Rules Of Darkness ebook

The Rules of Darkness is written in first person, and I must admit that typically, I don't do first person--however, Tia Fanning grabbed me from the start. Katia is born with a gift of healing which she considers a curse. Trying to deny her heritage and culture (something many young, head strong women do), she runs from it. Stoyan is her yummy protector and the love of her life. He will not let her go and will overcome every odd to set the record straight and have Katia safe and by his side.
The story is compelling, fast paced, and mystical. I love Tia's style and characters.
Can't wait to read the next in the series.
Write quickly, Tia.
Aleka Nakis

This story had a really intriguing premise with the rules to live by. It could have been done very cleverly to explain what each of those rules meant but it went downhill from there. The story was full of illogical plot holes, choppy blending of the main characters' lives going from an archaic-amishy village to modern day culture, and a heroine that was just too inconsistent and, frankly, idiotic. I found myself rolling my eyes and shaking my head at her stupidity. The point where she realizes why "someone" had miraculously paid for college and all expenses but until that moment she had never questioned any of it was just too much. I stopped there.

Katia is the main character. She is originally from this small village. She was born with these special gifts and because of these gifts she has to live by certain rules. She is betrothed to Stoyan, who is her protector. Both her mom and grandmother are dead and she is raised by her great-grandmother. When her grandmother dies, they keep her from seeing her because of her special gifts. Katia has a temper tantrum and runs away for 12 years, during which time she manages to go to college and she lives in a remote cabin far way from other people. During the whole 12 years, she has managed never to look upon a grave yard and one day she happens to and ghost sees her. He follows her home and he begins to haunt her. Magically her husband/protector shows up, remember she has been estranged from him for 12 years. He has been back for 2 or 3 days and she has THE ultimate temper tantrum and decides to break all of the rules she's set to live by. Of course Stoyan, shows up to save her, she knows that she loves him now, yada yada yada and she goes back to live in her village, gets pregnant and live by the rules that were set for her from get go. Also during the 2-3 day stay, Katia starts these vision quest that show her glimpses of her past. She finds out that most of what she thought was true and what she lived through were memories planted my people in her village, they're a manipulative sort...they, well his father, also managed to keep Stoyan from finding her because he searched for her the entire 12 years. Oh and towards the end, they resolve the issues of the `ghost kid' that haunts Katia by healing the sister he was looking for. Katia also takes in the ghost's sister.

This book is horrible. The author writes like an adolescent. It is quite unsophisticated, infantile and in MANY places just plain crude. I really thought at some point it would read "See Katia hug. See Katia hug Stoyan while he fingers her wet p*ssy." To top it off, the book averages about one spelling/grammar error per page. Maybe this is a rough copy published on Kindle, I know some times authors do that but......in any case, it was very distracting. Please, do not purchase this book, it is really really really bad.

I greatly differ in my opinion than those of the other reviewers. The book does not draw you in, I really had to force myself to finish because of the insufferable lead characters, ridiculous antics, and nonsensical storyline. The author also writes in a patronizing tone. I was also duped into thinking this book was dark, it is not dark in the least. Whoever wrote that, do you know what a dark story is?

Usually in a story that I'm finding a very hard time reading, I can find a character I like or at least something about a character I like or the story to continue reading, this is the first time I've experienced not finding anything. Both leading characters are repulsive. More so, the heroine, which has me asking the question "Why does Stoyan love her? Or even like her for that matter?" She has no redeeming qualities, and when she does get them the book is almost over. "What was he attracted to before?" She's a bimbo. The cursing is over the top and not effective at all, it just served to make her look worse. I have nothing against people cursing, I just think it was poorly done. This character shifts mood like a bimbo. For example, she was attacked by a ghost who wanted to kill her, she is supposedly fearing for her life, and her husband/protector shows up, who she hasn't seen in 12 years. Within 20 minutes, well that's what it seemed like, of their reunion he's fingering her. I wanted to throw my kindle across the room when I read this bit: "I clawed at his back trying to bring him nearer, and get his fingers closer to my weeping hole." Really. Another example, she went outside and was almost attacked again, she thought her dog was killed, she jumps almost immediately into a depression. "I'm so alone. I miss Charlie. My life is over. Blah blah blah." Another example, "I might be a virgin, but I'm not innocent." I pulled his cock out squeezing and rubbing along its length. "I've read a lot naughty books. I know what I want." I whispered in his ear. The sexual scenes in this book read like a bad porno. There was this other scene, OMG, she ran away again to get her future told and was attacked again, did she have any concern about the people that she endangered you might ask? No, the only thing she regretted was that her car was totaled, "My beautiful baby was destroyed." So many instances screamed bimbo! "I may have been dead tired, but I never go to bed with wet hair." Who cares!? She's 28 years old, for god-sakes, if you wanted her to be this much of an idiot you should have made her younger. I don't know any 28 year old that acts like her.

Some more examples of bad writing and just pure trash, Stoyan, her husband/protector actually spanks her and it doesn't stop there people, HE PEES ON HER TO MARK HIS TERRITORY! Even Stoyan seemed like a caveman and he supposedly went abroad and studied.

The author has very poor characterizations. While trying to portray a character one way, she'll contradict it through their actions.

I really tried to think positive about it and empathize with the character, but I don't think anyone in the world could be that stupid and that selfish. To sum it up, this book is just one bad moment after another. There was no lesson to learn and I often wondered during my reading what made the author write this story (or pursue a career as an author), it is not a great tale and it really doesn't deserved to be repeated to anyone. It really is not a compelling story in any way.

Sigh. I am tired of weak female characters.

-Katia, in theory, should be a kick ass heroine. But all she does is run. She runs away from her village, she runs away from the spirit that enters her house. She runs away from the man that she loves, despite the fact that she acknowledges her love for him. She runs from the visions. She's a runner not a fighter, and I don't have time to read about characters like that.

-On that note, she makes stupid decisions. She knows that breaking the rules will hurt her. So what does she do? Break the rules. If I were Stoyan, I would have just stopped protecting her and left her to the spirits and werewolves.

-Someone is always protecting her, despite her gifts. Let her kick some butt.

-When was this story supposed to take place? She was raised in a village where she was born in a home and could be sold off to a boy at birth. And yet, she runs away to a place with laptops and cars. This jump is never really explained, other than she's now in America.

-Stoyan is a male character that I can not stand. I like rough, dominant males. However, he's just anger inducing. He walks into her life all of a sudden and tries to boss her around. I don't care if that's the rule of the village or not. I wouldn't want him telling me what to do either. He spanks her at one point for acting like a child. It wasn't sexy, or cute. It is the sign of an abusive ass. That's saying something, coming from me, because I normally side with the abusive asses.

+All that said, it was relatively well written. Things were well described and vivid.

I'm sure somebody likes this, but it isn't me, so I have no recommendation to make.

Thank you to Ramblings From This Chick for my copy.