Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

Book Description:
Néomi Laress, a famous ballerina from a past century, became a phantom the night she was murdered. Imbued with otherworldly powers but invisible to the living, she haunts her beloved home, scaring away trespassers - until she encounters a ruthless immortal even more terrifying than Néomi herself.  

To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Wroth's brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. But there, a female only he can see seems determined to drive him further into madness. The exquisite creature torments him with desire, leaving his body racked with lust and his soul torn as he finds himself coveting her for his own.  

Yet even if Conrad can win Néomi, evil still surrounds her. Once he returns to the brutality of his past to protect her, will he succumb to the dark needs seething inside him? 

I loved this story, which was very different from the previous Immortals After Dark books.  Here in Book 4, we have killer vampire, Conrad Wroth, who has been a vampire assassin for centuries and is now going insane because of this whole mess that's inside him from killing so many people over the past several centuries.  He is the biggest, baddest, craziest vampire around - and he's out to kill his brothers because they turned him into a vampire in the first place! His brothers succeed in capturing him (not an easy task) and chain him up in an old abandoned plantation house near New Orleans (a familiar locale for this series) where they hope they can cure him of his insanity before he kills them!  

While chained to his bed, in and out of consciousness, Conrad becomes aware of a ghost, Néomi, the former owner of the manor and now a phantom who is able to communicate with him.  A well known ballet dancer from the roaring twenties, Néomi was murdered on the night of her big party in the same house.  Her jealous ex-fiance brutally stabbed her and she's been alone as a ghost ever since - without being able to leave or communicate or touch anyone - until Conrad.   This ghostly scenario reminded me a tiny bit of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.  Néomi is fascinated to finally have someone to talk to - and he's this big, luscious specimen of a man - well, okay a vampire, but a manly vampire! A virgin vampire too!

It was a great and compelling story which I read it one day.  Over the course of several weeks, Néomi is able to help Conrad regain his sanity and the two gradually fall in lust love.  Of course, she is beautiful and he is gorgeous (as all these immortals are) but she is incorporeal, he can't touch her - hold her, kiss her.  And boy, does he want to!  The sexual build up was great as was the chemistry between this unlikely couple.  It's a bit difficult, if you get my drift - though they manage to do some creative things to overcome this basic problem.  Still, its not enough, Néomi wants to have sex (who wouldn't?) and a body!  Some nearby witches from the same coven we've gotten to know in the last book in the series are able to cast a spell to give her a body, but there's a catch - it's temporary.  Néomi doesn't know for how long it will last before she gets killed somehow.  She won't tell Conrad the truth of how she became incorporeal, she wants to just have this chance to be with him with no sadness hanging over their heads.  Of course, she knows and it's tearing her apart, but he's oblivious and is loving her, wants to marry her.  She is his lifelong mate as far as he's concerned - the whole nine yards - he's been blooded (it's what they call it for vampires when they've found their soul mates).  Yes he has no idea it's all going to come crashing down on the two of them any minute. Néomi puts him off and won't agree to marry him because of the uncertainty and he wonders why...  there's something she's keeping from him...

I kept wondering how were they going to solve the problem of keeping her alive. For everything does come crashing down eventually.   It kept me reading and I couldn't put it down.  At first I wasn't crazy about Conrad, for good reason since he was so crazy and a monster.  But, he changes completely over the course of the book, once he's solved his sanity problem (at a cost!) and forgives his brothers. Néomi was also hard to gauge at first too, she's so different since she's a ghost, but I grew to really like her and her background and dilemma!  They made a great pair and I wanted them to be together and have their happy ending!  It was good to see some old characters from the previous books too, it's a cool world that the author has created for this series and this is a great addition to it as well!  This is a good one!

4/5

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Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole

Book Description:
Her breathless kiss haunts him...

Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed -- until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive.

His slow, hot touch is irresistible...

Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. It's rumored that no one can tempt Bowen's hardened heart, but soon passion burns between them. Though a future together is impossible, she fears he has no intention of letting her go.

This was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be. Several people had told me it was one of the best in this Immortals After Dark Series, but it took a long time for it to get going and have Mari (the heroine) finally realize Bowe (our werewolf hero) was for her. I wound up feeling kind of meh about the whole plot and hero and heroine.

We pick up in this book where the last book in the series, No Rest for the Wicked, left off.  Bowen MacRieve is a Lykae werewolf who is taking part in the great Hie, a scavenger hunt for immortals.  The big prize (as we know from the last book) is a key to go back into the past and change it.  He lost the love of his life - his mate - way back when and wants to change what happened to her and bring her back to life.  A Lykae only has one mate in his lifetime (which is forever) so this is pretty important to him.  But, when he meets Mari, lust overcomes him - this is something unusual for him - almost as if she's his mate.  But how can that be?  His mate died - thanks to him, long ago.

