Darkness Before Dawn (Darkness Before Dawn Trilogy #1) by J.A. London Review.

Title : Darkness Before Dawn
Author : J. A. London
Pages : 342
Source : Purchased

Only sunlight can save us.

We built the wall to keep them out, to keep us safe. But it also makes us prisoners, trapped in what's left of our ravaged city, fearing nightfall.

After the death of my parents, it's up to me—as the newest delegate for humanity—to bargain with our vampire overlord. I thought I was ready. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the monsters. Then again, nothing could have prepared me for Lord Valentine . . . or his son. Maybe not all vampires are killers. Maybe it's safe to let one in.

Only one thing is certain: Even the wall is not enough. A war is coming and we cannot hide forever.

My Thoughts : 

When Vampires revealed themselves to humans it started a 30 year war for supremacy. The war ended and the VampHu treaty was signed. Humans have to donate blood to Vampires and Vampires will stay out of the cities. The Humans built a wall and nobody except the delegate is allowed outside. 

Dawn is only young when her parents are killed. They were the Vampire delegates to Lord Valentine. Now the job falls to Dawn to become the new delegate. 

Tegan, Dawns best friend, decides one night to go to a party near The Wall. Dawn has reservations about being out so late and being so near The Wall. They go and Teagan meets some boys, unfortunately those boys spike Teagans drink and Dawn is left trying to get an unconscious Tegan home. She hops on to the train but gets attacked by Vampires. She fights as best she can and suddenly hears fighting elsewhere. She hopes its the Night Watchmen. When the last Vamp is killed she looks up to find an extremely handsome man, Victor. He helps her and Teagan get home safe. 

On her first solo trip outside the wall to Lord Valentines mansion she is a bundle of nerves but knows she has to contain all emotion and give nothing away but that's very hard to do when once she gets there she meets a very familiar man! 

I went into this not expecting too much because Id read a few negative reviews but I have to say I really enjoyed it. I loved the Dystopian/ Post Apocalyptic feel to Darkness Before Dawn. It was refreshing to read a Vampire book that brought back the love of Vampire books!!! 

I loved Dawn. She is strong, brave and capable. She went through so much with losing her parents and then losing her brother to vampires that she has a strong dislike for them. She thinks as them as monsters, only out for blood and care nothing about anyone else. Her opinion is changed when she meets a certain someone though. 

Michael, Dawns boyfriend annoyed me a bit. He is all like 'Me Tarzan'!! He constantly has to be reassured and praised that he can protect Dawn even though she is kick ass herself. He is training to be a night watchman and his attitude is like he is the only one able to take care of things. He needs to lose the ego!

I loved Victor. The knight in shining armour!! From the start I loved him. He is brave and good and kind. I was so rooting for him and cant wait to read more in the next books.

I had to take off a star simply because of the dreaded love triangle. I hate them!!! Even though this book had one it was complex. Michael was her friend since childhood and then it developed into something. She is comfortable with him but when she meets Victor, sparks fly. Its different, forbidden and new.

So ya, overall Darkness Before Dawn was awesome. It added a new element to the Vampire Genre with the Thirst! It had enough action and suspense to keep me reading. I will say I kind of was able to guess the big reveal but there was still enough twists that it didn't get old. Im really looking forward to reading book 2, especially after the cliffhanger ending.