Valerie Dearborn Books in Order

At the center of this series is Valerie Dearborn, a young woman who wants something very simple: a normal life. That would be easier if her father were not a vampire hunter, if her past with Jack were less tangled, and if a sixteen-hundred-year-old vampire king did not take an interest in her the moment she tries to start over in London.

That tension, wanting ordinary life while being dragged back toward the supernatural, is what powers the Valerie Dearborn books. Love is Darkness opens with Val trying to study, breathe, and leave California behind. Instead she gets pulled into a hidden world of vampires, empaths, fey, and werewolves. The series treats those creatures less like costume pieces and more like political forces, each with its own history, grudges, and dangers.

Lucas, the vampire king, is a huge part of the draw.

He is not written as a tidy hero. He is old, powerful, manipulative, and often impossible to trust. Jack, on the other hand, represents the human life Val keeps thinking she wants. Much of the emotional charge in these books comes from the push and pull between those two men, and from Val slowly realizing that desire, duty, and safety are not the same thing. The extra novella Love Is The Beginning adds more context for Jack and Valerie’s history, but the main story belongs to Val.

As the series goes on through Love is Fear and Love Is Mortal, the scope widens. What starts as a personal struggle becomes a larger fight tied to Val’s empath abilities and the balance between supernatural groups. There is more fey politics, more betrayal, and a stronger sense that every choice has a cost. The books keep moving, but they also let the relationships stay messy.

That is really the tone here. These are adult paranormal romances with urban fantasy bones, strong emotion, sexual tension, and a moral world that stays gray on purpose. Nobody is purely safe. Nobody is purely good. Val is often torn, irritated, brave, impulsive, and very aware that she is in over her head.

If you like vampire romance that leans complicated rather than cozy, this series is a good fit. Come for the supernatural power struggles, stay for the bad decisions, the chemistry, and the heroine who keeps trying to claim a life that actually belongs to her.