Demon From the Dark by Kresley Cole

Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole

10th (sort of) book of the Immortals After Dark series

Book Warnings

Non-con elements

mentions of child prostitution

mentions of rape

Other Tags

Fated Mates

Language barrier

Straight Paranormal Romance

Carrow is a super awesome witch who is taken by The Order (asshole humans). They force her to trick a Venom (demon vampire hybrid) by holding Carrow's young cousin hostage. Carrow agrees to protect Ruby (the young cousin who The Order made an orphan). But... When Carrow meets Malkom, the venom, she realizes she is his fated mate and shit gets complicated. Because of course, it does.

As always, I really enjoyed this book. There are some problematic elements, I won't lie. So if any of the warnings are an issue for you, skip this one. 

As always with these books, loved the characters. Carrow is awesome. Ruby is a great kid. Loved seeing Lanthe again. Malkom was oddly adorable. Villains were assholes. Lothaire is causing trouble.

Great book.

Though...

Not enough Nix...

 

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

11th book (well, sort of) of the Immortals After Dark series

Book Warnings

Torture

Graphic Depictions of Violence

Other Tags

Enemies-to-lovers

Straight Paranormal Romance

Reincarnation

So, a bunch of Lorekind are being kidnapped by Asshole Humans, because Asshole Humans always gotta show up and ruin a good time. 

Aidan the Fierce, a berserker, meets and falls in love with Regin the Radiant, a Valkyrie and the last of the Radiant Ones. Immediately after they have sex, he is killed. Years (decades) later, he is reincarnated. And after they have sex, he is killed again. Rinse, repeat, Regin is done with this nonsense.

Time passes and Regin is taken captive by Declan Chase. The newest reincarnation of Aidan. Declan is the almost leader of The Order, which is that bunch of Asshole Humans I mentioned earlier. Regin knows that if she can get Declan to remember that he is Aidan, he'll die. And after some torture, she decides maybe she should do just that.

Spoiler Alert: She doesn't.

 This book was a bit dark. Though I'm not sure if it could really be said it was darker than the other books in the series.

Also, loved the "Lothaire betrayed us. Again." bit. Seriously, if you gotta say that someone betrayed you again, it's really on you, dude. "Oh no, the Enemy of Old betrayed us. Again." No shit. It seems to be what he does.

I recommend this book to anyone who is already a fan of the series. Cause why skip it? Regin is awesome. Why not read more about her?

 

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

 

 

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

Book 2 of the Immortals After Dark series

Book warning

 Non-con elements 

graphic depictions of violence

Other Tags

enemies-to-lovers 

straight paranormal romance

fated mates

Lachlain MacRieve is the leader (king?) of the Lykae clan. He was taken by vampires and imprisoned for about 150 years. During his imprisonment, he was periodically burned almost to death, and then brought back thanks to the whole being an immortal thing. Then one day he smells his fated mate. Cause Lykae have those. So he escapes (rips off his leg in the process) to find her.

His mate ends up being Emmaline Troy, half-Valkyrie/half-vampire. Oh, this should end well.

Lachlain finds Emma, and kidnaps her. Because that is what men in the Lore do?

In the end, they do end up falling in love. And Emma proves herself to be more of a badass than anyone expected.

Lovely book as usual from this series. Yes, some bits are problematic, but a lot of romance books are. It is a problem of the genre. And this post isn't about the issues that romance novels have. This is about a book I enjoyed. Which I did enjoy this book. Probably not my favorite of the series, but still a great book.

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 23

 

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole

Immortals After Dark

Bowen MacRieve, of the Lykae Clan (third in line for the throne, fancy), lost his mate a long, long, long, long time ago. Nix (*holds up sign that says I 💗 Nix*) tells him that he'll find his mate if he enters the Talisman's Hie. So he does. While on a task he comes across Mariketa the Awaited, a witch.

Bowen thinks Mariketa put a spell on him to make his Instinct be all "Look Bowen! Mate! Our Mate!" (not sure why I picture The Instinct as an over-excited puppy... Cause that doesn't fit with the writing, but I do...) Bowen ends up trapping Mariketa in a tomb with some others from the Lore. She blasts him with a spell that turns off his regeneration right before he traps them, though.

In Bowen's defense, he assumed with two demons and three fey, the witch could get out fairly quickly.

They do not get out fairly quickly.

Weeks later, a war is brewing because Mariketa hasn't returned and she's the leader of the Witches. And they're pissed at Bowen.

So, he has to go fetch her and bring her home. 

They have to jump a bunch of hurdles to get back to New Orleans. And then a couple more hurdles happen after they return to New Orleans. 

In the end, things work out and they get a happy ending. 

Lovely book. Lovely characters. Lovely all around.

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 16

Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole

Immortals After Dark

When Lucia the Huntress was a teenager she did something stupid and has been forced to pay for her mistake for the rest of her life. Which has been a millennium or so now. One part of this is that she can't have sex, which hasn't been that difficult. Until she meets Garreth MacRieve.

Lucia is Garreth's mate. He's a Lykae. They have those things. When Lucia finds this out, she runs. Lucia runs for a year. And he follows. Then they end up together in the Amazon. 

Lots of fun and action and some big ass caiman later, they're in love. 

