Dark Realms

by Kristen Middleton

SEVEN Stories of paranormal fantasy and horror written by USA Today bestselling author - Kristen Middleton / K.L. Middleton

Vampires, witches, and zombies - all under one cover! If you enjoy action, adventure, romance, and humor then check out this boxed set. It features the first books in most of Kristen's horror and fantasy series, plus a couple of short bonus stories.

Wicked
Blur
Enchanted Secrets
Zombie Games - First two books in series - Origins and Running Wild BONUS!!
The Coin Collector
Venom

Warning - Adult language and situations - recommended for ages sixteen and above

Some stories do end with cliff-hangers.

Wicked (A Night Roamers Short)

When eighteen-year-old Emily wakes up to find herself being held captive in a barn with four other women and tries to escape, she finds herself being hunted by a dark presence through the deep woods of Montana.

Blur (Book One of Night Roamers)

Danger lurks in the dead of night...
Seventeen year old Nikki and her twin brother, Nathan, move to the small town of Shore Lake to start over after their mother is brutally attacked. When a missing teenager washes up on shore during their first night at the cabin and there are whispers of vampires in Shore Lake, Nikki begins to realize that there are things roaming in the darkness that are far more sinister than what they left behind in the city


Enchanted Secrets (Book One of Witches Of Bayport)

Magic, murder, and mayhem...
Eighteen-year-old Kendra learns that her mother has been keeping secrets, the biggest being that she and her twin sister, Kala, are descendants of a long line of witches. Unfortunately, where magic reigns, so does danger and she is forced into an adventure that leaves her racing against the clock to stop an evil curse.

The Coin Collector (Stand-alone Short)

In their small Iowa town, children start to go missing on their tenth birthday. The hot Irish girl across the street claims her creepy father, Mr. O'Darby, is a leprechaun who collects more than just gold coins, and 17-year-old Trent begins to fear for the safety of his brother, Ben, whose tenth birthday grows near.

Zombie Games (Origins) Book One AND Running Wild (Book two)

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Wild thought that living in the chaos of her mother's home daycare and dealing with new feelings for Bryce, her martial arts instructor, was a struggle until her world turned upside down. When an untested vaccine kills more than just a rampant flu virus, Cassie learns how to survive in a world where the dead walk and the living... run!

Venom – (Derived from Night Roamers)

When Melody Williams goes missing at a concert, at Club Nightshade, her eighteen-year-old cousin, Chelsey Fairfax, sneaks into the club to find answers. Little does she know that some mysteries are better left hidden.

Meanwhile, Venom is in town, a hot new band from Europe, and the owner of Club Nightshade wants them there permanently...

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Amazon, Ebooks, Zombies, Vampires

881 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2014

About the author

NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Kristen Middleton, is from the Midwest and not only enjoys writing, but connecting with her readers. Kristen also writes gritty biker books under the name Cassie Alexandra. She is also involved with raising money to help locate missing and exploited children, helping other authors succeed by sharing what she's learned in the self-publishing industry, and volunteering resources or her time whenever she can. "Besides having a passion for writing, I adore children, suspenseful movies, watching Shameless and The Walking Dead, traveling, Moscato wine, Chianti Grill, Savoy Pizza, and meeting new friends."



















Kristen Middleton lives in Minnesota
Favorite Quote (Henry Ford)

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."

Reviews

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (7/5/2019)! 🎁

[Dianna]

I just couldn't, really.

In the first story, the heroine has just moved out of home into a flat. Late at night, she decides to head downstairs to buy herself a can of soda, and runs into a pale and threatening man. Firstly: why won't anyone just drink water? And she isn't the first heroine I've read recently who only seems to drink sugary drinks and I don't approve. They are an unhealthy choice. And while getting kidnapped by a pale and threatening man is more excessive punishment than she deserves, she could have avoided this whole thing if she'd had a drink of water and gone to bed.

Perhaps the 'can of soda' is actually a metaphor for hard liquor. Which irritates me even more, because if she wanted a beer or half a bottle of vodka or whatever that doesn't maker her an alcoholic, and if this whole thing is a moral judgement on her choice to drink too much sugar as a sort of metaphor for her drinking too much alcohol I think it sucks.

