Dark Demon by Christine Feehan

In a land where vampires and demons lurk below the surface of society, unknown to most humans, there is one woman who has fought them all her life. Natayla, part Carpathian, part Human, part Mage, has been alone for almost a full century since the loss of her twin brother to the hands of a Hunter - her mortal enemy. Stalked to the end of the earth by her enemies; she finds her self drawn to the hills of the Carpathian Mountains in search of something unknown calling out to her. Her journey is fraught with danger from all sides from humans and monsters with no one to call friend she is forced to accept the help of a stranger, Vikirnoff. In the heat of a battle. Natayla finds herself indebted to Vikirnoff and must care for him as he was gravely wounded while protecting her against the demons who seek her life. They discover they have a bond that reaches far back in time but Natayla won't have any of it as she will take orders from no one and Vikirnoff just wants a woman who will obey him. But Vikinrnoff has a secret which will destroy their blooming love...he is a hunter... and she is his prey.

This is a pretty good paranormal love story about vampires, demons and slayers. The two main characters are pleasant enough. I liked Natayla as a character and felt she could have had a bit more fleshing out on her past but I suspect that is being held for another book since the ending kind of just left it open. Vikirnoff is a typical alpha male.. all about being the man. I was disappointed in the ending since it felt a bit rushed. Plently of action all though out the book, one moment in a huge battle the next in each other arms happily making out. The side characters really didn't get fleshed out much. I really felt that the writer could have given more information on their pasts or personalities but it was more of Hi, I am so-so, I am with so-so, and that is all you get to know. I will admit I do not read many romance novels so this might be in the norm for them. I just normally expect to get to know the supporting cast a bit more. I think the story line has the makings of several more books to come.

Over all it was an enjoyable book to read. I do not regret reading it and would recommend it to my friends.

edit: Ha! I should have done a bit more research on the series. This book is actually the 16th book in the series. The supporting cast are featured in the previous books so if you want a long series to read.. this is it. Here is a website that you can get more info on the series

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Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

You are a decent sort of person, respect the neighbours, keep on the right side of the law. But if you could die in the next few days as you flee your home, possessions and community what then? Could you keep decent, fair minded and above board? These are questions that Irene Nemirovsky explores.

In the first section, Storm in June she explores the impact of the fall of Paris in June 1940 falls and like a pebble falling into a pool we follow how this affects the life of various families and individuals. The Pericand's are an upper middle class family who flee and in the course of the flight the two sons, Hubert and Phillipe discover to fateful costs the depth of their political or religious pretensions. In Gabriel Corte the emptiness and selfishness of many intellectuals is explored and exposed. Or with other characters how the ordinary working class people were mistreated and trampled over.

This is not a history book but a moving story where we dip in and out of peoples lives as they deal with extraordinary events. In the second section, Dolce she explores how French and German lives interweave with each other in a small village two years after the invasion. Some of these characters and events have been touched on in the first section of the book but both sides have virtues and flaws. The writing and tone is superb and runs in the French naturalism tradition(think Zola).

Given the humanity of the writing and the story, its deepens the tragedy that she had escaped the death camps of the Russian Revolution only to die in Auschwitz. These fragments of a planned 5 part novel survived as her young children grabbed the diary as a memento of their mother whilst fleeing and hiding amongst relatives and friends. Their father also being snatched and dying in Auschwitz, a few months after their mother. The daughters found it too painful to read and so didn't discover until the 90's that the small bearable print was in fact the two sections of this novel.

Weep for what may have been and enjoy what we have. Highly recommended even for the fellows.