I must admit i fell in love with Nate and look forward to the continuation of his and Amanda's story. I love Ms. Allen's fresh new world and her view of vampires is delightful.  Beyond the Darkening was an excellent read. However it was not  perfect. The work would benefit from the use of an editer. The gramatical errors became annoying. I gave it 4 stars due to this and look forward to book 2 in this series. I consider myself lucky to have stumbled across this fine work and would suggest it to anyone interested in a short easy read.