Dark Seeker (Giveaway) by Taryn Browning

Welcome to the Dark Seeker Virtual Blog tour. Today I am pleased to bring you my review of this fantastical tale and a chance to win an e-book of Taryn Browning's opening  novel to The Dark Seeker Series. If you haven't heard the gossip leaking from around the blogosphere...you definitely need to grab a copy of this book and read it. I think you will be surprised in a most pleasing way. Oh, and in case you missed my interview with the wonderful Taryn Browning...look HERE!

Title: Dark Seeker
Series: Dark Seeker #1
Author: Taryn Browning
Independently Published
Publication Date: October 4, 2011

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Synopsis:

For 17-year-old Seeker, Janie Grey, ridding the Baltimore streets of the undead is an inherited duty passed down from her Cherokee ancestors. Seeker Training Lesson #1: Never trust the undead. After her father’s tragic death, Janie creates her own life lesson: Love isn’t worth the risk. 

Both lessons are easy to follow until she encounters the flawed Kai Sterdam. At first, she believes he is the hybrid she is trained to hunt. But, when he has human traits, she determines she doesn’t know what he is. As Janie’s intrigue over who Kai is pushes her deeper into his mysterious past, she discovers a shocking truth that is even more harrowing than the evil they are up against. It’s a secret Kai wants to keep hidden, especially from Janie.

Dark Seeker is a great beginning to a promising series. Ms. Browning has created a group of characters who are riddled with conflicts and filled with emotions. The world they fight to survive in is an everyday world plagued with paranormalcies unbeknownst to humans. Janie Grey is charged with Seeking these life-depleting creatures and ending their terror against mankind.  Problem is, things are changing amongst the vampires and Daychildren. Janie now has to choose between the worst of two worlds.

I enjoyed the uniqueness of Dark Seeker. After so many vampire books, it can be difficult to create something new and refreshing. A big round of applause goes to Taryn for accomplishing this task. I loved the Blood/Crypt spin she put on this story. The "turf battle" between the Vampires and Daychildren oozed of gang type struggles. Who's the strongest, who can "turn" the most people, who can acquire the most assets...these types of never-ending controversies. Instead of the common one-on-one pairing, Ms. Browning threw in another player notching up the action and adversity to a whole other level.

Janie is a strong heroine. She has been raised to kill first and ask questions later, which is exactly what she does until she meets a certain smoldering dem_, Day_, hum_ ...ah hell, who knows what to call Kai. He is something Janie's world has never seen and Janie knows he is trouble; but, like all trouble, she has to know more. Kai will cause emotions to surface in Janie that she has kept locked away since her father was murdered by one of these creatures she Seeks. Not all these emotions will be all happy and fluffy. She will have to overcome things she had never dreamed of in order to accept the past and move into the future. Kai will be dead center around everything.

I loved the relationship between Janie and Kai. Now the whole Imprint thing with Matt was a little unbelievable for me. I just didn't feel the love and devotion that I thought I should with that type of link. I am definitely interested to see where Taryn takes this relationship as well as the relationship between Luke and Ava, two of Janie's best friends. 

This book is action-packed which makes it a difficult book to put down. Janie definitely grows as a protagonist, becoming stronger and much surer of the life she wants. However, Janie is not the only character who matures...several of the secondary characters grow and learn to accept that the world is not everything they once believed it to be. It is so great seeing adults open their minds and grasp that change isn't always a bad thing. Okay, okay...I won't start my preaching but you get the point. 

Many of the books I have read recently have left me unsatisfied in their ending...especially when part of a series. While I completely understand the need for unanswered questions to bring the reader back for more, I tire of never really knowing anything until the last novel. I have to say this is NOT the case with Dark Seeker. I was ever-so-greatly pleased with the ending. No...I won't tell you about it, but it did satisfy my needs and left me with enough curiosity to pick up the sequel.

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So...you want to win a copy of Dark Seeker? 
Let's make this simple...
Leave me a comment telling me who your favorite vampire is. 

Be sure you leave your email address so I can contact the winner. 

The contest will end December 31, 2011 at 11:59 PM CST. That's right...as soon as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day...the contest ends.