Mari is a young witch who hasn't quite learned all of her powers yet.  The prophecies foretell that she is destined for greatness one day, but at the present moment, that's not happening.  Her spells have a way of backfiring and she has a disconcerting tendency to blow things up.  She's also a bit rebellious.  She and Bowe meet in a dark cave searching for these particular ceremonial headdresses for the Hie.  He grabs the prize and seals her in the cave with a few other immortals on the Hie.  He figures she's a witch, she can get them out - but he's wrong.  They languish there for weeks and weeks.  Mari is still mortal, she's hasn't turned yet and nearly dies and goes through quite a bit of misery.  It seems the whole immortal world is furious with Bowe and he has to go back and rescue her.  It's not as easy as it sounds though, for Mari stuck him with a curse so that any wounds he incurs will not heal.  While trying to win the Hie he has really messed himself up!  He is hurt in all kinds of horrible ways, but he treks back to the South American jungle where he left Mari and her cohorts and manages to rescue her.

From there the book follows them all through the jungle which seemed to take an eternity to get through. The endless time in the cave and then the plodding through the jungle became tiresome and I wanted the book to move on!  Bowen convinces the other immortals (who don't like him for obvious reasons since he sealed them in a cave for weeks) to allow Mari to be his "mate" while on the road.  She undoes her spell on him so he's healed and in exchange, he takes care of her and protects from the various South American warlords and criminals they come up against while trying to make it back to civilization.  The book turns into a sort of road trip between Mari and Bowe as they get to know and fall for one another.  Not an easy task for he despises witches and she despises werewolves.  Still, they have a strong lust for one another and I liked the way they dealt with it ;)  The second half of the book picks up once Mari is out of the cave, but I never quite got the feeling they were really connected and meant for one another in a meaningful way.  She's prickly and hard to like - a real deal breaker for me.  I just can't love a book when the heroine is annoying.  Bowe is okay, but I much preferred his cousin from the first in the series, A Hunger Like No Other, which was by far the better book of the two.  Bowe is fierce and has his one goal to get his mate back.  By the end of the book, when all is revealed, I felt sorry for him, even though it's a happy ending.  I sympathized with him, although I didn't feel overly sympathetic towards Mari - she has a lot of growing up to do.  There's not a lot of tenderness or soul searching moments between them.  Their relationship lacked emotion - the sex was good - but not a lot of passion and romance.  He works on her and tries to woo her and it works up to a point.  Something always seemed to spoil things just as it was starting to get good - I could have done without the constant "not again!" moments!

One other thing - I don't quite understand why this is called Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, since most of this book takes place in the jungles of South America and sultry, humid Louisiana!  Bowe is from Scotland and they spend time there, but not enough to merit the title of the book!  He likes the winter but that's about it!

Overall I liked this book, but the previous books in the series were much more compelling.  We'll see how I feel about the rest, for I intend to carry on.  I like this fantasy "immortals" world that exists in Kresley Cole's books and am curious to see who the next book is about. 

3.5/5

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No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

Book Description:
A vampire soldier weary of life...

Centuries ago, Sebastian Wroth was turned into a vampire—a nightmare in his mind—against his will. Burdened with hatred and alone for ages, he sees little reason to live. Until an exquisite, fey creature comes to kill him, inadvertently saving him instead.

A Valkyrie assassin dispatched to destroy him...

When Kaderin the Cold Hearted lost her two beloved sisters to a vampire attack long ago, a benevolent force deadened her sorrow—accidentally extinguishing all of her emotions. Yet whenever she encounters Sebastian, her feelings — particularly lust — emerge multiplied. For the first time, she's unable to complete a kill.

Become competitors in a legendary hunt...

The prize of the month-long contest is powerful enough to change history, and Kaderin will do anything to win it for her sisters. Wanting only to win her, forever, Sebastian competes as well, taking every opportunity-as they travel to ancient tombs and through catacombs, seeking relics around the world-to use her new feelings to seduce her. But when forced to choose between the vampire she's falling for and reuniting her family, how can Kaderin live without either?

What can I say - I loved this story!  Why did I wait so long to read this book?  Second in the Immortals After Dark Series, I read the first, A Hunger Like No Other almost two years ago and just never got around to reading the next in the series.  I wasn't wholeheartedly won over by paranormals by that point, but now I'm more accustomed to the idea of vampires and werewolves.  This time I was into it!

Kaderin is not the most likable person at first.  She's "unfeeling," the by-product of, what she considers, a "blessing" that's gotten her to where she is over the past one thousand years, fighting battles, killing vampires and being an all around tough motherf*cker!  No one messes with the legendary Kaderin the Valkyrie.  She has won the Hie Scavenger hunt any number of times, she's ruthless and determined to win at any cost.  The loss of her sisters long ago at the hands of a vampire Kaderin should have killed-but didn't, has driven Kaderin to these lengths.  She's gone from Kaderin the Kind Hearted to Cold Hearted over the years since she became unfeeling.

But now... what's happened?  She meets Sebastian, a vampire she's about to kill and suddenly everything changes.  Her world tilts and she feels.  She feels lust and can't help it.

