Frostbound (The Dark Forgotten #4) by Sharon Ashwood
Paranormal Romance
Paperback
June 7, 2011
Signet

Favorite Quote: “Bad dog!”

Talia Rostova is a young vampire who has gone rogue. Turned against her will as revenge against her family, Talia ran away from her psychotic sire and went into hiding with her cousin. When Talia’s cousin is found brutally murdered, Talia believes she was the intended victim. Before she can decide what to do she is taken into custody by Lore, a smoking hot alpha hellhound. Lore is acting sheriff while Alessandro Caravelli is away on a much needed vacation with his family. Lore doesn’t know if Talia is guilty or innocent, but he’s not taking any chances and keeps Talia locked up in his apartment while he investigates. But things are heating up in Fairview. The queen is coming for a visit, the upcoming elections may result in the first supernatural mayor, and there is an evil that is slowly entering the city…an evil that has Talia square in it’s sights.

I love Ms. Ashwood’s Dark Forgotten series. Slightly dark with incredible word building creates stories so full of life that you are riveted till the last page. Multiple story lines chocked full of intrigue, suspense and romance race and intertwine as we follow Ms. Ashwood’s characters down the rabbit hole. Her stories are fast paced and strong in detail with multiple story lines that blend so well together you see neither beginning nor end.

In Frostbound, we meet Lore and Talia. Lore is the perfect PNR hero. A sexy hellhound with a heart of gold; all he wants is a safe life for his clan. He senses from the first moment he first sees Talia that she is his soul mate. Lore has given his everything to his clan and now all he wants in return in Talia. But Lore’s THE alpha and unless he mates with another hellhound, the females of his clan will remain barren and his clan will die out. I really love that we get to see what happened to the hellhounds that once guarded the supernatural castle as virtual prisoners. When the castle underwent some changes-Unchained-the hellhounds escaped and have been free every sense. In here we see what happened to them.

Talia is a strong heroine with a vulnerable streak she keeps well hidden. With a wicked tongue and some kick arse moves; she demonstrates on many occasions that she will not go down with out a fight. Raised in a family of hunters; when she was viciously turned her whole family abandoned her. She was left at the mercy of a sadistic older vampire. She makes her escape from her sire and tries to maintain some connection with her brother but years of conditioning make it hard for both of them. She too is instantly attracted to Lore but cannot see how two such separate species can be together.

The chemistry between them leaps off the pages and will have you re reading a couple of pages-just to make sure you read it right. ;) Talia and Lore don’t fall into bed immediately even with their smoking hot attraction. She stands up to Lore, not bowing to his dominant status, and that just further intrigues Lore. Plus, Lore has essentially kidnapped Talia and held her hostage in his bedroom. She’s not willingly to forgive that too quickly.

“You handcuffed me. Now you want to be my friend.”
”You felt that kiss as much as I did,” he growled.
“As a human I also felt food poisoning and root canals.”
Lore growled.
“Dog spit.Great”

A fiercely dominant set of additional characters round out the story and add excitement and suspense to the main conflict. We see some old characters and are introduced to some very interesting new ones. Errata is a wily were cat with a midnight radio show. Her humor and feistiness had me smiling through out the book. I do hope to see more of her in future books.

“You could do worse then a guy who can catch a frisbee in his teeth. Just think what else he can do with out using his hands. Not that he doesn’t need work , but, hey, he comes when he’s called.”

There is some downtime in the book as everything is trying to come together. There is a lot going on and some parts I felt were more filler than necessary to the storyline. While this is a wonderful addition to Ms. Ashwood’s series,  I didn’t feel this one had the same intenseness to it that made me an instant lover of her series. It is somewhat lighter in nature-character wise-while the main plot line is serious. It created a conflict for me when reading. Is this serious or funny? At times we were rushed through the story as everything tries to catch up and certain aspects weren’t fleshed out and left me with a deflated feeling.

The ending was exciting and action packed as several conflicts come to a head and explode. Talia faces her fears and enemies with help from friends and emerges triumph. I also enjoyed how Lora and Talia are able to work through the obstacles standing in the way of their relationship. I wish there was more about the castle in it. That crazy castle and it’s inhabitants are my favorite part of the series.

All in all wonderful Dark Forgotten addition from Ms. Ashwood. If you enjoy romantic action packed PNR with a dark undercurrent then don’t miss Ms. Ashwood’s Dark Forgotten series.

**This review has been edited**

Rating: C+

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