Burn the Dark

Elwood Legacy #2

by Nicola Rose

What if the good guy you fell for turns bad, and the bad guy swoops in to save the day?

Zac said he’d never run, but we do… and it doesn’t help. When the Bael take me prisoner, he’s forced to make the decision he’s been running from for decades. Forever changed, he’s ripped away from me — leaving the perfect sized hole for Alex to step into.

I should hate him.

I do hate him.

If only I didn't need him.

Struggling to come to terms with our own changes, Alex and I must work together to fix this mess caused by ancient legacy and a vampire leader hell-bent on using us for his own gain.

But the vampires aren’t the only ones with something dark running through their veins… maybe underestimating me was the biggest mistake they all made.


Follow one woman’s dark and messy love story as she’s torn between brothers, morality, and the desire to be free. From slow burn paranormal romance to vampires bringing humanity to its knees – this is one thrilling ride you don’t want to miss!

Authors Note: Contains strong language, violence, and a high heat rating. Dark content may offend some readers.

Genres: Vampires, Paranormal

297 pages, ebook

Published May 28, 2018

About the author

Deliciously dark... because romance isn't always sweet.

Nicola Rose is from the UK, where she lives with her husband and two boys. When she's not writing or reading, she can probably be found on family days out hiking and mountain-biking in the countryside, messing in Photoshop, and playing board games in her pjs!

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"I believe in the power of positivity. I have no desire to spread anything negative. I'm a reader, but primarily I'm an author NOT a reviewer. For these reasons, if I don't enjoy a book I simply move on quietly. I will only rate and review the books I have genuinely enjoyed." - Nicola x

Reviews

[Emma Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burn the Dark

A fantastic continuation of the Elwood Legacy. We go darker and deeper than the first as we get to know Alex this time around.
I devoured the first two books in this series in two days and am impatiently waiting for the third.

[Battleaxe Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow it just gets better!

I usually rate good books a four star. This is because occasionally there's a book out there that surpasses all expectations and rises well above the ranks of all the other good books out there. For those I save the five star rating. This is one of those books.
The first book I gave four stars. It was good and I enjoyed it so much I decided to read this second book. I wasn't expecting much. Second books tend to just drag out the story and bore me. This second book however surprised me! The story got even better and I loved it immensely. I'm afraid to read the next one! What if it's the dragging out drab read like many other sequels. I don't know how this can get any better or even stay on par with what this book was! I must read it and hope for the best :)

[N.M. McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2, Finally!
I loved it almost more than book one. While book one's flow tended to align with the lead character, book 2 took a specific direction that had the reader panting for more. This story, lead, Jess had made some decisions and is committed to standing firm, instead of running. The story moves in a direction that the reader I'm sure will cheer :-) The outcome, I won't spoil it, but was as it should be.
Like book 1, The Elwood Legacy, this Vampire romance hit the ground running and didn't stop. Rose had fantastic descriptions of ethereal experiences that would be difficult to express and write for a lesser writer. Well done Nicola Rose, looking forward to book 3 in the series.

[D.L. Blade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic follow up to book 1.

Soooo much action that I struggled to put this book down.

I love Rose's writing, I love her characters, world building, and the built up tension between Jess and the Elwood brothers.

No spoilers, but so so happy how this book ended. I even read chapter 1 of the next book and got really excited for the final book in the trilogy.

I need sleep but Nicola Rose and her amazing novels make it impossible.

[Ana (thestarslisten) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*ARC generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.*

She could be so much more.
She will be everything.
She is everything.
She’s going to be mine.

SPOILER FREE

Filled with magic, sexual tension, a lot of blood and burning of everything.

P L O T

I’m serious when I say this book is fast paced. This scene happens, then this event happens, we go from this place and we’re shipped to a different location next. We lost some beloved characters (I completely understand, would have been hard to keep that person in the picture) and some came back. There were lots of death and lots of weird stuff happening in this book. Blood licking, sex over fresh bodies, (Nicola did write a scene where two people had sex over fresh blood that they killed but still, if you think about it, if you were there...) revelations of character personalities and the shifting of tides, having a telepathic group chat! (That one is the coolest) There’s even another Legacy being introduced!

Together, we’ll own anyone and anything that crosses us.

