Dream Warrior(Dark Hunter #16)

Dream Warrior Summary:
We are the Dolophoni. Diligent. Vigilant. Fierce and inescapable. Servants of the Furies, we are the right hand of justice and no one stands before us.

The son of Warcraft and Hate, Cratus spent eternity battling for the ancient gods who birthed him. He was death to any who crossed him. Until the day he laid down his arms and was banished into exile.

Now an ancient enemy has been unleashed and our dreams are his chosen battlefield. The only hope we have is the one god who swears he will never fight again.

As a Dream-Hunter, Delphine has spent eternity protecting mankind from the predators who prey on our unconscious state. But now that her allies have been turned, she knows in order to survive, the Dream-Hunters need a new leader. Someone who can train them to fight their new enemies. Cratus is her only hope. But she is a bitter reminder of why he chose to lay down his arms.

Time is running out and if she can’t win him to her cause, mankind will be slaughtered and the world we know will soon cease to exist.

Dream Warrior Review:
This is the 4th book in the Dream Hunter Series. This means that we are introduced to a host of new characters. At this point lots of readers are scratching their heads wondering how to keep up with all this info. I'm in the same position even with the websites to help because it doesn't post spoilers, and I still can't find a solution. At this point I'm reading book to book, creating character and object descriptions to keep up. So readers could try doing that to see if that helps.

The story itself was pretty good. The action was there and it was paired well with sarcasm and just enough information/ background on the character's we're dealing with. It doesn't have large info dump sections, which some previous books have contained. I managed to keep up with the fast paced scenes and that added to the excitement of what was to come. There was never a dull moment and it was especially great to see previous characters. For example, we see Zarek and Astrid "discussing" their son's name. It was a great son, added some comic relief and brought back the good memories of the start of the series. The only problem I had with this book was the romance. While I don't read a book expecting it to contain a winning love story, I would hope that it was believable. There is insta-love and then there is Insta-Love. After a few days of meeting each other, paired with the fact that the book brushed over these days, they decided they were hot for each other and got married. It was too cheesy for my standards and it did take something away from the novel. On the other hand, together the two were well paired and the big secret at the end between the was exciting to read about.

The main characters were much stronger and more liked than Stryker and Zephyra. As I have never read about these two, I couldn't hate or love them and it benefited them. I didn't have an preconceived notions about them and that lead to me not judging them that harshly. On the other hand, they were not the most memorable characters. Don't get me wrong, they were great for this story and worked well together, but they were not an outstanding pair. We are into book 16 of the series and Ms. Kenyon uses the same abused hero and savior heroine formula. It does get a bit repetitive and that creates predictability to the characters which was lacking in the earlier books. You know the hero is going to be angry and mistrustful and the heroine to be angelic, and then together they will fall in love, heal all wounds and defeat the enemy. In the Dream Hunter series, this predictability seems to be more prominent, and others saw this. This could have led to a dislike of this series.

However, the secondary characters definitely made up for this. We have out comic relief with Zarek and Astrid. And once again, the mystery of Jared and Jaden. If you have read the CoN series you can kinda see who Jaden is, but to a DH reader he is a complete mystery. Sav, Ash, Urian, Medea, Madoc, Nick and a bunch of others helped to support the main characters and eased the plot a little. They also did a great job to help ease readers with the additional world building, and trust me there's a lot. This quote below is one that I has referred to twice and the other is to show that Nick is getting himself back!

“Psycho-ass? You're bringing psycho-ass back?" (Nick)
"That's Mister Psycho-ass to you, punk.” (Zarek)

and

“Menoeceus is a great name. (Astrid)
"For an old man or a feminine hygiene product. Not for my son. And next time I get to name the kid and it won’t be something that sounds like meningitis." (Zarek)
"You keep that up and next time you’ll be the one birthing it, and don’t mess with me, bucko, I have connections in that department. A pregnant man is not an impossibility in my neighborhood. "(Astrid)

Overall this book was pretty good. Could have been much better, but after reading One Silent Night, it had a much needed fix of believable leads. This was a 4-4.5 star read!

