Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The fourth instalment in the Dark Hunter series, following on from Dragonswan, this book is one of the books of the month for October and November over at Book Bitches.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever wanted to know what it's like to be immortal? To journey through the night stalking the evil that preys on humans? To have unlimited wealth, unlimited power? That is my existence, and it is dark and dangerous. I play hero to thousands, but am known to none. And I love every minute of it.

Or so I thought until one night when I woke up handcuffed to my worst nightmare: a conservative woman in a button-down shirt. Or in Amanda's case, buttoned all the way up to her chin. She's smart, sexy, witty, and wants nothing to do with the paranormal-in other words, me.

My attraction to Amanda Devereaux goes against everything I stand for. Not to mention the last time I fell in love it cost me not only my human life, but also my very soul. Yet every time I look at her, I find myself wanting to try again. Wanting to believe that love and loyalty do exist.

Even more disturbing, I find myself wondering if there's any way a woman like Amanda can love a man whose battle scars run deep, and whose heart was damaged by a betrayal so savage that he's not sure it will ever beat again.

Kyrian of Thrace

So chances are that I am not going to catch up on my reviews unless I actually start writing some right? I actually finished this book on 27 November, so it is stretching my memory a little bit, but we will see how we go! In fact it was stretching my memory so much that I had completely forgotten that when I tried to get this book out from the library it said that it was checked in, but I couldn't find it anywhere on the shelves. I put a request in for it, and after several weeks they still couldn't find it. In the end I read it in e-book form on my PC something quite unusual for me, and I don't know how it would have been if I hadn't been really interested in reading the story. The thing about reading at the PC for me is that I get a bit distracted. Someone comes on to chat, or I think about the website that I have been meaning to check out for a while, or I think maybe I should check Bloglines or one of my groups! The list of possibilities in terms of distractions is endless! Actually....the same thing happens when I am writing posts! Except I am trying to cook dinner as well! I apologise if I drop any spaghetti sauce anywhere through the post!

So what am I meant to be writing about? Oh yes, that's right. We heard a bit about Kyrian of Thrace in Fantasy Lover, in his capacity as the best friend of Julian. Julian believed that his best friend had died hundreds of years earlier, but it turned out that Kyrian had been betrayed by someone he loved, cruelly tortured and then he became a Dark Hunter. It has left him with trust issues, and with terrible memories that can manifest themselves at the most inopportune moments.

Amanda Devereaux is the only normal one in her family. Her sister is a vampire hunter, and her other sisters are also heavily involved in the paranormal, but the fact is that Amanda has a Gift that she has been ignoring for many years.

Amanda and Kyrian had great chemistry, although I do have to admit that there were a couple of times that I was wondering where something was going - the first being where Amanda decides to give Kyrian new memories, and the second time was in the scene where she had to claim him so that they could be together forever. In the end both scenes were fine, but I did wonder for a little while there!

In Fantasy Lover, the main thing I didn't like was the heroine, but in this one I liked Amanda. I did very much get the feeling that Kenyon was building her world gradually, with lots of detail regarding the Squires that help out the Dark Hunters, the hierarchy and the way that the Hunters all keep in touch. I am so looking forward to see the way that the author continues to build this series.

I was kind of surprised by one thing though. A while ago, there was a bit of a mini kerfuffle about the fact that Sherrilyn Kenyon gave a cover quote to a Kinley McGregor novel, when that is her own alter ego identity. The reason why I mention this is that Amanda was reading a Kinley McGregor novel at times throughout this novel, so it isn't the first time that that kind of thing has happened!

All in all, a really good read. I can totally see why this series is so popular.

Rating 4.5/5