Book #31: Blood-Kissed Sky

Title: Blood-Kissed Sky (book #2 in the Darkness Before Dawn trilogy)

Author: J.A. London

Date started reading: April 08, 2013
Date finished reading:  April 09, 2013

Publish date: December 2012
ISBN: 978-0062020666
Number of pages: 368

Official summary: "She has awoken. ... Denver is in more danger than ever before. Sin is no where to be found, but his Day Walkers run rampant. A new threat rides into the city, and demands Dawn's immediate surrender. And the one person she needs to rely on, Victor, is learning that being the new Lord Valentine requires sacrifices from him ... and from humans. Dawn is certain she'll find answers, and the city's salvation, in another land. With old friends Tegan and Michael and new allies — Richard, Faith, and legendary vampire hunter Ian Hightower — she must travel by the Night Train across the country, heading toward Los Angeles, the place Sin once claimed he was from. But the journey is perilous, and the city holds its own secrets. ... And what of the nightmares that are haunting her? Will they vanish with coming day, or will they drive her to the brink of insanity?" (http://www.jalondon.com)

How I obtained the book: Bought for $8.71 from Amazon using a giftcard I earned (basically free) through Plink.com.

My commentary:

• This series really deserves much more attention than it gets. I may have started reading it just because the covers are pretty, but the story is great, and I would recommend it to anyone.
• I am annoyed at how I've seen some people on Goodreads griping about how this series has "ripped off" the covers of Lauren Kate's "Fallen" series. It's not "ripping" it off. The authors are just using artists who use the same photographer's stock photos on DeviantArt. Frankly, I love the covers of both series. People just need to chill out. 
• SPOILER ALERT: I was really afraid that the series would do the typical thing and turn Dawn into a vampire simply because she had fallen in love with Victor, a vampire. But the way the authors went has totally made me happy. Dawn is a dhampir... part human, part vampire. Her ancestors were a family of vampires that could mate with humans, and the other vampire families tried to kill them all off, but they didn't kill them all off. Until Victor had to drink Dawn's blood to live, Dawn was basically just human, but his bite woke up the vampire blood inside her, so that's why her and Victor have the bond they have. It's a plot twist I didn't see coming, and I can't wait for the next book to find out how things turn out.

Memorable quotes:

•  "Right now I feel like Dorothy awakening after her trip to Oz. Only I didn't follow the yellow brick road. Victor took me down a rabbit hole into the darkness of the vampire world." ~ Dawn
• "I've always thought that if I bury my feelings now, I can dig them up later when I have time to deal with them." ~ Dawn
• "That is strange because vampires are not normally emotional creatures. Not when it comes to matters of the heart." ~ Faith
  "I disagree. I believe vampires can love. Deeply." ~ Richard
• "You bring out the monster in me, Dawn." ~ Victor
• "I don't understand. It's like your blood is a drug that overpowers everything else. I want you, Dawn." ~ Victor
• "(Michael is) such a decent guy. Why couldn't I have loved him enough? It would certainly have made my life simpler, but apparently my heart isn't looking for simple." ~ Dawn
• "We're not paranoid. We're alert. There's a difference." ~ Dawn
• "Do you ever feel like we're caught in a whirlwind? Sometimes I just can't catch my breath." ~ Tegan
• "Quite honestly, I'm getting tired of vampire demands." ~ Clive
• "I've never understood this immense attraction between us, but it's been there from the beginning. Even when I was with Michael, something about Victor called to me. It filled me with guilt all the time, and that aspect hasn't diminished. He's pure temptation, an apple I shouldn't bite." ~ Dawn
• "I want you. I want your body, your blood. You. All of you. You affect me as no one else ever has. No vampire. No human. Sometimes I think I'll go mad with wanting. But I know if I give into my desires, it'll destroy what you are, and being responsible for that will destroy me, too." ~ Victor to Dawn
• "Love is supposed to make you feel wonderful and alive. Victor's parting words, his conviction that he loves me, did make me feel all those things. But it also left me with a sadness because he had walked away from it. I don't know if I can." ~ Dawn
• "The idealism found in youth can quickly fade once power is obtained. Even for a vampire." ~ Ian
• "True vampire love comes along only once in a few thousand years. Some think it doesn't exist, but I disagree." ~ Richard
• "Sometimes I think vamps know less about themselves than what we know about them." ~ Dawn
• "I didn't realize cowardice was a virtue." ~ Ian
  "You have become a soldier without a war." ~ Matheson
• "I guess I never thought we'd be facing a worse enemy than vampires." ~ Michael
• "It doesn't always have to be you making the sacrifices." ~ Michael to Dawn
• "Your veins are singing the song of Montgomery. They are singing the song of vampire." ~ Octavian to Dawn
• "I'm human because everything about Sin repels me. His desire to destroy an entire race of creatures -- vampires who can walk only in the night -- is too horrible to contemplate. There has to be a way that we can all live together: vampires, Day Walkers, humans. Not one of us is better than the other." ~ Dawn

Buy on Amazon.com: Blood-Kissed Sky: A Darkness Before Dawn Novel