One Silent Night (Dark Hunter #15)

One Silent Night Summary:
While the world carries on unawares, Stryker, who leads an army of demons and vampires, is plotting an all out onslaught against his enemies—which, unfortunately for us, includes the entire human race. To avenge his sister, Stryker prepares to annihilate the Dark-Hunters. But things go awry when his oldest enemy returns. Enter his ex-wife. Zephyra. Just when he thought nothing could stop him, he's now embroiled in a centuries old war with a shrew who gives new meaning to pain.

One Silent Night Review:
This book was amazing, just based on the fact that I could like person who I thought was so evil before. While I read this book, I liked it well enough. Compared to the high of Acheron, this book was not that good, but it was great for world building and introducing new characters. The biggest problem I had were the two protagonists. Stryker had killed Urian in a previous novel, and the biggest problem fans faced was why he killed his last son. I could get past his hatred of Ash and the betrayal he felt from Apollymi, but I couldn't understand how he could have killed his son. Zephyra was another problem. While I can understand someone being in love for 11,000 years, it was hard to understand that a person hated someone for 11,000. She focused her whole immortal life on getting revenge on Stryker. That seems almost impossible to me because she has wasted her life trying to kill this man instead of healing.

Edit: Zephyra also has kept and tortured a man for a mistake he made thousands of years ago. I can't forgive this, but she is redeeming herself through the series. SO...she's not the best heroine in this series.

Once I got past this, the book was not too bad.

The secondary characters were much stronger and well built. Urian is a very sarcastic and hardened character, that I hope we'll get to see a lot more as the series goes on. He still has issues about his wife, which is very easy to understand, but we also get to see him taking strength from other relationships. For example, with Ash or Davyn. Medea was another character that we were introduced to. She is the step-daughter of Stryker and the step-brother of Urian. She is a character that I could like. Betrayed by the people that she was protecting she has a reason to be as hardened as she is. But she managed to keep her head high, and hadn't fallen into a pit like her mother. And she has a large secret that I hope we will soon discover and she will continue to play large part in the upcoming books. We got repeat characters such as Ash, Davyn, Apollo, Artemis, and many, many others. The character seems to constantly be increasing which makes it a lot more interesting but a lot more harder to keep updated. On it can get very confusing as some readers are finding. A good website to keep up on this is the Sherrilyn Kenyon website or Dark-Hunter Groups on Goodreads.

The story started off kind of stupid. Stryker went to War to basically commit suicide because he was so angry at Ash, Apollymi, Apollo (Lots of A's there) and everyone in between. Luckily, Stryker realized his mistake and then the story really started for me. The plot was there, the action was spot on and electrifying. And the romance was there, no matter how weird it was. In addition, the sarcasm was on it's own level. Ms. Kenyon got this book right by putting in the right combination of everything. I'm leaving you with this quote that just shows how good this book was.

“Enough, children. In case you haven’t noticed, we have a major situation playing out. We have to find and stop War, corral the gallu, protect Apostolos, and get Savitar out of here." (Apollymi)
"Why the later?" (Jared)
"Because I hate his guts." (Apollymi)
"I hate you, too, precious." (Savitar)

and

“Gods, how I’ve missed you". (Stryker)
"I hate you with every beat of my heart." (Zephyra)

Overall it was a 4.5 star! Great world building and a necessary read for the books to come!

Acheron (Dark Hunter #14)

Acheron Summary:
The most anticipated story in the blockbuster Dark-Hunter series. The never-before-revealed story of the Dark-Hunter leader, Acheron. He was made human in order to escape death, but in death he was reborn a god. . .

Eleven thousand years ago a god was born. Cursed into the body of a human, Acheron spent a lifetime of shame. However, his human death unleashed an unspeakable horror that almost destroyed the earth. Then, brought back against his will, Acheron became the sole defender of mankind.

Only it was never that simple. For centuries, he has fought for our survival and hidden a past he’ll do anything to keep concealed. Until a lone woman who refuses to be intimidated by him threatens his very existence.

Now his survival, and ours, hinges on hers and old enemies reawaken and unite to kill them both.

War has never been more deadly... or more fun.

Acheron Review:
Finally the book that DH fans have been waiting for worldwide! Luckily for most of us, it lived up to it's expectations.