Really enjoyable read. Full of interesting characters and giant caimans.

Lucia was badass.

Garreth was heavy-handed at times, but not so much that I disliked him. Just rolled my eyes and whispered, "dude, no."

Sorry, this one is a bit half-assed. I forgot to write up the review until about three books later and had to go back and write something up. My bad. 

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 14

 

No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

Immortals After Dark

Okay, so Kaderin the Cold Hearted is a Valkyrie who, after the deaths of her sisters, got a 'blessing' where she no longer felt any emotion. She spends most of her time killing vampires.

Sebastian Wroth is a vampire who was unwillingly turned by his brother. He hates his existence, so when Kaderin shows up to kill him, he's okay with that.

But, instead of doing that, they make out a bit. 

One thing I forgot to mention before, in these books, each vampire has a fated Bride. Vampires are all male, and somewhere is a female that will make their heart beat again. Give them breath. And make it possible for them to do the horizontal bop again. So, when Sebastian sees Kaderin, his heart starts beating again, them doing a little kissy-kissy, and over the clothes heavy petting isn't that outlandish.

Kaderin runs off after the makeout session, cause she kills vampires. She does not kiss them! Plus she has to get ready for the Talisman's Hie. An epic scavenger hunt that happens every 250 years. She is the reigning champ.

The majority of the book takes place during the Hie. Showing how badass Kaderin is and how doting Sebastian is to his Bride. And showing how Kaderin is dealing with her returning emotions (which, spoiler, not great...)

By the end, they realize they love each other. Because this is a paranormal romance novel, and we get happy endings over here.

I loved this book. Just as I love the entire series. Characters are great. Plot is fantastic. Writing is wonderful. Five stars. 

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 4

 

Deep Kiss of Winter

featuring "Untouchable" by Kresley Cole and "Tempt Me Eternally" by Gena Showalter

Sooo... I might have climbed a stack of books to reach the top shelf of one of my bookcases so I could read this one so I didn't have to leave the Immortals After Dark universe quite yet. No regrets.

Untouchable is about Murdoch Wroth and Daniela. Murdoch is a vampire, Daniela is a Valkyrie that is part ice fey. Murdoch was a... Well... he was a manwhore back in his mortal days. Daniela cannot have skin-to-skin contact due to her ice fey heritage. So... Match made in heaven? 

There is a lot of conflict in their relationship, but in the end it all works out. 

The story takes place in the background of some of the other books in the series, so there is quite a lot of mentions of what happens in those books. Which just made me want to read the series more.

Highly recommend the entire series, and highly recommend this short story. But, if you're particular about spoilers, read this where it belongs in the series. 

Tempt Me Eternally is about Aleaha Love and Breean Nu. Aleaha can change her appearance after she has skin-to-skin contact with someone. Breean is an alien. 

I've read some other books that go with this series and enjoyed them. I enjoyed this story. Though, there were a couple non-consensual bits that made me cringe a bit. Other than that, solid story and characters. Made me want to read the books I've read before again. 

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 3

 

Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

Another re-read.

I'm pretty sure this was the first book I read in the Immortals After Dark series. I am a pro at picking up books in the middle of a series, becoming obsessed with series, and having to find all the other books in the series. 

Okay. So. The book.

Néomi Laress is a ghost. She was a famous ballerina in the 1920s, but in this book, she's a ghost. A ghost stuck in her house. A house in which three vampires drag their half-mad vampire brother to and lock him up. They have a good reason. I promise. 

Conrad Wroth is the half-mad vampire. He is tormented by hallucinations because he drank a shitload of people to death. So, he thinks Néomi is another hallucination. And is kind of cranky about it cause, damnit, she's pretty.

Of course, they fall in love by the end of the book. It's a romance book. That's how it works. And I have no issues with it. The love story is cute. Has a solid conflict that you know they'll work through but you have that small bit of "what if they don't?" feeling as you read. 

Okay. I'm gonna just ramble about random bits I liked.

Conrad is a virgin. Look, a lot of straight romance novels I've read have had the female lead being a virgin. It's a trope. I don't hate it, but sometimes it can get a little boring to read that once again, the female lead is "untouched by man" or some shit. Not this time. Conrad, big bad sexy vampire, is a virgin. I liked that change-up. 

Like I said, this is a book from the middle of the Immortals After Dark series. It's book... Four? I think? And while things that happened in the previous books are mentioned, it's not enough to distract from the plot of this book. And there is a handy-dandy cheat sheet in the front of the book that gives some details about the various races of The Lore. A lot of the characters make appearances in all the books which is nice. All the races have their own strengths and weaknesses. And they are described fantastically. As are the settings. 

Nix.

I cannot talk about any of these books without mentioning the greatness that is Nix the Proto-Valkyrie and Soothsayer Without Equal. Nix became my favorite character rather quickly and I do a little cheer every time she pops into any of these books. She is a little crazy. Scheming as all hell. And just oh so fun.

All the characters are great. Each character has a solid personality. Every time someone new was introduced, you got a feel for who they were as a person. Which was outstanding since there is such a big cast of characters. 

Okay. I think that's all I have to say. Aside from repeating "Soooooo gooooooood" over and over. Highly recommend this entire series. And I really need to get on reading the entire series. There are a few of the later ones I haven't read yet.