C H A R A C T E R S

Jessica Leyton

Jess is trying to change her ways and she doesn’t use funny and colorful swear words as often as she used to. I miss her original cuss words that she doesn’t seem to ever run out of. She refuses to get drunk and sleep around with random guys or girls or both at the same time.

He was my salvation. He was everything. He was mine.

Alex Elwood

Is he really the stronger brother? Or the weak one? Selfish for toying with his brother to activate the Legacy? Or selfless for suddenly caring about Jessica? You’re going to have to read this sequel to find out how mind blowing it is.

She was a Goddess to be worshiped. My dark Goddess. I’d walk through hell for her.

W R I T I N G

We finally get to read Alex’s Point of View and I was enjoying it the whole time. The author has taken a slightly different direction by making it more story-driven, less of the sexual and steamy scenes and I love it even more. The author did promise to make up for the lack of sex in the next book.

He didn’t deserve a girl like her. He didn’t know what to do with her, how to handle her. I wanted her. But then I didn’t. Mostly, I did.

O V E R A L L

If you’re looking for a quick read and love annoying characters that keep lying to themselves about the truth of their feelings or denying their feelings then this is for you! Gave it four stars out of five because it wasn’t as steamy as I’d expected, but I can’t wait for the third and final book in the series!

Her aura glittered like a million starbursts against a smudge of black. She was light, and dark - a staggering sight of pure energy.

If you haven’t read Taste the Dark, here’s my spoiler free review. I also did multiple character interviews with the author in my Thestarslisten Talk Show segment. More character interviews are coming set after the events of Burn the Dark so look out for that.

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because if shows me the stars.” -- Og Mandino

