cover image Surrender the Dark

Surrender the Dark

Tibby Armstrong. Loveswept, $3.99 e-book (263p) ISBN 978-0-399-59335-2

Armstrong (Numbers Game) begins a contemporary paranormal romance series with this uneven, unexciting romantic thriller. Benjamin Fuller was blinded as a child during a vampire’s escape from his vampire-hunting family’s cellar. Now grown, he has his family’s house on Beacon Hill and a hunting career of his own, but he’s an alcoholic struggling to find meaning in his life. Tzadkiel, War King of Boston’s vampires, went to ground to heal after Benjamin’s uncle poisoned him; 20 years later he returns, wanting vengeance. The complicated paranormal politics of area witches and fae push the two together, and they find themselves better allies than enemies. Although the strengths and limitations of Benjamin’s blindness are well depicted and the chemistry between the leads rings true, the political machinations don’t warrant the time spent on them, and the very real reasons for the leads to hate each other vanish into the mist of mutual attraction far too easily. Agent: Deidre Knight, Knight Agency. (June)