Dark Bites Summary:For years, eager fans have been clamoring for an all-in-one collection of #1 bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon’s novellas. At their enthusiastic behest, we have delivered this brand-new short story collection, including stories previously exclusive to Sherrilyn’s website, as well as an all-new, never-before seen story!
Sherrilyn Kenyon takes readers from the Dark-Hunters to the demigods, from Dream-Hunters to demons, and everything in between. Dangerous and exciting, each story is one thrill ride after the next, proving time and again how Sherrilyn has captivated millions of readers worldwide. Now, readers are invited to go deep into Kenyon’s rich and imaginative world and experience the heart-racing moments that never stop coming!
Novellas from the World of the Dark-Hunters:
Phantom Lover (V'Aidan)
A Dark-Hunter Christmas (Gallagher)
Winter Born (Dante)
A Hard Day’s Night Searcher (Rafael)
Until Death We Do Part (Velkan)
Fear the Darkness (Nick)
Where Angels Fear to Tread (Zeke)
Shadow of the Moon (Fury)
House of the Rising Son
The Guardian Wedding
Unrelated Stories:
Love Bytes
Santa Wears Spurs
Dark Bites Review:
The book is made up of several short stories, each focusing on different characters and two that are not related to any other series. I will be reviewing each one individually in the order listed as above.
1)Phantom Lover: It was a little different TBH. It started off good, with a normal woman being plagued by nightmares, and with a Kenyon classic, a tortured Dream Warrior. For some reason I got confused by this story. I didn't know who was the actually villain, what was the problem and how these events were supposed to tie into the rest of the DH world. To talk about this I will have to list book events so SPOILER WARNING... relatively close to the end Erin discovers that V'Adian was the one to help plague her nightmares. I'm not sure if that was how it was supposed to have ended, but that is how I remember it. Also, Erin literally gets the shit beat out of her, travels through evil and faces off evil nightmares to protect V'Adian and then he asks if she actually loves him *face palm*. I just couldn't deal with it. Overall this was a 2 star book and without a clue the point of this story.
2)A Dark-Hunter Christmas: We open up with a introduction to Gallagher. Born to a poor Irish family, joined a gang and was killed while trying to see his wife. Like every other Kenyon novel, we have the tortured male hero, but unlike other book there is no romance. It was really sweet and a wonderful read. We got to see Simi in all her glory giving her advice to Gallagher about letting people into your heart to become a family. That was a really bad description so here's the quote: "We have three kinds of family. Those we are born to, those who are born to us, and those we let into our hearts." We got to revisit our favorite DH couples and characters and it was nice to see them relax from the normal violence and action of their lives. Overall it was 5 stars, if only more books were like this!
3)Winter Born: A short story about Dante (Owner of Inferno) and Pandora (a Were-panther on the run from people who want to make her a sex slave) who meet at DragonCon. With the help of Ash, this Arcadian and Katargaria couple fall in love and deal with their enemies. It was heartbreaking to see the injustice that befalls the woman of these panther clans and it was great to see them get the justice they deserve. It dealt with a lot of trust and superiority issues that they two groups of Weres face against each other. I wish this book was longer cause it was really cute to see Dante's brothers and the interaction between certain characters. It also dealt with issues of slavery and rape, and I was glad that none of the main characters thought this was right, and worked to resolve it. Overall this book was 5 stars!
4)A Hard Day’s Night Searcher: This story was quite boring and irritating. I mostly skimmed over this because of the unnecessary details and how stupid some of the characters. The only good thing was when we got to see some old characters and finally, hate to say this, when the story was over. It was basically about the heroine that had commitment issues because she saw two DH dies and a horny, thinks he's charismatic hero. And it all was started by an idiot squire who thought it would be a great idea to write a story about Rafael as a fictional character and post it in the newspaper. *Face palm* I don't know why this guy isn't dead yet, seriously he was that stupid! Unlike Winter Born, I couldn't believe that the Rafael and Celena were in love, it felt more life lust, and I still don't know how this related to the DH world. Anyway this book was about a 1 to 1.5 star.
5)Until Death We Do Part: An interesting take on the Dracula story. It follows Velkan (Dracula...kinda) and his love interest Esperetta meeting after a few decades and dealing with their issues. In a weird twist of fate they both had turned DH at the same time and Esperetta was forced to be one. This paired with Velkan killing her father drove her away and they have never talked since. Fast forward a while, her new best friend tells her to come over to her place in Transylvania to live with her family. With some reluctance she goes and to her surprise she realizes that they work for Velkan. And from then on they start to overcome their issues with each other, and they do have quite a bit! I really liked Velkan. He was misunderstood, caring and he just seemed really great. I couldn't say the same for Esperetta. I found her to be to whiny and and couldn't understand why she was so hard on Velkan and literally everyone else. But by the end of the story, I could see that they did fall in love and could understand their relationship. I didn't like Esperetta, but I could stand her now. Overall this book was 4 stars mostly because of the humor and Velkan!
6)Fear the Darkness: A very short story about Nick reflecting on his life and what Stryker wants him to do. It was sad to see him falling so low. He was slowly recuperating, from a previous event and the fact his home was destroyed in Hurrican Katrina. There were a few grammatical errors with the story and I really wanted to slap Nick on the sometimes. He did come off a bit whiny but a lot more hurt and it was heartbreaking to see him so different from the beginning of the series. I hope does get a happy ending, he certainly deserves one at some point. Overall it was a 3.5-4 stars.
7)Where Angels Fear to Tread: A tiny story that about Zeke, a Hell Chaser. It was quite a bit of fun to read this, especially his obsession with transformers. I hope that Zeke gets a full length novel after this. Overall 5 stars!
8)Shadow of the Moon: Finally! We get Fury's book and even though it's a novella, it's still his story! We get to learn about his childhood and his best friend before he was brutally kicked out of the pack. The best part of the novel was him with his new family, especially Vane, Bride, Fang and the kids. My least favorite part of this story was the heroine, Angelina. She was a hypocrite who was extremely ignorant of anyone outside of her clan. Even though she felt bad about betraying Fury, she still felt it was the right choice until almost the end of the story. I felt she was to weak for Fury and would have preferred someone else for him. I was waiting for him to kick her out of his life, but they eventually fell in love and I just couldn't deal with it. By the end of the novel, she had a complete 180 switch and was on Fury's side now. Thank god there were other characters, otherwise this book wouldn't have been as good. Overall this book was a 3-3.5 stars.
9)House of the Rising Son: This story was about Aricles (a farmer from an Atlantean Family) and Baathymaas (daughter of set that knows no emotion and is made to be the balance for Set who is Chaos). It featured a host of old characters like Caleb, who I love, Apollo, who is just to irritating to live. It was heartbreaking, amazing and lovely. It was a nice prequel to Styxx and I'm glad I read it. Overall this book is a 5!
10)Love Bytes: A cute little story about an overworked programmer and his employer falling in in love. The characters dealt with their problems, fell in love and it was all believable!! And how the last scene played out was heartwarming and humorous. That is how all woman should be courted! Overall this book was 5 stars!
11)Santa Wears Spurs: A cute story set in the Wild Wild West. A man who was on the run came back to see his lover with a kid. He inserts himself back into their lives, defeats his evil brother and the three of them get a HEA. A lovely story with a rating of 5 stars!
12)The Guardian (The Wedding): This was the Beast Beauty Wedding (literally) between Seth and Lydia, it was really quiet. It was nice to see Savitar being the Master of Ceremony and Solin's response to his daughter getting married. I loved it! Overall a 5 star rating!
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