Sebastian, an ancient vampire, turned against his will by his brother, has been alone all his vampire life.   But, one night he meets his match.  Kaderin, killer of all vampires, is about to kill him, but some strange force stops her and it is kismet, they are meant for one another and Sebastian realizes she is his mate - his bride.  This means, instant lust, instant attraction, he must have her forever.  It's all new for him too!  It's been eons since he's felt this way, by meeting her, he has now become blooded as if he were human.  Kaderin cannot resist his pull, but this is insane - he is a vampire!  She hates vampires!  She can't be into a vampire (much less, let one into her!)

But, it's not easy for her to say no.  They have one mad, passionate moment, nearly doing the dirty deed and she runs off but he follows her to the ends of the earth - literally.  She's entering the Hie Scavenger Hunt again and can't afford to be distracted by this overgrown hunky vampire who turns up everywhere! The big prize of the Hunt is one dear to her heart.  It can make one go back in time and change what happens in history.  She wants to go back and get her sisters who died.  Sebastian, to be with Kaderin, joins in the Hunt too - plus he wants to help Kaderin if he can.  Since he can "trace" (speed around all over the world in a blink of an eye as long as he's been there once before) he can go to all the far flung reaches of the world to accumulate points for the Hunt - he can even give some of the items used to accumulate points to Kaderin (what a sweetie!).

Over the course of the Hunt, Kaderin grudgingly accepts the fact she is Sebastian's bride.  She can't understand it, and hates to think what her family is going to think about it, but it's something she can't stop or hide.  He's irresistible to her and gradually she softens towards him.  She realizes that vampires are not all bad.  I loved their growing relationship over the course of the Hunt and how their chemistry together scorches the pages off this book.  Plus, there's a lot of humor due to this Romeo and Juliet type of relationship between the two.  I've got to admit, he really is irresistible.  He's kind, honorable, sex on a stick and devoted to her - not your average run of the mill vampire.

Action, excitement and a love story make this a really fun book to read. I'm eager to read more of the series now and already have the next book lined up (I'm glad there are a lot more to go!)  The writing is well done, characters are well drawn and different and interesting, and the plot kept me going all the way through to the ending.  Sebastian was a swoonworthy vampire, in fact he really doesn't act like a vampire, refusing to join in the usual vampire games, like feeding on humans (except Kaderin when they make love - hot!) or fighting with the Horde.  He's kept to himself, a loner, and now he has his mate - Kaderin.  I loved to see her transformation from Cold to Kind, she has a heart now - and Sebastian.

4/5

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A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

Book Description:
After enduring years of torture from the vampire horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he's waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.

This is my first "vampire" book (besides Anne Rice's books that I read in the 1980's) and I must admit, it wasn't bad. It reminded me a lot of the Scottish Highlander romances I like to read, only instead of the alpha-male Scottish chieftain who falls for the young sweet English beauty that his clan will never accept - this story was about a werewolf Scottish chief and his mate is a vampire. An interesting combination!

Emmaline is really half vampire/half Valkyrie, she's petite and cowardly at first, but we see her blossom and come into herself as the book progresses. When she first meets Lachlain, a Lykae who looks like a large handsome muscular man (this is not your typical excess facial hair werewolf - but he does have some lupine tendencies - especially on the Full Moon). Lachlain is extremely brutal to her at first, but as we see Emma transform, we see Lachlain soften over the course of the book too. Though he always has that dangerous edge to him (which I like). Upon first meeting, he captures her, and she is completely unsuspecting and defenseless. He scents her as his mate, which is forever in the Lykae world (and they're both immortal - so it really is forever!) and can't wait to get at her. She is at first understandably reluctant and scared - and a virgin. Their first 2 days together seem to last for much longer and it's a whirlwind courtship, in so many words. She's scared to death of him, and hungry, since she hasn't had her blood fix in a few days. He's just coming off being tortured and imprisoned in vampire hell for 150 years, so he's really anxious to "do the deed." One thing leads to another and Lachlain realizes she's starving, and he must save her, so he offers himself to drink from. Emma has never drank from the source before, usually drinking her blood from a glass, but she's so weak and desperate she goes for him.

Well, that's the beginning of some very erotic love scenes.

This was an original story, not only does Lachlain have to deal with the fact that his mate is a vampire, whom his clan has despised for centuries, but he has to deal with his in-laws too. A coven of rabid Valkyrie who are women warriors that will stop at nothing to get their niece, Emma, back. Plus, there's also the pesky problem of these evil demon vampires that are after Emma, since she seems to be the last female vampire left in the world and of royal lineage (her mother is Helen of Troy.)

The plot becomes convoluted at times, but it was exciting, different and very sexy. Lachlain, though a Lykae, was appealing, and I was eager to read what happens between them on the night of the Full Moon, when he's supposed to go sexually berserk. I'll just say, the reader is not disappointed. The sexual tension building up to that night is intense, but unfortunately falls flat afterwards when the book turns more to battles and resolving the Romeo and Juliet family problems that our two lovers must face when a Lykae and a Vampire/Valkyrie want to marry.

If Scottish romances, paranormals and vampires are your thing - you'll love this book. It's the first in a long series. I'm not sure if I'll read more of these, but I was curious and not sorry I read it, though I personally prefer a more traditional time travel medieval romance.

3.5/5

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