Before Night Falls Jeya Jensen eXtasy Books ISBN: 1-55410-608-7 Fiction, Erotica, Paranormal Romance Reviewed by Qetesh

Have you ever felt like a square peg in a round hole? Have you ever felt like you don't belong in the present time period? That no matter what you do in life; you don't have a niche?  This is precisely the way Rachel Marks felt every day of her life.Her childhood was marred because she had neglectful alcoholic parents.Her mother died when she was young from an alcohol related accident. She was shuffled from one foster home to another and sought refuge in books.  Books were her escape from everything. She graduated college and after her father died, he left her a small insurance policy that helped her pay off her school loans and start a small book shop called the Book Nook.

She hired an elderly lady named Ginny to help her in the store. Ginny baked cookies for the customers and spent her days giving Rachel sage advice on how to live her life. She introduced Rachel to Dan and they dated on and off without any real sparks flying. Dan fell in love with Rachel and proposed to her.Rachel was faced with a decision of whether to take Ginny?s advice and marry Dan because he loved her, and take the safe road, or to refuse Dan and wait for a companion that set her on fire.

She held her own for ten years as a small business owner, until larger bookstores took most of her business and she had sell out. With few job prospects, she took a position as a waitress at a local nightclub called Mystique.It boasted large tips and she needed money desperately to hold on to her apartment. She was immediately drawn to the owner Devon Carnavorn. Little did she know that he was a vampire and that because of an unusual shaped birthmark on her thigh she was destined to be his blood mate.

I found Ginny to be a very interesting character addition to this book. She is an elderly lady who befriended Rachel, and seems to be always trying to give her good advice.  She keeps steering her, with good intentions, to take the safe path in life, she tells her she should settle for what life deals her and not take risks.  Her own tragic demise later in the book is what shakes Rachel up and makes her take a leap of faith and trust her heart.

This theme is constant throughout the book, as Rachel has to decide whether to stay with what she knows or have faith and take risks to get what she wants. Another theme that was prevalent in the book is the classic Cinderella story where poor girl meets rich guy, he takes away all her financial worries and they live happily ever after. The neat twist on this theme in this book, however, is that the hero is a vampire, and Rachel has to die and be resurrected to fulfill her true destiny. The hero and heroine sizzle together and complement each other?s character beautifully. There were a few surprises near the end of the book where each character in an argument displayed very graphic character flaws that are not typical of a romance type book. They acted like normal people who get nasty, sarcastic, and blame everyone else for their own actions. It was quite refreshing to see them act like normal people, and yet at the same time it was mildly disturbing because all throughout the rest of the book they both had admirable character traits. The sexual scenes between the hero and heroine are erotic and steamy, there are orgy scenarios, and the book describes homosexual encounters but not in any detail. It is detailed enough to add to the mood of the scene but the focus of the sexual encounters stays on the hero and heroine. The book started slowly but by the second chapter I could not put it down. Excellent read. 

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