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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Okay, dang it! I really am going to take a break now that I've finished all the IAD books prior to [b:Sweet Ruin|24002318|Sweet Ruin (Immortals After Dark, #15)|Kresley Cole|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430651869s/24002318.jpg|43602301]. I know if I don't, I will be very sad when I have no more IAD books for at least another year. Feel free to point and laugh when I fail miserably within the next few weeks.
I really enjoyed this. Trehan was a great hero, Morgana was hilariously bitchy, and I loved the addition of Bettina's uncle Raum, and Salem, her foul-mouthed sylph servant. I'd love to see Salem get his body back and discover why he's cursed. I wonder if Hag can help?
If Cole does continue on with the Dacian series, I will read and hope she continues to keep it as a companion series to the IAD. Just imagine, we can have 'very special' crossovers from time to time :)
Bettina was a good character as well, if not my favorite heroine of the series. She had a lot of growing up to do and was probably the most emotionally immature heroine we've had so far and definitely one of the youngest chronologically. She was only 22 (a baby in the IAD) and she had been sheltered all her life. The one time she did strike out on her own she almost died, hence her PTSD and her well-meaning, but old fashioned uncle deciding to step in and get her a husband through a medieval-like tournament for her hand. I could smell Nix all over that mess from the get-go. Once again she's being "cruel to be kind" and getting all her chess pieces in order for the Accession.
I didn't see Bettina as being as flip-floppy as some reviewers have. She was in a tough spot with that tournament. Frustrating to the hero and the reader or not, I could understand Bettina's confused feelings for her childhood friend, Cas. As Salem pointed out, he was gorgeous and one of the few males the sheltered girl had ever been around on a regular basis - of course she had a crush on him. Even when she did begin to realize that he was only a friend, she still didn't want to see him die. Rock meet hard place.
I also completely sympathized with Bettina at the end when Cas and Trehan were in a pissing contest and she was just trying to keep everyone safe and happy. Of course everything backfired when their almighty male pride came into play. I guess it is best to never get in the middle of a dog fight, but how are we supposed to know how they think.
I liked Caspion and had a feeling that he might make a good hero eventually, but wondered how Cole would make it possible without skipping a century or two into the future. After all, he's still very immature in this book. But, I think she set that up nicely with his little trip to the hell dimension where time moves much slower. He can now be gone for a mere month or two and come back much older, wiser, emotionally damaged and ready for his own story :) Maybe he could be paired with Lothaire's silly cousin after she gets back from her own adventure "infiltrating" the nymphs in NOLA.
Re: the audio. Robert Petkoff rocks. It's really pointless to keep saying it. Now he's added a Cockney accent to his repertoire :D
I really enjoyed this. Trehan was a great hero, Morgana was hilariously bitchy, and I loved the addition of Bettina's uncle Raum, and Salem, her foul-mouthed sylph servant. I'd love to see Salem get his body back and discover why he's cursed. I wonder if Hag can help?
If Cole does continue on with the Dacian series, I will read and hope she continues to keep it as a companion series to the IAD. Just imagine, we can have 'very special' crossovers from time to time :)
Bettina was a good character as well, if not my favorite heroine of the series. She had a lot of growing up to do and was probably the most emotionally immature heroine we've had so far and definitely one of the youngest chronologically. She was only 22 (a baby in the IAD) and she had been sheltered all her life. The one time she did strike out on her own she almost died, hence her PTSD and her well-meaning, but old fashioned uncle deciding to step in and get her a husband through a medieval-like tournament for her hand. I could smell Nix all over that mess from the get-go. Once again she's being "cruel to be kind" and getting all her chess pieces in order for the Accession.
I didn't see Bettina as being as flip-floppy as some reviewers have. She was in a tough spot with that tournament. Frustrating to the hero and the reader or not, I could understand Bettina's confused feelings for her childhood friend, Cas. As Salem pointed out, he was gorgeous and one of the few males the sheltered girl had ever been around on a regular basis - of course she had a crush on him. Even when she did begin to realize that he was only a friend, she still didn't want to see him die. Rock meet hard place.
I also completely sympathized with Bettina at the end when Cas and Trehan were in a pissing contest and she was just trying to keep everyone safe and happy. Of course everything backfired when their almighty male pride came into play. I guess it is best to never get in the middle of a dog fight, but how are we supposed to know how they think.
Re: the audio. Robert Petkoff rocks. It's really pointless to keep saying it. Now he's added a Cockney accent to his repertoire :D
3.5 stars
Another good book in the series but not one of my favorites.
Another good book in the series but not one of my favorites.
OK. Reading this for Vaginal Fantasy. I love paranormal romance but I could not stand this book. Trehan was great, Morgana was great, everyone else sucked, especially Bettina. The only cool thing about Bettina was her jewelry-making. I wish this book had featured Bettina, the smithy instead of Bettina, the boring, clingy, helpless princess.
Also, people who are fans of Cole's work, is her vocabularly always this anachronistic? Abaddon reminded me of a feudal kingdom but they kept referring to Bettina raving and stuff. Even though I seriously could not imagine this girl popping E. AND every time they brought up raving, it was like my 80-yr-old grandmother was trying to make a modern reference.
So, no. Sorry, really hated it.
P.S. I'm on Chapter 40. Trehan is getting as pissed with Bettina as I have been, but he is verging onto the abusive side of things. Awesome.
P.P.S. Chapter 43. OH my god. She is so stupid. I just. No.
Also, people who are fans of Cole's work, is her vocabularly always this anachronistic? Abaddon reminded me of a feudal kingdom but they kept referring to Bettina raving and stuff. Even though I seriously could not imagine this girl popping E. AND every time they brought up raving, it was like my 80-yr-old grandmother was trying to make a modern reference.
