This book contains two novellas which I've read previously.

Dark Descent is Joie and Traian's story. Joie is a kickass chick with a Jaguar lineage she knows almost nothing about, until lone hunter Traian crashes into her human world. We meet Gabrielle and Jubal for the first time in this book and we first find out about 2 dragons stuck in an ice cave (a very big plot point later in the series). This is an awesome book.

Dark Dream is Sara and Falcon's story. Sara is a protector first and foremost. She has found several small children with psychic powers and she must protect them from evil people who want to use and hurt them. She is running from an enemy who killed her loved ones years ago, which Falcon saved her from. They meet again and sparks fly. I love this book! ( )

I loved the stories as the Carpathians are among my favorite book characters. The thing i didn't like about the book was it was old stories and titles disguised as "new". The book title would lead you to believe that this was a new part of the series but it isn't. I gave it four stars because as I said, they are among my favorites. ( )

Dark Descent - 4 Stars - OMG there was so much extra in here I feel like I read a whole different book. While Train and Joie were still an entertaining couple, I think Jubal (and the family history) stole the show. This whole them being part Mage thing blows my mind! and the hint that their mother is part Jaguar!!!!! This family needs their own book or a novella or something because these are things we need to know.

Dark Dream - 4 Stars - Falcon and Sara are still one of my favorite couples. ( )

See my full review on puretextualty.com ( )

The book contains two previously released novellas by Christine Feehan. If you follow the series and haven’t already read these stories, or if you desire to keep all books/stories within a series shelved together, than this book will be a good purchase. Being short stories, we aren’t being bogged down with the Carpathian angst with the darkness in their souls.

If you are new to the series, this isn’t a bad place to begin, although starting with Dark Prince is a better choice. But if you’ve read the stories and are looking for something new, you won’t find it here, even with the enhancements made to Dark Descent.

Dark Descent was first published in the anthology “The Only One.” It’s the story of Traian & Joie Sanders and our first glimpse into the mage ice cave and the existence of the dragon line. In this story we learn that master vampires are working together to rule the world, a theme carried forward from here through the series. I believe it’s also the first story since Dark Magic to bring Gary back into the picture and in this one he meets Gabrielle, Joie’s researcher sister.

The author has enhanced the original story, although since it’s been so long since I had read it, I couldn’t point out to another exactly where. There were a number of times where I thought something might be new. Over half of the story still deals with finding Traian and escaping the cave.

What I really like about this particular story is that Joie is such a kick butt character, both mentally and physically. We don’t just get a heroine but an enter family and you won’t find a “victim” among them. Well at least we meet and interact with her brother and sister. We’re teased a number of times that Traian is going to have a difficult time being accepted by their mother who does not like alpha males. Unfortunately we still don’t get to meet the parents or see how that plays out.

Joie has the ability to astral travel and uses it at the beginning of the story to escape pain when being worked on in the hospital after getting shot. It’s how she meets Traian, who is lying in a cave trying to recover from his fight with vampires. Off screen they converse every night for weeks and she knows she’s got to find him. It’s the way the author is able to explain Joie’s fast acceptance with the concept of being his lifemate.

Dark Dream was first published in the anthology “After Twilight” and tells the story of Falcon and Sara. Their story begins at the 64% area on a Kindle, so it’s a shorter story than Dark Descent and it is published here in its original form.

Falcon is on his way home after spending so much time on his own doing what Prince Vladimir had requested; kill vampires to protect their race. He can’t hang on any longer and wants to meet Mikhail before meeting the sun. One thousand years ago, while still recalling memories of emotions, he wrote a journal hoping his future lifemate would find it. He’s about to be jumped by a number of men who want to rob him when Sara jumps in and tells him to run.

Sara watched her entire family killed by an ancient vampire who wants her and she’s been hiding from him for the last 15 years. The only thing that kept her going was finding Falcon’s journal and just knew it had been written for her. She’s learned how to fight, always has an escape route, and her passion is children. She’s been working to establish a safe place for 7 gifted kids from the street.

The journal and Sara’s familiarity with Falcon as a person through it, is how the author is able to pull the two together in an accepted manner in a short story. What I really like about Sara is her compassion, both for Falcon and the children. The woman is distressed to find out it might be more than 100 years between being able to birth children, but you can bet there will be a lot of adoptions.

We get an added bonus with this story. The prologue gives us Prince Vladimir’s difficult decision to ask warriors to do the unthinkable; live alone, away from all other Carpathians in order to hunt vampires and protect their race.

Read as ARC through Edelweiss. ( )