In the ninth book of the Dark/Carpathian series, artisan Byron Justicano has long ago left his homeland in penance and now fights the vampires plaguing the earth. He’s finally found his lifemate, but instead of wooing her, he’s been befriending her over the past few months. After someone tries to kill Antoinetta and her grandfather, he finally decides to claim the woman he loves.
Antoinetta Scarletti is a world-famous concert pianist and the acting head of her rich, eccentric Italian family. She’s a blind but confident 37-year-old woman with gray streaks in her hair, an abundance of curves, and scars on her face. Most of the heroines in this series are gorgeous, skinny, petite, vulnerable, and easily manipulated by their men, but not Antoinetta.
I liked both characters for the most part, but Antoinetta was pretty aggressive. Most of the Carpathian heroines are virgins, or if they’re not, they’ve been raped. Antoinetta was the first heroine to actually enjoy sex with other men and to have taken multiple lovers in the past. I totally loved this. Unfortunately, she was too independent and didn’t really need Byron in her life. Though she loved him, she would’ve been just fine had he broken up with her.
Byron was definitely a beta hero, but thankfully, he did have a few arrogant moments.
Byron and Antoinetta didn’t have much chemistry at the beginning of the story, but the romance picked up midway through. My favorite scene between them is when Byron psychically lets Antoinetta see through his eyes. She looks at herself and Byron in a mirror, and it’s a very emotional, sweet moment for them as a couple.
Antoinetta is the descendant of the H/h in The Scarletti Curse. That book has nothing to do with the Dark series or with vampires in general, and didn’t play a role in this story. However, Antoinetta does mention her ancestors (Nicoletta and Giovanni) in one scene, so it was nice knowing who they were (I read that book first).
I really enjoyed Byron’s reunion with his family. His adopted nephew Josef is awesome, and the scene when Josef is rapping in a special performance for Mikhail was hilarious! The poor prince was shocked stupid. It was also great to see Jacques again. He’s been healing and getting his life back together with Shea at his side.
Unlike most of the other books, this one didn’t have any vampire fight scenes. That was refreshing, but the main source of drama ended up being Antoinetta’s family. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the family, with the exception of her grandfather.
The Jaguar race is introduced and will play a large role in the series.
The pacing sometimes dragged, but I managed to get through the story fairly fast since I was reading it for the second time. The writing is very flowery with purple prose, but I do kinda like it. The head hopping is tiresome, but I’ve come to expect it.
3 Stars ( )

Una terrible amenaza se cierne sobre Antonietta Scarletti, famosa compositora y heredera de una enorme fortuna. Ciega desde los cinco años, sólo encuentra seguridad en Byron, el extraño personaje que desde hace unos días frecuenta su palacio. No puede verle, pero sabe que es mucho más que un hombre normal: puede leer sus pensamientos, posee una fuerza sobrehumana..., aunque lo más sobrenatural en él es la abrasadora pasión que despierta en ella cada vez que están cerca. Antonietta acepta entrar en el extraño mundo de Byron y los de su especie, la fabulosa raza de los Carpatianos, pero antes los dos deberán utilizar todas sus habilidades para hacer frente al peligro que les rodea.

this might be my last Carpathian book im bored with the male dominance ( )

I don’t approach the Carpathian books like most series I’m into. I enjoy the storyline, but find the sequels can be repetitive. It’s a series that, while I like it overall, I have no interest reading all the books. I wouldn’t have thought that’d be the way I’d feel about any series, but this one proved to be the exception.

Dark Symphony made itself sound different enough by the description – the heroine is not perfect. She is blind and someone’s trying to kill her. Byron was a familiar name since he was around since book one. I don’t know or care about a lot of the future characters, I never saw their glimpses in the earlier books, but with Byron he was always there so I was curious what happened to him.

He doesn’t make as appealing and sensual a leading male as Mikhail, Gregori, and some of the others, but it was a good change to find he didn’t aim to be a hunter and had a skill with jewel crafting and was valued for something different by his people. He’s more laid back, less jealous (although that’s there in ways as well) and more reasonable.

I did dislike that in the beginning Feehan established that they had met and had those first introductions off page. I always liked the beginning of the Carpathian novels where the male finally realizes he has found his lifemate through some revelation, first introduces himself to her, and it unfolds from there. We miss that here and it’s sad. He’s already in her life and it’s from her POV.

Antoinetta was a surprise. She was strong, controlled everything, generous and caring. She was actually not a virgin, which was a change, and wasn’t repelled by other men prior to meeting Byron, another change. It also never bothered Byron she’d been with other people (wow if you consider the other Carpathians.) She was 37 and older than most, without the perfect shape and waspish waist (yay!). The scene where she’s grieving and filling the house with her music, pounding non-stop on the piano, making those around her shudder and feel the depression by her talent at music alone was nifty.

I didn’t care much about the rest of the family at first, but they grew on me as they showed different sides. For a change they were as big a part of the story as the leading couple. We delightfully get to see Eleanor, Vlad and their adopted son make a return.

There’s a little too much sex and I skimmed most of that, but the larger story was cool and it was tough figuring out who the culprits were. There is actually no big bad vampire fight scene at the end for a change. A new touch is introduced into the storyline with the Jaguar race and the potential this holds.

The main reason I enjoyed this one was the humor. It was spot on and Feehan always had a knack with it. Josef, the adopted son, is hilarious. Him scaling up the wall thinking he’s spiderman and constantly falling was too funny.

It’s hard to keep a series fresh after so many books, but somehow Feehan manages to do it through experimentation and changing things up a little. It makes me want to hunt down some of the other series books I’ve left behind over the years.
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Probably my least favorite of this series and I have read them all. ( )