So, no. Sorry, really hated it.
P.S. I'm on Chapter 40. Trehan is getting as pissed with Bettina as I have been, but he is verging onto the abusive side of things. Awesome.
P.P.S. Chapter 43. OH my god. She is so stupid. I just. No.
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This'll be quick and I'll forgo recounting the plot in length and will dive right into my thoughts. It will also be somewhat spoiler-ish.
With this installment I'm all caught up with the Immortal After Dark Series. Not sure why I didn't read Shadow's Claim when it was its turn but I think it had something to do with the fact that it strayed from the original series and I figured I could just start it as an independent one. Not sure if this helped to see it in a clear light or just threw me out of the loop. Anyhoo, I digress.
Bettina is forced to marry. To determine who the (un)lucky guy will be a tournament is being held. She agreed to this archaic practice despite her feelings for her childhood friend Caspion. Why the hell would she do this?
Enter Trehan who happens upon her by following a hunch. She bloods him, making her his eternal mate, the poor sod. Trehan is an assassin, a loyal servant of a secret and hidden kingdom. He is also a contender for the crown. He is a strategic planer and leaves nothing to coincidence. That's also how he woos his bride. A minor nuisance comes up when he realizes that he has to assassinate her bride's best friend as a duty to his kingdom.
Many times while reading Bettina's and Trehan's story I found myself rolling my eyes and being annoyed. Whenever Bettina said how much she loved her childhood friend Caspion I wanted to slap her. And I suppose if I could have she'd have ended up with bruises in her face because, swear to God, I wanted to slap her most of the book. This heroine did nothing to endear herself to me. She was stupid, made dumb and rash decisions at one turn and the next she was too cautious and fearful.
Trehan was swoon-worthy and he pretty much saved this book from being one of the few DNFs in my book history. He was strong and devoted to win over his fated bride despite the obstacles. And Bettina's stupidity. When he suspects her of poisoning him I was wondering what made him think that - she wasn't smart enough to think of something so devious.
The last couple of chapters reminded me of why I love Kresley Cole's books. When Lothaire and Sabine made an appearance I whooped cheerfully and oh those pages were so good but they couldn't safe this story for me. All together the Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrott-Moments were too many and my dislike for the heroine really spoiled it for me. The 3-star-rating stems from Kresley Cole's quality writing, Lothaire's and Sabine's appearance and Trehan being a delicious hero. Sorry :(
I absolutely loved this book and Trehan! An amazing read by Kresley. Highly recommended.
3.5 or 4 stars. Another case where I liked the hero more than the heroine.
It's been a long time since I delved into an Immortals After Dark novel, and I have missed it! I'm so happy I decided to get back into this series. A queen and a shadow vampire - very exciting, right? Especially when there's a tournament for the queen's hand. And she doesn't really want any of the contestants to win - until she wants two of them to win...
After reading the Dark Skye installment of Immortals After Dark, I realise just how much all these books intertwine. I am deriving great pleasure in rereading these, now that I am comfortable with exactly what happens to Lanthe, which we wanted to know for absolute ages. going back to this book, which is a spin off series, I am unsure as to exactly why it is a spinoff and not just part of the main series, it fits in well, doesn't have unnecessary characters, and Nix makes a cameo appearance. Why did it even need its own series?
While I felt a little lost at times, as if I should be more familiar with the world and some of the characters (it turns out this is a spin-off), overall it did a decent job of keeping me looped in. The plot is fairly basic – a demon princess is put up as the prize for a tournament of bloody proportions with the winner getting her & the kingdom.
Shadow’s Claim is pure sexy time magic despite a pretty typical plot arrangement. The sex scenes were smokin'. I had to switch books on the bus for fear of blushing. My biggest complaint goes to the rather archetypal romance novel main characters. Bettina was a little more damsel-in-distress than I prefer and, while I like an alpha male, Trehan was a little too chest thumping “you, Bride, mine” male. It’s a romance novel though so I forgive easily.
I read this for the Vaginal Fantasy bookclub and, honestly, when I signed up for a book club called Vaginal Fantasy, this was pretty much what I had in mind: action-oriented plot, fast pacing, raunchy sexy times, happy ending (on multiple levels).
Shadow’s Claim is pure sexy time magic despite a pretty typical plot arrangement. The sex scenes were smokin'. I had to switch books on the bus for fear of blushing. My biggest complaint goes to the rather archetypal romance novel main characters. Bettina was a little more damsel-in-distress than I prefer and, while I like an alpha male, Trehan was a little too chest thumping “you, Bride, mine” male. It’s a romance novel though so I forgive easily.
I read this for the Vaginal Fantasy bookclub and, honestly, when I signed up for a book club called Vaginal Fantasy, this was pretty much what I had in mind: action-oriented plot, fast pacing, raunchy sexy times, happy ending (on multiple levels).
This is one of those exceptional series which are at the same time obviously erotica for women and also empowering for women.
Feminism so usually (stupidly) mistakes being an empowered woman with not wanting (and in the worst degrees, being aggressive to) men.
Beyond some virgin obsession (which is addressed, so points for insight) this book is about finding a partner and being better together, not being completed.
And also, it's funny and smoking hot. And has Rocky Horror Picture Show commentary. What else could you possibly want from erotica?
Feminism so usually (stupidly) mistakes being an empowered woman with not wanting (and in the worst degrees, being aggressive to) men.
Beyond some virgin obsession (which is addressed, so points for insight) this book is about finding a partner and being better together, not being completed.
And also, it's funny and smoking hot. And has Rocky Horror Picture Show commentary. What else could you possibly want from erotica?