Kristian Mercer

The dark side of the Regency...

As some of you may know, it was with great anticipation that I started Colleen Gleason's recently released novel, The Rest Falls Away. I've been waiting for this book since Nationals, when I had the pleasure of meeting Colleen after the NAL/Signet info session. (I saw her t-shirt and couldn't help but gasp, "I'm SO excited about your book!)

Let me start right off by agreeing with the folks over at Risky Regencies - this is not your ordinary romance. Victoria Gardella Grantworth, our heroine, discovers on page 1 that she is descended from a long line of Venators, or vampire slayers. Yes, you guessed it (and Colleen admits as much): Victoria could be Buffy's 19th-century counterpart.

The rest of the novel neatly balances the familiar tropes of the Regency with vampire lore. It's especially fun when the two worlds collide, as when Victoria's maid disguises her stakes as elaborate hair ornaments, or when the vampires manuever unsuspecting debutantes out of the ballroom for more than just a kiss.

As for the ending...well, I have to confess that I read the Risky Regencies interview before finishing the book, so I knew there wouldn't be a HEA. I'll just add that it left me more than a little sad - but it worked. Anything else would have done a disservice to the integrity of Victoria's story.

I'll definitely be looking for Colleen's next book, Rises the Night, which will be released in June.

If you're in the mood for more vampires, let me also recommend Karen Harbaugh's The Vampire Viscount and Night Fires. As Karen notes on her website, the first novel is really a "Beauty and the Beast" tale in disguise. She successfully weaves all the familiar elements - the roses, the library of arcane books, the father who forces his daughter to live with a beast - with a wonderfully realized Regency setting. The ending is particularly beautiful, celebrating the transformative magic of love.

Night Fires is a darker book. Set during the turbulent days of the French Revolution, this time the heroine is the vampire - now there's an interesting twist! Karen characterized the novel as "la Femme Nikita meets the Scarlet Pimpernel," so this might indeed be the perfect follow-up to The Rest Falls Away.

So take a chance and enter the Regency's dark side. You won't be disappointed.