Dr. Nicole Williams doesn’t agree with her colleagues’ methods of studying and interrogating the alien, Lucifer.  As a living, sentient being, the inhumanity challenges her ethics and morals in treating him like a lab animal.   It’s much harder when Luc makes his interest in her obvious.  Still, she can’t quite bring herself to cross over the line from scientist to woman; it would put everything in jeopardy.  Also, it’s a bit difficult to get past the fact that he resembles Satan.   Add this to the fact she’s attracted to him, his justifiable desire for revenge and hidden agenda for coming to earth initially, and all she’s working with is a recipe for disaster.

Lucifer knows there’s more to Nicole than meets the eye.  He’s driven to strip away her cold scientific facade.  But first, he needs to escape and once he does, nothing will keep him from claiming her as his woman.

Lucifer’s character brought to mind the alien in Arthur C. Clark’s Childhood’s End.  Another point is the author chooses to add a black character, though supporting, to the tale, like in Clark’s novel, which made me smile.  I’d like to believe that this novel was an inspiration for this story.

Nicole is someone many readers will readily connect with. I liked her willingness to admit her failings and adhere to her beliefs.  Lucifer works well as a contrast and compliment to her.  He’s loyal with an iron-clad code of honor that makes him even more likeable once his vulnerabilities are exposed.  The fascinating mating habits of his race proved downright titillating, especially in the sexual gymnastics he and Nicole engage in.  If you want to know more about it, then you’ll have to read the story.     

When Dawn Breaks is the prequel to When Night Falls, which chronicles the chaos and devastation that befalls Lucifer’s people.  I really got into the story of Nicole and Lucifer to the point that I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.  Kaitlyn O’Connor drives the plot home with her usual finesse.  The setting and characters are described and handled with the perfect amount of detail and illustration.  Ms. O’Connor’s sophisticated writing is polished by a vivid imagination, and as I’ve come to expect from her, she delivers the goods.  What’s not to like?