Review: Crunchy outer shell and gooey center
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2013
Scarlet Heat (Born into Darkness-Book#2) is basically a story of marriage (or in this case, bonding) of convenience.  A blood bond for 3 months is performed between our H/H so the heroine can get protection from other vampires.  At first the pacing seemed slow, but it was just to develop the characters, foreshadowing, and build the sexual tension.  That build-up made the last half of the book believable and a fast-paced roller-coaster ride until the end.  Could. Not. Put. It. Down.Taylor's character - her biggest conflict is moving past her past physical/emotional abuse suffered at the hands at her maker/mistress, Celeste.  Ms. Anderson has a lot of experience writing characters with abusive pasts (Pursued Brides of Kindred #6 ripped my heart out!), but she applies a delicate touch to Taylor's backstory and the extent of this abuse is hinted sporadically throughout the story.  I'm kinda glad that Ms. Anderson didn't describe this in too much detail, because I think we (the readers) wanted Taylor to heal and have her HEA.Victor's character - he's an outcast from his were-kind and since he has grown up as a werewolf, he understands the conflict between werewolves and vampires. While Taylor doesn't think too much about their forbidden and taboo bonding, it's through Victor that we understand how other werewolves and vampires find their relationship abhorrent.  Even though he's been rejected by werewolves (and his own family!), he is willing to take a chance on their relationship. I was moved by crunchy outer shell and his gooey center.  While he may have been (initially) motivated to protect Taylor by paying off a money debt to another vampire, he quickly grew to see beyond their convenient bonding.Things that I liked: I liked hearing from Victor's point-of-view and Ms. Anderson alternated between Taylor's and Victor's POV from chapter-to-chapter.  I also enjoyed the ending, because I felt the ending had a deeper and stronger resolution than Book#1. Taylor's newfound powers enable her to go back to school and finish her degree and Victor has Taylor - someone who accepts and loves him for his curse (and some physical distance from the were pack).Things that I was weary of: 1) Sometimes authors use interpersonal misunderstandings to drive the conflict of a book and I'm always weary of it, because if they can't talk things through when they're just starting a relationship, then, I have doubts about their HEA.  However, the `misunderstanding' in Scarlet Heat was believable, used quickly and effectively, and moved the plot along to the surprise climax and conclusion. 2) And even though I liked the POV switching, I wanted to make sure that we heard from the `best' POV - meaning from the character with the most at stake (the most to win or lose) in a scene. Again, Ms. Anderson did not disappoint. 3) The villain, Celeste - most of the villain's that Ms. Anderson writes are so unabashedly evil, they're one-dimensional.  However, I did admire Celeste's plan to bring Taylor and Victor together. When Celeste monologued about her manipulation in fulfilling the prophesy, I was shocked that she could think past her all-consuming psychopathology. Celeste's planning surprised me and I liked her more for it.  Her hubris is ridiculed by the warlock, Shadowlock (which I thought was funny), but this just showed the reader how one-dimension Celeste really is.Shadowlock was also introduced in Book #2 and his irreverent and humorous voice made me admire him and hopes he gets his own story.  I want to learn more about that mysterious obscuring spell he uses so people can't see his face. Who is he?I can't wait for the next book in the series, Ruby Shadows.  Gwendolyn seemed like a woman who is trying to do her best in a difficult situation by skirting on the wrong side of dark magic in order to survive and support her grandmother while plotting revenge against a past wrong.  Her eventual downfall was hinted at in Book 1 and described in Book #2, so I can't wait to read how she and her demon, Laish, will be forced to work together in Book #3. Since she showed him the `exit door' at the end of Book#2, I eagerly anticipate their reunion.