Dark Flame by Alyson Noel

Book 4 in the Immortals series after: Evermore; Blue Moon and Shadowland.
From the book jacket:
Ever is trying to help Haven make the transition into life as an immortal. But with Haven drunk on her new powers and acting recklessly, she poses the ultimate threat--exposing their secret world to the outside. But Ever's struggle to keep the Immortals hidden only propels Haven closer to the enemy: Roman and his evil companions.
At the same time, Ever delves deeper into dark magick to free Damen from Roman's power. But when her spell backfires, it binds her to the one guy who's hell-bent on her destruction. Now there's a strange, foreign pulse coursing through her, and no matter what she does, she can't stop thinking about Roman--and longing for his touch. As she struggles to resist the fiery attraction threatening to consume her, Roman is more than willing to take advantage of her weakened state...and Ever edges closer and closer to surrender.
Frantic to break the spell before it's too late, Ever turns to Jude for help, risking everything she knows and loves to save herself--and her future with Damen...

I haven't read the first three books in this series and I found that I was seriously lacking in knowledge of each character's history and their back stories in relation to each other. Having said this, I felt more and more in touch with what was going on as the book progressed.

The book was fast paced and had some great male characters--Jude, Roman and Damen, in it. I would have liked to get to know Damen better as the male lead and soul-mate for Ever. He took a back seat in this instalment of the series, but presumably that won't continue as the series keeps going. I had some trouble really getting to know Ever, but that may have not been a problem if I had read the three previous books. It also made sense to a degree in context with the plot, because she is very conflicted in this instalment with the "dark flame" burning inside her.

There was an unexpected twist at the end of Dark Flame and what happened was completely unexpected, so I won't give anything away, but I found the ending quite redeeming in my mind. If the next book can have more twists and turns, more depth in the characters (especially Damen and Ever) and still have great description it will be well worth the wait!!!

My First Traveling ARC Tour!!!

I am sooooo excited! My first Traveling ARC Tour is almost here. I keep expecting it to show up in my mailbox. Every day I wait for the mail, but so far...nothing. I am just like a little kid at Christmastime. It's kind of funny because I work in a large public library system, so I can take out books to read any time, any day at work. Yet, here I am all excited because a teen read is coming in the snail mail! I think that this Traveling ARC idea is great! I have a few ARC's (Advanced Reader Copies) of books that I got from publisher's reps at an annual event that I go to with work. It is called Dewey Divas and Dudes and is a way for library staff to find out what is coming out in the publishing world in the next few months. Really cool! I go back to work and put 10 to 20 more books on hold, especially YA (young adult or teen) titles every time I go to one of these new book events. Now I won't have to wait for April next year. I can get my own new teen books through Traveling ARC Tours. Yay!!!