Average Rating: 
Rating: - Wildly imaginative
New Orleans has a dark side to it Amanda Devereaux wishes she knew nothing about. Growing up in a household of witches has made such blessed ignorance impossible, however, and has ruined her chances of experiencing an ordinary, boring life. Her family's eccentricities have just sent her fiancé packing, in fact, and Amanda isn't at all happy about Cliff's defection. It just proves that her sisters were right all along about the spineless worm's incompatibility, and drat her twin sister Tabitha for rubbing it in!Greater sins can be laid at Tabby's door than her interference in Amanda's love life, though. If not for Tabitha's inability to let her own dog out, Amanda would still be at home or at work, instead of handcuffed to a buff vampire in leather. And doesn't he just look yummy? Oh, get a grip, Amanda! she sternly lectures herself. He's a badass baddie who likes to suck blood, so quit gawking and get a move on, girl! Her companion's calm acceptance of their situation and his gallows humor are downright spooky to a woman who abhors the paranormal. And isn't that just like a man, err, vampire, to be so blasted calm under pressure? Two thousand years as a Dark-Hunter has a tendency to jade one's sensibilities, Kyrian acknowledges sardonically. Betrayed by his wife and then tortured by the Romans, he bartered his soul for the gods' own vengeance and has been paying the price ever since. His vow to safeguard humanity from Daimons on the berserk is sacrosanct, however, and must be obeyed. He'll protect the woman he's bound to with shackles from the forge of Hephaestus until a key is found, and then bid a merry farewell to her. Gods, but he doesn't need such a distraction right now, not when a soul-sucking Daimon is playing cat and mouse with him! Amanda and her twin sister Tabitha are Desiderius's prime targets, however, and are in grave danger until the Daimon has been rendered to dust. Kyrian will just have to stifle his powerful, inexplicable attraction to Amanda, and let his Dark-Hunter instincts guard against such weaknesses of the flesh. At least his heart won't betray him again. It's as cold, dead and unreachable as his soul... A new breed of...-kicking, demon-slaying vampires have hit the literary scene in Sherrilyn Kenyon's NIGHT PLEASURES, a novel that's as sinfully evocative as its title would indicate -- and ten times the reading pleasure. So step into Ms. Kenyon's parlor, if you dare. Plenty of background is given about Kyrian of Thrace (a vampire who's not really a vampire), his ties to ancient Greece, and the gods who rule on high from Mount Olympus. Readers quickly learn that Dark-Hunters are the servants of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and have a code of conduct they must follow while ridding the world of baddies, Daimons and things that go bump in the night. Immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, however. Kyrian has a host of unpleasant memories to plague him, and the misguided enmity of vampire slayers to deal with. He's a creature of the night, destined to live a lonely eternity, forever cursing his misjudgment for trusting a woman so utterly unworthy of said trust...until a mortal woman enters his life, and reawakens that part of him he thought long dead. Amanda, meanwhile, is struggling to convince herself that all she desires is normality in her life. A safe, boring existence with an accountant, blessedly free of hocus-pocus. Letting her true nature take wing is the biggest, scariest risk she has ever taken -- apart from playing tonsil hockey with a Dark-Hunter, that is. Simply stated, Ms. Kenyon has struck literary gold with NIGHT PLEASURES, a love story so wildly imaginative, readers will gladly partake of it, and aggressively hunt down Ms. Kenyon's future releases featuring her enigmatical, god-like heroes, the Dark-Hunters. Her storyline has episodic and serial potential, to be sure, and is just detailed enough to leave readers hanging without being blatant about it: Kyrian and Amanda receive their happily-ever-after, but a great deal is still up in the air for the secondary characters. Needless to say, I can hardly wait to read the next installment of the Dark-Hunter series to appease my curiosity in the most delicious way possible!
Rating: - Another Winner...and I can't wait for the next one!!!
Sherrilyn Kenyon gets better and better with this first novel in her Dark-Hunter series.'Night Pleasures' is a great read, full of the spirited characters that have come to be one of Ms. Kenyon's trademarks. She mixes Greek mythology, vampires, and a magickally eccentric family that makes the gals on 'Charmed' look like The Waltons. Kyrian of Thrace is every woman's wet dream, but Ms. Kenyon infuses him with so much humanity that he doesn't come off as being a typical cardboard romantic hero. I'd have to say that he is a hybrid alpha-beta male. He's charming, loyal, brave, infuriating and sexy as all hell. Amanda, like her sister Grace (whom hopefully you've met by now from 'Fantasy Lover') is a spunky heroine who believes herself blessedly 'normal', and likes it that way. Of course, it's always the ones who swear they're normal who turn out to be anything but. I love the fact that Ms. Kenyon's heroines are unashamedly sexual, and they enjoy oogling over gorgeous men. And from the description of Kyrian in the book, I certainly wouldn't toss him out of my bed for eating crackers! Though at first glance this novel might come off as another vampire romance, Ms. Kenyon creates an entirely new mythos for our favourite undead creatures. There are gods and goddesses with typical bad attitudes, a psychotic demigod with a serious need to talk with Sigmund Freud, a Squire with a taste for hacking and grunge fashion, who just so happens to drive a Jaguar, and an old woman who makes some rather lethal dolls. For those of us who loved Grace and Julian, they're back too, with kids. By the way, Julian still hasn't quite figured out how to drive a car. Oh, and did I mention that this book has some really funny moments, like when Amanda wakes up handcuffed to the insanely gorgeous Kyrian? Oh, and I forgot to mention that Kyrian is about two-thousand years old and has mastered modern slang. For those of us a little tired of the typical 'old-world' bloodsucker. A fun romp, and now I eagerly await Talon's story. He's a hunky Celt who could give The Croc Hunter a few pointers.
Rating: - A Great Start To A New Series!!!
I loved this book! I am not a huge fan of vamipre stories but this one book has totally changed my mind.We briefly met Kyrian of Thrace in Fantasy Lover. In this story he is a Dark-Hunter that goes after the really bad guys. He has traded his soul to seek vengence on his wife, but unable to kill her he now walks the world in the shadows of night. Amanda has powers that she is unaware of or unwilling to admit too. She does not believe in the supernatural, or dark things. She is an accountant and feels that she is not a part of her wild gypsy family. (Selena from Fantasy Lover is her sister) These two unlikely people get paired together in a very unlikely situation. As a result there are laughs aplenty, great romance, and a lot of the supernatural! These two characters are perfect for each other. Hunter does not give his trust easily, and Amanda is not even aware of her appeal. You will not be let down by this fast page turning read. Plenty of the trademark sensuality and humor that is Sherrilyn Kenyon can be found in this book.
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