Anyway, she wakes up in a barn with a bunch of other women, also kidnapped by the pale and threatening man, or his pale and threatening friend.
'Don't go up to the loft,' the other women tell the heroine. 'One of the other girls went up to the loft, and some creature ate her.'
'That's horrible,' says the heroine. Sensibly, she gets the hang of the whole not going into the loft thing.
Then, another girl arrives, Maria. Maria has to have the whole 'we're kidnapped, don't go in the loft' thing explained to her, and Maria wants to go into the loft, because she's an idiot. I don't have a problem with a secondary character being an idiot, but I do have a problem with having to sit through the same explanation again, it's just clunky.

After that, it didn't get any better.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wicked (A Night Roamers Short)

I wish we would have gotten more on this. Even in the next book it doesn't feel it really touched on the stuff in this book.
Blur (Book One of Night Roamers)

I enjoyed this book but felt parts of it were odd. Nikki felt very wishy washy as a character to me.

Enchanted Secrets (Book One of Witches Of Bayport)

I will be checking into more of these this one sucked me in.

The Coin Collector (Stand-alone Short)

This wasn't bad but not my sort of book.

Zombie Games (Origins) Book One

I didn't care for this one much. The character wasn't very believable to me.

Venom – (Derived from Night Roamers)

I would love to see how this ties in with Night Roamers more.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok the three I read were really good. If I was 16. SADLY I thought it was going to be more adult than adolescent...... I needed to read further in description

[Catherine Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading each story and then leaving reviews for the individual books as I finished them. Now I've come to the end of the whole book, and there was one story I did not like at all, and one story I absolutely loved. The rest were overall pretty good, so this is a book worth buying:
Story 1 = A chilling tale that I gave a 4*
Story 2 = Was a good tale, but too much teenager chit chat, so gave it a 2*
Story 3 = This was the worst one, for me. Typical witch and broom tale and I didn't finish it as I got bored. Didn't review as it would have got a 1*
Story 4 = Nasty neighbours and a brave big brother. Gave it a 3*
Story 5 = Tongue in cheek zombie story. I liked it but there were too many female characters. Needed more of the boys. Gave it a 3*
Story 6 = This was my favourite one. Loved the monsters, dark vampires, twists and turns. Will be buying book 2. Rarely given, but I gave it a 5*

[T.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

So most of the stories in this collection are a 2-3 stars, I didn’t love all the descriptions of how thin/ disgustingly fat the girls were (when they weren’t even that big) but there are some good ideas in there and I really enjoyed the zombie one even though there were a few times I rolled my eyes at characters behaviours.

That was a bit of a trend but as someone who is probably about twenty years older than the age these books are aimed at that’s not surprising, I’m pretty sure I would roll my eyes at some of my behaviour when I was the age of the main characters.

So if I had read the zombie one on it’s own I would have given it 3-4 stars and I always round up. This series was free so worth a pick up to see if this author is for you. I will probably go on to read more in the zombie games series not sure about the rest.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed these. Most were the 1st book in one of her series so they left you hanging. While I liked them, I would say they were short books and on the simple level. Very lite reading material. Not something you have to think about. Kinda like junk food reading...I might look into finding other books in a couple of the series.

Wicked - short story & I didn't get the point of it being included. disappointing

Blur - an ok teen girl, teen boy, male vampire triangle

Enchanted Secrets - a teenage girl finds out she's a witch. I might check into this series

Coin Collector - short story about leprechaun. I liked it

Zombie Games - typical zombie

Venom - Vampire rock band - might check out series

quick, simple no brainer to read

[Dorel · Rating 1 out of 5]

dWICKED: I liked Emily's character & I thought she was tough. The story line made absolutely no sense to me. BLUR: This story was boring. ENCHANTED SECRETS: I wanted to like this story, but the story line & characters couldn't hold my interest. THE COIN COLLECTOR: Not my kind of story. ORIGINS: Some parts of this story was too gruesome for me. Cassie character turned me off to with her attitude. VENOM: This book started good with Melody missing but Chelsey's attitude when she finds out turns me off. Your cousin is missing & you act nonchalant about it. I like Kristen Middleton books just didn't enjoy these.

[Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Realms (Vampires, Zombies, Shifters Boxed set)

Dark Realms is a box set of paranormal story. It let you see if you like any of this books. Some book are four stars. The books are Wicked (a Night Romers short), Blur (Book 1 of Night Romers), Enchanted Secret (Book 1 of Witches of Bayport ), The Coin Collector (stand-alone short), Zombie Games (Origin, Book 1), Venom (Derived from Night Romers).

[Heather Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will definitely be checking out the second books in some of these series.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read the first two stories before I quit. This set would probably be more interesting to a teenager, but it was not for me.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted more from each short story, endings were abrupt and some scences needed more natural flow, loved the first short story wicked and wished there was a second book to expand the short story

[Carol Cassada · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of anything supernatural; vampires, werewolves, witches, etc. When I saw this collection of stories was free, I decided to give it a try and I wasn't disappointed. The stories kept my attention and made me want to continue reading to find out what happened next.

Wicked felt like a horror movie and kept me on the edge of my seat. I was wondering why the vampires held the girls hostage and if the girls would get out alive.

Blur reminded me a little of Twilight only better. Immediately I was drawn into Nikki and Nathan's story as they move with their mother to another town to start a new life after their mother is attacked by her ex-husband. With a gorgeous house by the lake, job opportunities, and new friends; things are looking up for the family. But when a string of mysterious deaths occur, Nikki and Nathan soon discover the town's infested with vampires and nobody can help them, not even the Sheriff. To complicate matters Nikki finds herself attracted to a vampire named Ethan, who causes trouble for her and her boyfriend Duncan.

In Enchanted Secrets, I could connect to the main character Kendra, who struggles with insecurities about her weight and getting teased by high school kids. However, that's the least of her troubles when she discovers that her mother's a witch and her mom's evil twin sister is out for revenge. Kendra must use her newfound powers to rescue her mom and her sister. I loved the use of humor throughout the story, especially the part with the talking wand demanding respect from one of the witches. The plot twists at the end caught me off guard, but it added to the drama of the story.

The Coin Collector was a bit more tame than the rest of the stories, but still a great read and it teaches a valuable lesson.

I'm not too big into zombies, but Zombie Games got me hooked on them. I feared for the lives of Cassie and her friends, and there were a couple of times where I thought they'd get themselves killed. The one character I didn't like was Eva, she was your typical stuck up girl and the way she acted throughout the story annoyed me. I was disappointed when they didn't mention the fate of the other characters, but I guess I'll find out in the sequel.

Venom is the third vampire story and it's a spinoff of Blur, there's appearances and mentions of some of Blur's characters in the story. The story combines the world of the supernatural with rock n'roll. I loved the description of the band members, they're the type of guys you'd love to hang with, even though they're vampires. I loved the teasing of a potential romance between band member Slade and good girl Chelsey, and I'm anxious to read the sequel to see if they'll get together and if they'll escape the trouble they've gotten into.

There were a few grammar errors, but I was willing to overlook because I enjoyed the stories. I can't wait to read the sequels to Blur, Enchanted Secrets, Zombie Games, and Venom.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of short stories and first books in series was intriguing.

Wicked: This is a short story about a young girl who is kidnapped and hunted by vampires.

Blur: This is the first in the series Night Roamers and follows Nikki, Nathan, and their mom as they move to a small town invaded by vampires. Nikki falls for a boy in the town, but is also very attracted to a vampire, Ethan, and is given the chance to be turned into one. There are some sexual situations in this book.

Enchanted Secrets: This is the first in the series Witches of Bayport and was my favorite of the collection. Kendra and Kala are twins who learn that they are being hunted by their aunt whom they have never met. They, like their mother and aunt, are twins and very powerful witches. A surprise ending leaves you really wanting to read the rest of the series. There are a few sexual situations.

The Coin Collector: This is a short story about a leprechaun and his daughter who collects on what is owed him - first born males to those with whom he made deals.

Zombie Games: Origins is the first book in this series. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. If you have a weak stomach then probably don't read this; it describes smells of rotting flesh and what it looks like. There is a hint that there will be some sex in the series, though not any in this book. It ends on a cliffhanger.

