ear, hearing the brogues of the guys. The snarky comments had me laughing out loud and snorting. The pot shots that all of them take at each other are awesome. I could feel the love developing. I could hear the love and friendship between Taran and Ciaran. The adoration that develops for Skye.  More than once I had to put down my kindle to take a breath. I yelled, i laughed, and I cried. I was so upset at one point in the book that was running through tissue so fast you'd have thought I dumped a pail of water on them. I was not expecting this to happen. Honestly assumed that would just have the regular feel good feeling at the end of the story. No, i felt as if my heart was ripped, still bleeding from my chest and offered up to all to watch as it slowly stopped beating.  I was wrung out by the end, and I freaking LOVED every single second of it. I was enthralled. Spent the entire night up reading, I had to know what happened. I want there to be a second book out now. I NEED to know what happens next. I hate giving away spoilers, so I will just say.... HURRY UP with the NEXT book Alisha.

 I am giving this 5 clocks. Wish I could give more.