AUTUMN ROSE – Abigail Gibbs
A Dark Heroine Novel, Book 2
William Morrow
ISBN: 978-0-06-224875-6
February 2014
Paranormal Young Adult Romance

England – Present Day

Autumn Rose is still not over the death of her grandmother eighteen months ago. Despite the knowledge that she is the heir to the duchy of England, because her father was born human, Autumn does not want or crave the responsibility. Instead she is a Sage who has been assigned to be the guardian of the humans at her school. At fifteen, almost sixteen, Autumn is on the verge of moving into the upper echelon of her dimension, and as a seer, she will be much in demand. But she's miserable, hates school, hates her parents, and generally hates life without her grandmother. And then another Sage comes on the scene.

When Prince Fallon shows up at Autumn's school, he becomes an instant celebrity. Handsome, friendly, and oblivious to his fame, all he is really interested in is Autumn. But she gives him the cold shoulder from day one, so his work is cut out for him. He harbors secrets she would love to know about, primarily: who killed her grandmother? Why did the Atheneans send one of their royals to a small seaside town to go to school?

It becomes readily apparent that the kidnapping of a girl named Violet Lee by the vampire dimension is causing a lot of commotion among the various other dimensions. To Autumn's horror, she begins having dreams about Violet and the vampire prince who has her. As the dreams get more involved, and Autumn's feeling for Fallon get more complicated, dark forces are circling the small English town, threatening not only Autumn, but the humans she is charged with protecting.

AUTUMN ROSE is a complicated story of a teenager coming of age and learning, sometimes the hard way, how to deal with leadership, responsibility, and love. With Fallon and other Sageans to guide her, she must prepare for her future and try and understand just what Dark Heroines are, and who they are.

While this was a very interesting premise, I highly recommend reading the first book in this series, DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE, where much of the hierarchy of the various dimensions will be explained. There was some discussion in one classroom setting, which will help, but to give this story more credence, do read the first book. The writing is fabulous, the characters are very real, especially Autumn as she tells her own side of the tale, and Fallon, who will reveal his feelings for her in his own words, and the story-line is fascinating. This is a very interesting series, so don't miss any of the books.

Jani Brooks