|
|
|
|
|
The scientific community believes that photosensitivity disorders are at the root of vampirism myths. Dr. Megan Harper certainly doesn’t believe that vampires exist—even when she’s faced with a living, breathing one, so to speak. Instead, she’s more likely to believe that he has Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), a disease that makes it impossible for him to go out into the sun—although that doesn’t explain his weird craving for blood.
Vincent Maxwell died on a New Jersey battlefield in 1778 and was brought back to life by a vampire he thought might be an angel. Now he walks the world in eternal darkness, looking for a cure for his condition. He may have found it in Megan Harper, a research scientist with a PhD in biochemistry, but the hard part is convincing her that vampires exist.
Megan quit her position at Baldwin Industries because she didn’t like the direction they were taking her research on XP. She also didn’t like their disturbing interest in vampire myths. So when Vincent shows up at her door asking for help, she latches on to the chance to continue her research into the disease that took her sister—except that’s not exactly what Vincent the Vampire is asking of her.
Once you get past the romantic clichés and the eye-rolling phrases (only a woman with a PhD in biochemistry would think she’s having a thermo-gravimetric meltdown while kissing a man), Out of the Darkness turns into a clever and highly interesting romantic vampire novel with a scientific twist.
Vincent Maxwell is your typical brooding vampire who hates what he is—but what sets him apart from the norm is his willingness to hunt for a solution to his problem rather than sitting around and sulking about it for eternity.
Dr. Megan Harper is beautiful and intelligent, with a tenacious streak that will not allow her to give up on a cure for XP. And if research into vampirism might help with that, she’s at least willing to keep an open mind and not dismiss it as stupid, superstitious nonsense. What I like best about her, though, is that she believes in both God and science.
Out of the Darkness doesn’t get weighed down with scientific jargon, either; there’s still plenty of fast-paced action, sexual tension, and sizzling love scenes to keep romance junkies happy.
While Out of the Darkness is predominately just another vampire romance, it’s got enough of an edge—offering a different spin on the same old same old—to make it stand out from all the rest. So if you’re looking for a vampire read with a little more flavor to it, this is it.
|
|
|
|
