I like this world, especially in combination with the historical setting. I like the first book in the series better (grade A), but this is still a very nice book, with an interesting plot, and I will certainly keep reading this series.
Grade: B ( )

Pros: Wonderfully strong heroine, skilfully handled psychological suspense.

Cons: Suspense drops off towards the end of the book, before picking up again near the end.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review copy courtesy of Penguin Group

**SPOILER ALERT! This review contains spoilers if you have not yet read Night Falls Darkly! **

After Mark, Lord Alexander, has sacrificed his position in the Shadow Guard to bring down a killer, he is desperately searching for the means to regain his status. A clue, hidden in an ancient papyrus, points to two scrolls that are currently in the possession of Wilhemina Limpett. The daughter of an adventurer, she is facing her own peril because Mark is not the only one who wants to learn the knowledge found in the scrolls. As Mark fights to keep the scrolls out of the hands of those who would use them for destruction, he finds himself more and more attracted to the lovely Mina. Will the two of them learn to trust each other? Or will the powers of darkness destroy everything they hold dear?

I was very excited to find this book in my stack, because I so enjoyed "Night Falls Darkly". Ms. Lenox has a rare talent for capturing emotions such as fear, insecurity, and vulnerability in such a way as to feel believable to the reader. Once I picked up "So Still the Night", I fell immediately back into the world that I had fallen in love with in the first book. I was also happy to see many of the elements retained that made me love this series.

When we see Mark again at the beginning of the book, he is vastly different from the arrogant young man that we first met. He knows that the darkness inside himself will likely consume him soon, and he is determined not to let that happen. I really admire his inner strength, and his determination to triumph over the unexpected direction that his life had taken. I absolutely adored Mina as well, for similar reasons. Her father has sent her back to London to fake his death in order to try and protect her from the danger she is in because he is in possession of two ancient scrolls. Although she isn't sure what is going on, or why, she does her best to carry on without dramatics or hysterics. Both of these two have a practical streak that I absolutely love; there were several places where I was afraid that there would be silly misunderstandings, but I was thrilled to see that these two acted like adults, discussing and confronting their problems as a couple and attempting to act in each others' best interests.

I also love the way that Ms. Lenox skillfully builds layers of both internal and external conflict on top of each other, so that it feels as if the events of the book are part of one big, tangled mess. It seems to allow for more development on the part of the characters, while also forcing them to push themselves father than they had though possible to persevere. I was, however, slightly disappointed about two-thirds of the way through the book because it felt as if much of the external conflict was set to the side in order to allow more focus on the relationship between Mark and Mina. I can see why the book proceeded this way, because Mark and Mina hadn't had much time together at that point, but because much of the outside tension was removed, I lost the edge-of-my seat feeling that had carried me though the book to that point. It also made it a little harder for me to feel as tense about the climax of the book as I wanted to.

As much as I enjoy mythology, and especially the mythology that Ms. Lenox has built into her world, I still have so many questions about how it works. How and why have things evolved to be as they are now? How did the Shadow Guards come to be? What is some of their history? And what role do the Immortals play that they leave conduits open between their world and ours? I was hoping that some of these questions would be answered in this second book, but they weren't. There is another book in the series, which I should be getting to before too long, and I really do hope that I get to learn more.

I also adore the way that Ms. Lenox feels no need to sugar-coat the darker facets of London's Society life. Mina's London family displays many of the machinations and social-climbing mores that must have been common to the era, and I enjoyed a somewhat less idealized depiction of what Society life was like for the men and women who were socially ambitious. Mina simply takes it in stride, and her quiet refusal to react to blatant attempts to make her jealous made me so happy. I love sensible heroines, and Mina is a delight.

"So Still the Night" is another well-crafted book from Ms. Lenox. Her characters are fascinating to watch, and because the conflicts mesh internal and external elements the reader will be dying to know how the situation resolves. Mark and Mina both act like adults, and so we are given room to explore some of their deeper and darker feelings, like fighting a sense of decaying self, or a fear of loneliness. We are also treated to a more unvarnished view of what social climbing may have looked like, and we get to enjoy watching two well-matched people triumph over adversity to achieve their happy ending. I can't wait for the next book! ( )

Kim Lenox follows up "Night Falls Darkly" with "So Still The Night", book two of her historical paranormal 'Shadow Guard' series. Her immortals are those who hunt down the bad guys who have made their way to the human realm, killing merrily along the way. The increase in slaughter recently is all part of their scheme to prepare the way for Tantalus, uber-bad guy.

Mina has spent her life traipsing on the heels of her father's fascination with books and learning. On their late trip to Nepal, her father's increasing strange behavior took a wild turn and he left Mina to make her way home alone, saying it would be safer for her if all believed him dead. Her long trip back to England was a battle to keep from constantly looking over her shoulder...WHAT was it about those scrolls her father kept gibbering about? Could it be that there is more to this world than Mina ever imagined?

Marcus is the son of Antony and Cleopatra, made an immortal Shadow Guard. He sacrificed himself to save his leader, Archer, and now if he doesn't get his hands on Mina's father's scrolls, he will be hunted down by the remaining Shadow Guards and killed to stop his descent into evil. But his trademark seduction routines don't seem to be working with Mina, and it's not long before Marcus is fighting BOTH his descent and his growing love for Mina.

For such a smart woman Mina teeters back and forth between acting logically and being a twit. I lost count of her TSTL (too stupid to live) moves about halfway into the book. Once you realize the bad guys are real...STAY WITH THE GOOD GUYS! Her constant waffling on Marcus was quite irritating too--she loves him, she loves him not; she likes him but refuses to fall in love; she loves him but he's immortal; this goes on and on and on and on.

There IS a continuing story arc, but it just didn't stand out enough to stick in my head between the first book and this one. So I took the time to scan through the first book again and STILL had difficulty following the 'big picture'. And I really, really don't like unanswered questions and gaps; what happened during those three months? What did Marcus have to do with the weather? Where was Mina's father? How did he discover the mirror? There were more, but I'll stop there.

I consider this series more of a fantasy with a bit of hot sex thrown in than a true paranormal romance, but that's just me. My heroes and heroines need to draw me into their lives and minds...and this story just didn't do that. ( )