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amandaventure 's review for:

Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon
3.0

Night Embrace was averagely fun. It wasn’t exactly my favorite thing I’ve ever read but it was a nice little ice cream cone. There were things that I would want to change specifically to this story but in the grand scheme of things we had a lot more world building accomplished here. We meet the Were Hunters and get to know some of our fellow Dark Hunters a little better. So, I suppose it was a successful addition to the series but didn’t include my ideal romantic leads.

In Night Embrace, our romantic leads are Talon and Sunshine. I’m just going to say it: my first thought about Sunshine was “Wow, she’s obnoxious!” That poor girl is just a disaster. I appreciated her kindness and her giving spirit but girl… you got to get your shit together! The whole ditsy, clumsy, manic, pixie, dream girl thing is something that’s particularly grating to my nerves. I like it when heroines are smart and bless her heart, Sunshine just isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. Additionally, I was hoping for more of a sense of humor from Talon. Instead he kind of spent a lot of time just moping and not fighting as many bad guys as he probably should have been.

In the same fashion as the other installments in the series, at times the plot didn’t make much sense and was glaringly obvious. Hopefully I won’t get too spoilery… Talon and Sunshine are clearly connected to each other. We learn that right off the bat and I called the big reveal immediately. They actually reveal the connection several chapters later so I was reading while thinking “Ok, when are they going to get to the point?” There were still some kidnappings that served absolutely no purpose.
Spoiler So Sunshine is kidnapped by the bad guys and forced to take an Atlantean aphrodisiac. Talon and Ash rescue her pretty much right away and it’s super easy. Why bother even taking her if you were basically just going to let her go anyway? What kind of evil plan is that? “Hey, we took your girl but don’t worry because when you rescue her she’s going to be super horny and none of us will have hurt her at all. Enjoy!”
I don’t want to sound like a Negative Nancy because there were some things that were great as well. There were some genuinely funny moments with Nick, Acheron, and Talon’s pet alligator named Beth. Also the smut was particularly steamy which may be in part because Talon is actually allowed to enjoy sex in Night Embrace! That weird no orgasming rule for men is finally done away with. Side note: there is a particularly hot scene involving Talon hanging upside down… that’s all I’ll say!

We also get to know some of the side characters a little better. We meet the werewolves and I’m sure we will be seeing Vane and his brothers for some time to come. We also get to see inside Zarec’s mind a bit and I totally have a soft spot for the guy. He’s kind of like a wounded animal and just needs some basic kindness. Give the guy a break already!!! We also find out a lot more about the mysterious leader of the Dark Hunters, Acheron. I’m betting his past is quite a doozy!
Spoiler I greatly dislike the sexual coercion part with Artemis basically forcing Acheron to sleep with her all the time. That’s really messed up and if the roles were reversed it wouldn’t have been tolerated at all.


So ya… while the romantic leads weren’t really my favorite characters there were still things to be excited about in Night Embrace. The Dark Hunterverse is expanding and I’m fascinated to see where things are going. I think one thing I will take away from my experience is that Sherrilyn Kenyon is becoming a better writer with every book she writes.