Venom: The first book in the series is actually titled Slade and is a crossover with the Night Roamers series taking place mostly in the same small town. We are introduced to more than just vampires in this book. Slade is the lead singer of a band named Venom which is made up of vampires and lycans. He falls for Chelsey, a mortal, who is looking for her cousin. There is not much sex in this book, but there is underage drinking, and fake ID usage, as well as talk of BDSM and orgies.

Be aware that most of the books in this series make a statement saying the situations are best suited for those 18 and older.

[Sera · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plots have potential, but the writing just isn't there to keep you hooked. The stories start agonizingly slow and finish rapidly with sometimes confusing open ended conclusions. I understand this box set is to get you to seek out the other stories, but not one actually had me wanting to continue on in the series' to follow up on the stories. For a couple of the stories I could have looked past the bad writing if isn't wasn't for the fact that all of the heroines are written oddly. For example in "Enchanted Secrets" (my favorite in the collection), the main character Kendra struggles with self esteem issues because she isn't skinny like her identical twin. I'm not arguing that this isn't a relatable issue but the whole point in bringing up such a character flaw is so that the heroine can either over come or embrace their flaw. In the story instead of learning to love herself the way she is or trying to change in a healthy role model type way, she magics her problem away. One drink from a potion and bam she is as skinny as her twin and everyone who made fun of her mistakes her for her twin Kala. She whines about her weight and then gets to magic it away and that is the only way she comes to believe in her self. That is a terrible thing to have young minds, or even older ones for that matter, read. She didn't learn to have faith in herself she just poofed her problems gone.

[Jenika Ioffreda · Rating 1 out of 5]

After finish reading the second story I gave up on the book.
"Wicked", the first story, was actually good, I would give 3.5 stars.
But the second story "Blur" started well and ended in an inconclusive mess. So many things left me puzzled from the heroine finding herself in love (?) with two different guys within days, to the stellar behaviour of the mother who seemed to live on another planet completely. (hello? Your daughter has a scary peeping tom-stalker sniffing around her, how the heck you leave her alone all the times?)
What the heck is the deal with YA vampire novels and bad parenting? Always the same thread: the hero/heroine is in danger, parents don't have a clue of what's going on and even if their children speak about the situation ("we just found a body next door, there is a killer on the loose!") they laugh it out.
It could have been a cool story, it started as a kind of scary, original, interesting novel. But in the second part the author decided to go all mushy-romantic, trying to force a romance that didn't have any root or motivation.
I am not sure I want to continue reading this book, if the following stories are the same as "Blur" is going to be a waste of time.

[Nikki Wilde · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to do this but I gave up on this book after the first story. I thought it had huge promise and then the conversations between the characters was just in my opinion not good.

Emily moves into her first apartment getting away from her controlling parents. It's her first taste of freedom and she's all moved in and ready for her friend to move in before college starts. Having not unpacked she heads down to the soda machine for a drink. Unfortunately, for her she runs into a creep who gives her a hard time. Before she knows it she's ended up kidnapped. The conversation she has with the kidnappers and the other girls there felt so fake to me. No one freaked out. Even though there were unnatural things happening around them and to them they still all just said, this is illegal. I'm sure many kidnappers never realized that. It was so frustrating.

Easy to piece together what was happening, one thing I couldn't figure out was Maria. She couldn't keep up or she was playing? I couldn't tell. Anyway, after a disappointing start I couldn't see myself finishing the other stories in the collection. Perhaps, someday I'll go back and try another story after I give myself some distance from this one. Perhaps, another series in the collection would be better.

[Tamra LeValley · Rating 3 out of 5]

GoodReads Free Book from Author

Many stories all surrounded by the supernatural. Kristen Middleton did a wonderful job of picking 6 of her best short storied for fast paced, edge of your seat read.

The one book that I really liked best was the second one named "Blur." When Nikki and Nathan are forced to move from their hometown to a Shore Lake their lives take and even more dire turn. When their father beat and raped their mother they thought that their lives would finally be peaceful but that was wishful thinking. Upon arriving in the new town they were introduced to vampires that wanted them all. It was a chase to the end. Whose end is still to be determined though.

