Quick Summary:
There's something strange about the new girls in town. Briar Creek, Oregon, has never seen anything like the supernatural grace of Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade, three sisters who move into the dilapidated old house next to Mark and Mary-Lynnette Carter. Mark is obsessed with Jade -- but she and her sisters have a secret. And when Mark and Mary-Lynnette follow them into the woods one night, they are plunged into a nightmare beyond their imagination. Because the sisters are fugitives from the Night World, and their brother Ash is hot on the trail behind them. He's ruthless, gorgeous, and he has orders to bring the girls back at all costs. And when he sees Mary-Lynette, he decides to take her too. . . .

My reaction: I have read all the books in the Night World series and this one is my favorite! I first read this in the seventh grade. I have read each book in this series every couple of years since then. Such a fun read! Also, it's by the author who wrote the books that the Vampire Diaries TV show was based upon. In my opinion, the Night World is a much better series than the Vampire Diaries. I wish they would have made it a show.

Daughters of Darkness is the second book in L.J. Smith's series. It focuses on the crossings of paths of a few groups of people. Mark and Mary Lynette Carter are two siblings who are obsessed with astronomy. Rowan, Kestral and Jade Redfern are three vampire sisters who are on the run from their previous life at a secluded vampire colony, where women are still treated archaically. Ash Redfern, the book's resident hottie, is the girl's older brother. He has come to town to drag them home, kicking and screaming.

When the girls arrive at their great-aunt Opal Burdock's house in Briar Creek, they find she has been murdered -- staked, actually! They panick and bury her body in the garden, outside. Little do they know, the next-door neighbor, Mary-Lynette, is star-gazing and witnesses the burial. Mary-Lynette assumes the girls murdered her poor old neighbor. Mary-Lynette is a small, spunky brunette. she will not just let her poor old neighbor be murdered without someone being held accountable, so she and her brother investigate. Mary-Lynnette and Mark are befriend the visiting vampires and promise to help find the murderer.Who in Briar Creek would do such a thing? Especially, in a town where Mary-Lynette has known everyone her entire life.

It's a fun story involving vampires, werewolves, and star-crossed lovers. What really drives this book, however, is Ash and Mary-Lynette. Mary-Lynette and Ash's conversations were humorous (see my quotes from the book, below). The bad boy and the spunky geek made for lots of laughs. The sisters also serve as interesting characters -- they are fugitives of the "night world," and have fled their home to live normal lives with humans. Despite their heightened abilities and thirst for blood, Smith describes their behaviros as sort of alien, since they have grown up in a vampire colony, away from modern society. The ending was realistic, but still hopeful. When you read this book, you will meet characters that you will encounter in the other novels in the series (Quinn). I love watching how Smith's characters develop throughout the series. changed by love! Swoon! Please, do yourself a favor, and check this one out. It's such an easy read, but it's a short and sweet one. so much fun!

Who I would recommend this book to:
Lovers of paranormal romance, YA fiction, vampires, or Twilight.

Worth buying? Yes. I have my own copy!

Quotes from the book:

Mary-Lynnette: "You have not read 'Pride and Prejudice'."
Ash: "Why not?"
Mary-Lynnette: "Because Jane Austen was a human."
Ash: "How do you know?"
Mary-Lynnette: "Well Jane Austen was a woman, and you're a chauvinist pig."
Ash: "Yes, well, that I can't argue.""

""Even when we're apart, we'll be looking at the same sky!""

"Ash? Get bent and die."

"Jeremy: "Who did it? Wait-you think I did. Don't you?"
Ash: "It did cross our minds at one point. Actually, it seemed to keep crossing them. Back and forth. Maybe we should put in a crosswalk.""

"I don't need to kill goats to say things. I CAN talk."

"The thing is- and I know this is going to sound strange-that I seem to love you sort of desperately." ( )

Mary-Lynnette lives to look at the night sky. More than anything she wants someone that can be with her and understand what she sees in the constellations and planets. But, she has accepted that for now, things will be as they are. Instead of concentrating on her own lack of companionship Mary-Lynnette is more concerned with bringing her brother, Mark, out of his shell and into the social world. When a neighbor tells Mary-Lynnette that her three nieces are coming to live with her she is hopeful that perhaps Mark will perhaps meet someone he can like. However, when Mary-Lynette meets the three sisters and the brother that has followed them there, she feels there is something more to who and what they are than the surface. Something dark and deadly. Soon things are getting out of control and with each strange occurrence Mary-Lynnette and Mark find themselves drawn deeper and deeper into the Night World.

This book is the second installment of L.J. Smith’s Night World series. If my faulty memory serves I do believe the character of Ash first made an appearance in Secret Vampire and it was nice to see some follow through here. Although I didn’t find the book quite as intriguing as Secret Vampire it still held my interest and moved along fairly quickly. Mary-Lynnette’s first reaction to Ash was odd to say the least, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or if I should cringe on Ash’s behalf. The sisters were also a bit unusual but all things considered I think this was to be expected. This book did kind of have a non-ending with things a bit up in the air. I will be curious to see if this story thread has a resolution further along in the series. If not, I suppose I can just ponder what happened in my own little mind.

I think any of L.J. Smith’s stories would make great fill-ins for those waiting for Stephenie Meyer’s next installment and highly recommend her Vampire Diaries and these Night World books to lovers of young adult vampire and urban fantasies. ( )

My favorite NW book. Ash and Mary-lynnette, unpredictable ending, and many parts are actually funny. I only wish it was longer! ( )

Second in the Night World series, this book formally introduces Ash Redfern with his own story, after a cameo appearance in book one Secret Vampire. Ash is a playboy vampire, with little conscience and a distate for humans, or vermin as the NWers call them. Enter Mary-Lynette a young woman whose only passions are star gazing and protecting her younger brother. Unsurprisingly enough Mary-Lynette challenges Ash's world view and he finds himself wanting to change.

Sent out to protect his three sisters (also vampires) and bring them back home to the fold of the enclave, Ash is on a deadline not only to return his sisters to a vampie ruled island, but to thwart a vampire hunter who seems out to expose them all.

This is a very light teen read, one of the original teen supernatural reads from an era pre-Buffy, but it stands the test of time surprisingly well. The characters are written with such a deft touch that it's hard to resist its charm. The most satisfying soulmate relationship in the series thus far as Ash doesn't quite get the girl, but instead is sent out on a quest of redemption and atonement before he can prove his worth to Mary-Lynette. ( )