[Erika P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heady, intoxicating, like I took a million shots, and just as addicting!! I was transfixed by the characters, and entranced by this story!! This Author's talent to suck you in gets better with each book!! I can't wait for more!!

~~~Erika, Book Haven Book Blog

[Sara Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a kindle version of this book (and it’s prequel Taste the Dark) from the author in exchange for an honest review, thank you Nicola.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!! This novel gets my personal rating of 500/5 🌟 because this fast paced erotic supernatural novel is AMAZING!!! It’s grittier and filthier than it’s prequel Taste The Dark and nothing is held back, but here’s what I loved about this book (other than every page) in this novel we see Jess not only come into her own and embrace her powers but we also see Alex’s sensitive side and we see them STAND TOGETHER AS EQUALS (yep, I shipped them, even though I love Alex). Not only did I find this empowering but I also found it to be emotionally moving. Too often do we see macho male characters not able to have any feeling whatsoever or me see female characters get treated like shit and then then overcome all obstacles on their own with the help of some sidekick characters who's only role is to help out the MC and then they fade into oblivion. Here we have Alex (and Sofia and Constance too) guiding and helping Jess as she makes her embarks on her journey of finding out who she is (and thankfully this novel fills us in on all that as well as the backstory on the Elwood/ Morena legacies) but we also have them holding their own, each of them possess a form of strength that is wonderful to see as well as the fact that the power exchanges/ dynamics between all of them is pretty explosive in itself (you see this clearly in Alex's and Constance's fight/ magic training with Jess). Also Anna IS BACK, honestly I cried happy tears when she turned up again (I was so devastated when she died, her return as a geeky vamp had me doing a mental happy dance, that was another omg/wtf /didn’t see that one coming moment). I loved seeing Alex’s emotional side, seeing what he was afraid of, seeing him fall in love with Jess and to see him love her and want her to see her own strength and to want to stand BESIDE her, not behind her, or in front of her but beside her, to me was to me what being a man is all about (okay so he’s dead and he’s a vampire, but still I haven’t encountered many male characters that I feel really embody the complexities of masculinity unfortunately…) and Nicola will always have my utmost respect for letting us see that side of him as well as for letting us see Jess in all her bad ass glory. She is unapologetically fierce in this book. (I feel like Taste the Dark didn’t allude to this because it was setting the stage for her in Burn the Dark). There were so may empowering quotes in this book that I feel should be on a t-shirt or on a billboard somewhere. And yes I was cheering my ass off for both Alex and Jess. There were also so many explosive unexpected plot twists that literally took my breath away (Ruben’s betrayal, Anna’s return, Danny’s death, Constance being used as a pawn (and her death), Alex’s death, Emory’s escape, Zac and Alex’s mortality those super human hell hounds, and Bellatrix ( I’ve never been so happy to see a character die, other than maybe Voldemort). So I feel like this novel really brings out Nicola’s amazing writing style, along with her strong character development and excellent dialogue (some writers can’t write dialogue to save their lives) this novel was a thrill ride from start to finish, I really get the feeling that she didn’t hold back for any of it and that’s what makes it so enjoyable, emotional and entertaining. The feels were really intense for me reading this book. Also the playlist for this novel is stellar as well. But here is my dilemma, I found this novel to be perfect in every way, it gave me everything I needed and wanted and so much more that a part of me doesn’t want to know how it ends (I’ve heard there’s one more book left in the Elwood legacy) a part of me is afraid, maybe because I’m worried that the ending won’t live up to this one, or maybe it’s because I don’t want anyone to die (other than Emory) this book even got me to start having feelings for Zac (check out my review for Taste The Dark) and I know that a good series can’t end without casualties and I feel like my heart just wouldn’t be able to handle it if any of the characters I loved died. I have never felt this way about a series EVER. I have never NOT wanted to see how it all ends if the series is good before (I’ve had a series I’ve not finished simply because it was shit and weren’t worth my time). And yet a part of my heart is like “I NEED to know how it ends……but what if someone dies, omg I can’t even….” and the other part of it is like “I DON'T need to know how it ends I can just imagine how it goes and everything turns out fine and nobody dies.” This is such a fucked up conundrum and yet I’m enjoying this internal conflict that this upcoming novel has sparked within me (for some weird reason).

[Nicolette Eyssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five bloody stars!


Where do I even begin to come up with words to describe my love for this series?

When I read book one, I was so excited to have stumbled on a new author with an amazing story to tell. I really wasn’t even into paranormal books but thought it was worth a shot. Look at me now, all in love with Nicola Rose #swoon (seriously though, she’s a beast of an author).

Ok, ok.....
Diving in to book two, I couldn’t wait to get more from her. Little did I know how twisted this author could be! Multiple times I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. She touched on her twisted little thoughts in book one but buckle up for this story she lets it all come out.

We get so much more in this book that I generally felt stunned. The journey of Jess, Alex, Zac guhhhhh my heart had palpitations. I can’t even bring up Anna or Danny......nope, not going there.

With so many twist and turns you feel excited and anxious as the pages turn.
I found it impossible to guess what would happen next and for me, that’s when I know the book was something special.

A book bloggers greatest feat, getting shocked durning the story. Well done Ms. Rose.

A captivating journey that has an intense feeling of passion and bloodlust.

Take the chance on this epic series!

Happy Reading Peeps,
Nic
x

[Angel McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely unforgettable!! The Elwood brother did it again - I found myself on the edge of my seat reading this, unsure whether to agree or fight against the path it was taking, but found myself so swept up in it that I couldn't put it down - read it in only a few sittings!
