EVERMORE

Author: Lynn Viehl ISBN: 0451222849 1/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: NAL/SIGNET

A Willing Sacrifice... They are the only scars that mar Jayr's milky skin. Scars left by her Darkyn master, Byrne, when she gave her human life to save his. Made immortal, Jayr has served as Byrne's faithful seneschal—and secretly loved him—for centuries. An Enduring Bond... Every full moon, Jayr and Byrne renew their oath of loyalty by sharing each other's blood. Although the erotic ritual has become the only intimacy and pleasure they know, the price of immortality demands that they never be more than master and seneschal. An Unimaginable End... Unbeknownst to Jayr, Byrne decides to leave the Kyn and retreat to a life of isolation. And the sole purpose of the tournament he's holding is to find a new master for Jayr. As the Kyn fight for Byrne's realm, hidden passions and ancient grudges flare to life threatening not only Byrne's sanity by Jayr's very existence...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

She's baaaaack! After reading the last story in the Darkyn series, I was a bit disappointed in several aspects of the book. However, EVERMORE returns the Darkyn to one of my favorite series to read.

EVERMORE has great lead characters that are original and yet they manage to suck you right into the story. Jayr found Byrne when he was near death, and she willingly gave him her blood to save his life. As a result, Byrne made her his seneschal and she has served as his second in command for centuries. Jayr is a very strong female character, although she isn't without her own unusual issues.

This story also has a bit of fairytale legend that I love. The main characters all come together at the end for a fantastic revelation that is just tons of fun! I found myself sitting there going through all the revelations saying, "So she was— hmmm. And he was really. and he KNEW the whole time!"

The two main characters have a great relationship and wonderful interaction—with a forbidden love angle, which is also another killer for me. The secondary characters all play great roles in the story. There are times when I'm reading a book and the secondary characters bore me to tears so I skip over what they are saying. The secondary characters in EVERMORE are not like that. They are all woven into the story in such a necessary way that I never felt like skipping over what they were saying. (Well, okay, I'll admit I skipped ahead because I HAD to see where things were going as I couldn't stand the suspense.) The supporting characters are evil, legendary and sympathetic, some all at the same time.

Alex and Michael also make an appearance in this book, and we learn more about them and what happened to Alex when she was kidnapped. She also plays a big role in helping resolve some medical issues that are major turning points to the storyline.

EVERMORE has become one of my favorites, if not THE favorite, Darkyn book to date.

April Luth