Title:  Dark Passion
Author:  S. G. McCrae
Publisher:  Books of Desire
ISBN#: SW1010EB
Genre:  Erotic Paranormal
Reviewed by:  Nefertari

Rating: 3

Beth is the owner of a museum that has acquired a seven-foot, ferocious gargoyle statue.  Not sure of its origins, Beth is drawn to it as she painstakingly takes care of it every day.  What she does not know is her care is slowly bringing the statue to life.  One night, as she sleeps, she is awakened by a mystery lover who makes passionate love to her.  At first Beth is frightened, but as night after night her “dream lover” returns, she both fears and craves his attentions.  Confused by her anonymity of her “dream lover” and terrified by recent murders that seem to be happening to those who would do her harm, Beth will find the answers once she uncovers the secret of the gargoyle in her museum’s foyer!

The premise of this story is a familiar one, but with an erotic twist; it put me in mind of Beauty and the Beast meets Penthouse meets Terminator.  The gargoyle, whose name was Antoine, came to Beth at night and took her to the heights of passion.  He also coldly dispatched anyone who caused Beth any problems or meant her harm.  I liked that added some suspense to the story.  I also liked that I did not guess the ending; until the very end I really did believe Antoine was going to stay a gargoyle. 

I would have liked for the author to give more background about the characters.  More time was spent describing Beth’s museum and her hunt for more artifacts than on Beth and Antoine’s backgrounds.  I still do not know what Beth looked like because the author never described her appearance.  Other than her relationship with her grandfather, I don’t know why she was so passionate about the museum.  I don’t know under what circumstances she was raised and her parents were never mentioned; and the same goes for Antoine.  At the end of the story, the reader is given a brief lowdown on how he became a statue but this is the only personal information given about him.  This resulted in a lack of connection between the reader and the main characters.

The love story between Antoine and Beth was definitely erotic, but I am not sure how romantic it was.  Beth went from being afraid of her dream lover, to wanting him, to experiencing pain when they had sex, to having an orgasm.  Where Beth was confused about his identity, I was confused about whether Beth wanted Antoine to come to her at night or if she hated him for it.  I was conflicted on whether to like Antoine or dislike him because he seemed like a sex-starved beast who thought about his own desires first, and Beth’s second.  And Beth made me scratch my head because as far as she knew, someone was routinely getting past the locks in her house, having sex with her and she never made an effort to find out what was going on or who he was!  I applaud what the author tried to do with the story, but because of my disconnection with the characters, by the end of the story I was fascinated more by the contents of the museum than I was by the characters and their love story.