I will admit that I wish there had been more diversity in the narration of the chapters, having gotten used to different view points in the last books, this one was heavily Jess, but it didn't stop me from loving every page!
Without giving too much away, there isn't much more I want to say, but hot damn that Alex is mighty fine; wasn't sure how I felt at first about Jess considering switching sides, but the chemistry and heat coming from the pages ensured that I was all for team Alex by just a few chapters in!!

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

*This is book 2 in the Legacy trilogy and Taste the Dark book 1 must be read first.

When Jess is taken by the Bael, it forces Zac to finally go through with the Elwood Legacy for himself and his brother. Doing so frees the beast that he tried to keep locked up all his years. A beast that wants Jess's blood more than ever. And the only one left to protect her, is Alex, Zac's twin brother. Jess should hate him, but she needs him. And they need to work together to stop the Bael and save Zac. But the vampires aren't the only ones with something dark running through their veins. Will Jess be able to tap into her powers, to save Zac and Alex, and humanity as we know it, or will she doom them all?

I am still so enraptured with these books. There is a slow burn romance, hot vampires, powerful witches, a love triangle and the end of humanity hanging in the balance. I love seeing the characters in a new light- and from a different perspective. I loved watching these characters grow and the battle that they faced. And I loved learning more about Alex since he was def a favorite in the first book. This book had action, suspense, danger, the sizzle of slow burning romance, and power. If you are looking for paranormal romances then I def recommend the Elwood Legacy trilogy! I cannot wait to find out what happens next to Jess, Alex, and Zac and the rest of the characters in the final installment.
4⭐ out of 5⭐ 

[Jeanette Wolfe · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first book caught my interest enough that I made it on to the second installment only to have my interest become a bit shaky. The female lead, Jess, is just a bit too broken -- makes too many bad decisions, has too little impulse control, and even less forethought, so I just ended up not liking her. She's too fickle, too everything irritating. I made it through this book, but had no interest in following it up with the third book.

[Lyndsey Gollogly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This stepped up a bit! I enjoyed the first book and loved Jess and this one was no different she is a really good character. This book stepped up on the darkness a touch and may be a trigger to some with rape and abuse issues or those sensitive to reading that sort of material. Overall we got some kickass powers from Jess and Alex finally stepping up. This is a really good dark series and I’m still convinced a little lie a certain popular tv show.

[Michelle Krystel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given an advanced readers copy of this book and have decided to leave a voluntary honest review. I have to admit I liked the first book better, but still enjoyed this one. I just didn't particularly like the twist it took. I also found it very similar to my favourite show vampire diaries. Which made it pretty exciting. But I will always be team Zac as I will always team stefan.

[Niccole · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading #1 in record time, my fingers couldn't hit the download button fast enough. Zac made what is questionably the choice that defined Jess diving straight into Alex's garage for some boxing lessons. The sexual tension, coupled with the heads will roll story line was perfect.

[C.M. Martens · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a bit of a slow start, this book really delivers!

Jess' strange talents and what they meant for the path of her life are explained in the beginning pages, and I especially enjoyed the addition of new characters that boost the supernatural world Nicola Rose has built. Along with the new, we get to know characters briefly introduced in book one which only adds to the excitement.

Throughout book one, I wanted to kill Jess. I hated Jess (see my review), but in Book 2, her temperament is easier to swallow which made the ride all the more fun. Verbal repartees with those BTD Coverwho would have others paralyzed in fear had me laughing while the suspense over how it would all play out got me turning pages without stop. And this was all in the first twenty percent of the book.

I love Alex. From Taste the Dark, this love only grew as Burn the Dark continued. His blunt, no-nonsense, I-don't-give-a-crap attitude, added to his newfound angst made me love this story. Jess continues to fight her attraction which made for the perfect dynamic.

The way Nicola Rose weaves conversations and arguments from Book One into ammunition for Zac and Jess' drama is superb. Reason that seemed sound for Jess' actions are suddenly thrown into new light, and we all wonder whether she really is just some crazy bitch with a death wish. Jess' struggle that finally is figured out when she accepts some things, discards others, and finds that everyone has a place to belong is one of my favorite points about this book.

Did I mention I love Alex? There's so much more of him in this second book, its reason enough to read it.

I was pleasantly surprised by how everything comes together at the end. All my heart-strings were pulled, as well as getting the perfect dose of blood and carnage.

Book Three is sure to be a wild ride!

Happy Reading :)

Check out more of my reviews at CMMartens.com

[ThatReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't want to end this book.
Simply because I knew I'd then have to wait a while for the final instalment, and frankly, I can't get enough of these characters. Nicola Rose does one awesome job of twisting your head and your impressions of the storyline and characters with this one. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but boy!! Are you in for a ride, if you've read Taste the Dark and area about to get started on Burn. It is amazing the way she directs us towards the truth, simply by letting us inside the heads of her characters. It is also amazing the way these same characters evolve and grow before our eyes, and if once before you hated some, you'll be finding yourself swooning over them now. The author manipulates us as the vamps manipulate Jess, and we do feel a bit like her, being played around by these hot, hot, dangerous messes that are the Elwood twins. Seriously, you don't even realise you're being led, such is the masterful way in which Nicola guides you through the story, until you reach the end with a clamouring doubt in your head, much like Jess should: who do you trust?
Honestly cannot wait for the final book! More and more Nicola Rose is becoming one of my fave authors on the indie scene.