All of the stories were well written and plotted out. The characters were each individual and stood apart. Kudos Kristen! I think each stories needed to be expanded upon however. They were too quick and/or left the reader hanging. Wonderful writing technique!

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first story in this collection, even though the conversations between the characters seemed to be a little stilted, but I gave up reading the rest after getting a little way through the second story. It seemed very formulaic, from Nikki's grousing, Nathan's bull-headedness, and Mother's indifference because she's making eyes at the sheriff, it just went downhill, until I couldn't care less what happened to any of the characters. Another thing that irritated me was the whole YA vampire teen romance genre must include a bad parent or two. Heroine (or Hero) finds spooky stuff happening, parents couldn't care less if they tried. I'm sorry I put as much time into this as I did.

[Jaime Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, 3 stars for the two that I've marked with an * below for the worth reading.

Wicked: Short and left me feeling like there was more coming.

Blur: Felt a lot like some sparkly vampires I've heard about. Kept waiting to hear about another supernatural type creature at any moment.

Enchanted Secrets: Has a Practical Magic vibe to it so far. Finished feeling like a huge mash-up of stories.

*Zombie Games (Origins): Probably one of my absolute favorites of these featured. WANTED more.

*The Coin Collector: Interesting storyline.

Venom: Back to the roamers from Blue, and that other shoe was finally dropped here for me. More sparkly stuff.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this set thinking that they would be a great start to some new series for me to read. I was greatly disappointed when I started reading the books. I got through the first two ok, but after that I just couldn't wade my way through the rest. I just can't relate to the characters and it feels like they are all the same through all the stories. I also think that the ending of the two I read was too over done, and really could have been stretched out more. There were so many things I would have done differently.

[Liala ~ The Goddess of Books ~ Starr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read for a collection of short reads

The first short read was pretty good and had me wanting more. The rest of them wee alright. Some short stories I'm veer intrigued with and enjoy reading. But other than the first and the last one, I was left wanting more. The story lines are all intriguing, but the "meat"for lack of a better term, was a little thin. I like to feel that I'm a part of the books I read; all the emotions that the characters have, however, the only feeling I had was the superficial ones the drag u 2 but the next book in the series.

[Gail Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of 5 Novellas or "sample books" as the author says. The first story was definitely the best, although there were things I liked about each. I found the second story a little irritating but that was down to the mother of the teenage protagonists. She appears to be on another planet was not a believable character. This aside, I enjoyed reading the stories and some of them featured the same characters in different stories that added extra dimensions of the whole.

[Mercedes Nadal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not enough!

Just not enough!

The books have great story lines but I am not happy at all that the stories never finish. This writing style is just not for me. I don't like to be left hanging at the most interesting moment just to force me to but another book. Totally not cool!!!

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got them as a free download on Barns and Noble so I gave them a try. The only reason it got two stars was because I actually liked the night roamer series and would read the rest of them. She is not a bad writer but all her books seemed a very rushed. I think I could have liked them if they less rushed because the plots were good.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some better then others

I got this collection of books free on Amazon and enjoyed a few of the stories but felt like the others where not fitting. I enjoyed Enchanted Secrets the most out of these books. It's always nice to get a box set with multiple authors. It gives you a chance to try them out

[Loretta Hevel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved them

This set of books were a great read, the only complaint I have is just as I was really getting into the story it would end and leave you hanging. Not normally the type of work I would read but thoroughly enjoyed them.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thought I would try this as a free book for my kindle. I struggled through the first 4 chapters of Blur (I think, the one with Nikki and Nathan). Not sure her writing style is for me. Can't even bring myself to try another of the stories in the bundle.....

[Lauren]

OVERALL:

Wicked (A Night Roamers Short)

Blur (Night Roamers, #1)

Enchanted Secrets (Witches of Bayport, #1)

The Coin Collector (Stand-alone Short)

Origins (Zombie Games, #1)

Venom (Venom Series #1)

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stories

All of the descriptive and sensory elements are great as well as well thought out plots. I found the overall stories leaned towards the young adult rather than adult. There were quite a few grammatical errors and words that should have been omitted in proofreading.