DARKNESS BOUND – Stella Cameron
Chimney Rock, Book 1
Grand Central's Forever
ISBN: 978-1-455-50015-4
March 2012
Paranormal Romance

Whidbey Island, Washington – Present Day

Eighteen months after the death of her husband Chris, Leigh Kelly returns to Whidbey Island and the town of Chimney Rock where she and Chris had been so happy…for such a short time.  The day Leigh arrives, she meets Niles Latimer, a soft spoken giant of a man who calls to something deep inside of Leigh.  But Leigh is not ready for a new love; she just wants to settle in and start her new life on her own terms.

Niles Latimer is the leader of a pack of werehounds and former special ops soldiers.   Despite suffering some post traumatic stress from his time in Afghanistan , he is still the leader of his small pack, and it is his duty to find a way for the werehounds to assimilate into the human world.  Their race is close to extinction, and Niles is determined to save them.  Leigh is his other half, though she doesn't know it yet.  But Niles will move heaven and earth to convince her and to protect her from the danger that is growing ever closer.

All is not peaceful in the small town of Chimney Rock , and not everyone is who or what they seem.  Women have been disappearing.  Some of them return with no memory of where they have been.  Others are never seen again.  Leigh must choose quickly whom she can trust and whom she can't if she wants to survive.

DARKNESS BOUND is filled with interesting characters, and a multitude of paranormal creatures beyond the werehounds.  Inhabiting the small town of Chimney Rock are werewolves (who are the bad guys in this series), fae, and good and bad vampires.  There is a lot going on in this novel, and at times I found it hard to keep track of what was happening.  The characters are well developed, although their actions were sometimes confusing. I liked both Niles and Leigh, though I felt their relationship was a little rushed.  Secondary characters were many, but the primary characters I found intriguing are Sean,  Niles second in command, Sally, the fae who has been shunned by her own people, and Saul, the good vampire.  Additionally, I liked Leigh's twin sister Jan and hope to see more of her in future books, without her not so pleasant husband.  Overall I enjoyed DARKNESS BOUND and would recommend it to fans of paranormal romance.

DARKNESS BOUND is the first book in Stella Cameron's new paranormal series.  I've been a long time fan of Ms.Cameron's work and have read all her historical and romantic suspense novels; however, this is the first paranormal written by Ms. Cameron that I have read.  The writing is crisp, and the dialogue often amusing.  DARKNESS BOUND sets up a lot of interesting possibilities for future books in the series, although I wish some of the questions had been answered in this novel. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, DARKNESS BRED.

Terrie Figueroa