Review:Until the Sun Falls from the Sky - Kristen Ashley

Title:Until the Sun Falls from the Sky 

Author: Kristin Ashley
Series: The Three Series Book 1

Release Date: February 2012

Publisher: Smashwords

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Rating: 4 Hoots

Reviewer: Karia

Leah Buchanan’s family has been in service to vampires for five centuries. Even so, Leah wants nothing to do with her family’s legacy but when she’s summoned to her Selection by the Vampire Dominion, under familial pressure, she has no choice but to go.

Lucien has been living under the strict edicts of the Vampire Dominion for centuries but he’s tired of these ancient laws stripping away everything that is the essence of the vampire.

So he’s taking it back.

And this is because Lucien has also been watching and waiting for decades for Leah to become available for a Selection and he will not be limited with what he can do with her. He will have her, all of her.

Therefore, Lucien is going to tame Leah, even if he gets hunted and killed for doing it.

What neither Leah nor Lucien expects is the strong bond that will form between them, connecting them on unprecedented levels for mortals or immortals. And what will grow between them means they will challenge their ways of life and their union will begin the Prophesies which makes them one of three couples who will save humanity… or die in the effort. (Goodreads)

Review: As some of you may know…Kristen Ashley has been my big find of 2012. Well, truth be told, she was not my find, but I was fortunate enough to catch the KA bus from Goodreads and follow all the positive buzz about her books. I love her contemporary book series, both Colorado Mountain and Dream Men, but I had yet to read any of her PNR. This past Friday, her latest book was release and I devoured it in a day and a half. I love vampires and all things vamp, so I was really excited that the first in this series was a Vampire romance.

The story focuses on Leah, a destined Vampire Concubine and Lucien, the most fearsome, legendary vampire of the Dominion. At over eight hundred years old, Lucien has learned a thing or two about life, love and taming women. But in all those years, he has never met anyone like Leah.

Leah is quite possibly the most immature, selfish, naive and ridiculous forty year old woman I have ever 'met'. She has what appears to be no social skills and a complete lack of social graces. How she lived in the real world I cannot fathom, but as the book progressed, I began to seriously worry for her life. Rude, aggressive and stubborn with a vampire is generally not a good combination. Luckily, Lucien has wanted her since the moment he saw her some twenty years earlier. The years spent waiting have been the longest and hardest years of Lucien's extremely long life. As for Leah, she has been struggling her whole life with the eventuality that she would one day become a vampires concubine…or as she puts it, a vampires whore and meal.

With the backdrop set, mortal and immortal spend the next month learning about each other, challenging each other and eventually pleasing each other. There were so many times that I wanted to yell at Lucien to just tell Leah what is going on and what she needs to know. Then, there were times I wanted to yell at Leah for being so childish, petty and insolent. While I did get my HEA, I have to say that I personally like a lot more talking on the part of my alpha males. Ms. Ashley's other men, Ty or Mitch for example, talked about their feelings and how things were going to be and how they were going to make things happen. I like the alpha male to take charge and to tell the heroine, "I've got this, babe". Lucien assumed so much, both Leah and us the reader really only got two lessons about vampires!

While some of the details of vampire life and culture came across as a procedural, the world building and setting are needed in a first novel. I loved Cosmo and Stephanie, Lucien's closest and most trusted friends. Also, Avery, the immortal of unknown variety is a huge fascination for me…What is he? What is his role in the Prophesies? Will he get an HEA?

I have read a couple werewolf stories recently and I forgot how much I love those hairy uber-males! So…I can't wait for the next book, which details the second prophesy: love between a mortal and the King of the Werewolves…Callum and Sonia. Enjoy!