Il Gardella returns in When Twilight Burns, a fantastically written and plotted continuation of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles that sees our heroine, Victoria, locked in a battle for her own soul and on course for deciding to whom she will give her heart, Max or Sebastian.

Colleen Gleason is absolutely one of my favorite vampire romance authors. Her writing is as sharp as the points on her heroine’s wooden stakes, imbuing her characters with vitality and keen wit, and assuring a sense of immediacy to action sequences.

When Twilight Burns, fourth book in the series, picks up where The Bleeding Dusk left off, a question in the air about our dear Victoria Gardella Grantword de Lacey and what has become of her after being bitten by the now-deceased vampire Beauregard. What follows is a trail of intrigue and passion as Victoria struggles with an emerging darkness within, battles the darkness without, and tries to sort our her feelings for the two men most prominent in her life.

A tight, invigorating tale, When Twilight Burns is well worth a read. And, if you haven’t read the others in the series — The Rest Falls Away, Rises The Night, and The Bleeding Dusk — I urge you to do so and immerse yourself in the Gardella Legacy. It’s a thrilling and unique ride of action, suspense, and passion brought intelligently to life by Gleason’s imagination.

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It is a rare thing for an author to completely surprise me, but I have to confess that Colleen Gleason has done it with each outing in her Gardella Vampire Chronicles, including the upcoming The Bleeding Dusk (Feb. 5, 2008), which I had the privilege of reading to kick off the New Year.

The Bleeding Dusk, which picks up around a year after events in Rises the Night, with Victoria taking on the mantle of “The Gardella,” is a true delight and adventure that will have you holding your breath in more than a few places, as it takes you on journey fraught with danger, heartbreak, betrayal, anger and passion, all building to a stunning conclusion.

This is a book I would love to describe at length here, but I find myself reluctant to do so for fear, in my post-reading excitement, I will reveal too much and possibly spoil the read for others. The Bleeding Dusk and its predecessors — The Rest Falls Away and Rises The Night — are simply too good for me to risk that happening, and I respect the author and what she’s accomplished with this series too much to chance it. Truly, books of this caliber are rare and reading them is an “experience,” a journey best experienced firsthand over any summarizing I might do — and I seriously doubt any summary I would write would do the book justice.

Ms. Gleason’s writing is brilliant and powerful, without even a whiff of the cliche, and her storytelling skills are as sharp as the points on the stakes her heroine wields. She consistently delivers an intense (and intensely satisfying) read with plot twists and turns aplenty, and revelations and discoveries that will make your heart pound in both fear and exhilaration. And talk about cliffhanger endings… Colleen, I love ya, but you’re killing me here!

Seriously, vampire romance fans, if you like books that have dynamic, flawed and fallible characters that embody boldness, bravery, passion and a sense of duty, that have intricately woven plots and surprises around almost every corner, and a writer who breathes to life a story with startling originality, authenticity and believability, then The Gardella Vampire Chronicles should be on your reading list. This is arguably one of the best written series out there; each book has certainly left me wanting — okay, begging for — more.

Hint-hint, Colleen. I’m ready for the next one!

Have you read The Bleeding Dusk? If so, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

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