Acheron was divided into two parts. The first, which was the longest, was Acheron's life before he became a God. This whole story was heartbreaking. Someone who is ease to tears or gets creeped out quickly by gore might want to skip this. While it useful to learn about Acheron's past it can prove too much to some people. If skipped, most readers will not be too lost when they read the second part. The second part was more upbeat, what readers are more used to in the DH world. Heartbreaking in it's own way, it was great to finally see the leader of the DH fall in love and accept someone into his home.

I'll talk briefly about each part below.

The first part, roughly eleven thousand years ago, Acheron was born into a world where he had no friends. He was hated by everyone and every time he reached out it was slapped away brutally. It was horrible event after horrible event. And I was near tears for the majority of this book. It is useful to note that most of this is told through the diaries of Ryssa, Ash's sister. She was the saving grace in this part because she stood by Ash no matter what, and did her best to help him. It was astounding to realize that Ryssa was younger than thirty and Ash and Styxx, barely over 20. So much shame and humiliation to people who have barely joined the world. On the other hand, it was great to the true character of Ash. The fires from which the enigmatic and mysterious Ash came from. It was great to see the layers peeled away from Ash to find what he is beneath.

The characters in this part had so much depth and side to their characters, that I was left spinning with the revelations of characters. I write this review after I have read Styxx, so I know his side of the story. But not looking at his, I was aghast at how one man could do so much to shame his own twin. While, Ryssa was kind to Ash she was also incredibly naive and stupid at times. I love how she stood up for Ash, but I wish she thought things through to realize the bigger picture at times. And to stop being so childish at times. Xerxes, Ash's father and mother and a host of characters were evil to their core, and I was glad when the destruction of Atlantis. Finally, we were introduced properly to Apollymi. It was incredible to see her love for her son and the bounds she would go to protect him. Overall, this part was heartbreaking and torturous but it was necessary to take apart the layers of Ash, to understand what him how he is today.

The second part was much shorter, filled with action and sarcasm that DH fans have come to love.

Tory was a perfect match for Ash. She did not let Ash take control of her and stood up for her own rights. She was always one step ahead of Ash when he was trying to court her, but knew when to let him go ahead when her life was in danger. It was through Tory, Ash could open his eyes to the wonders that he has shut himself out of. And to accept the torture that he has faced, to accept the people who did so that he could move on. One part that really stuck to me was Tory throwing a toy hammer at Ash's head! Imagine anyone doing that to Ash! From there she one me over.

A lot of readers complained that through this book, Ash lost his mysterious exterior. Well of course he did! We are seeing into the heart and soul of this character, watching as he fell in love and lets someone into his heart. If he managed to remain mysterious, I would be surprised. It was this loss of facade that helped to understand what made him who is and where the story will go on from here. Ms. Kenyon did right by Ash and Tory in this wonderful story!

This book ends the first arc. We are now on Jaden's arc and then we will be Sav's. This book revealed where this series will go and what character we can hope to see in the future!

*SPOILER WARNING* One scene that stuck with me was when Tory was captured. Ash was being convinced not to go into Katertos after her. When Kyrian, Julian, Talon, Zarek and all the previous characters came to stand by Ash no matter what, and fight against the common enemy. This made my heart soar and after this I wanted to slap Ash on the backside of his head. I still can't believe why he think that his friends will turn on him when he reveals that he is a god *END OF SPOILERS*

Overall this book was amazing!! Definitely 5 stars!!

Dream Chaser( Dark Hunter #13)

Dream Chaser Summary:
Hades doesn’t often give second chances...

Xypher has one month on Earth to redeem himself through one good deed or be condemned to eternal torture in Tartarus. But redemption means little to a demigod who only wants vengeance on the one who caused his downfall.

Until one day in a cemetery...

Simone Dubois is a medical examiner with a real knack for the job. Those who are wrongfully killed appear to her and help her find the evidence the police need to convict their killers. But when a man appears and tells her that she’s more than just a psychic, she’s convinced he’s insane.

Now the fate of the world hangs in her hands...

It was bad enough when just the dead relied on her. Now’s there’s the seductive Dream-Hunter Xypher who needs Simone’s help in opening a portal to the Atlantean hell realm to fight insatiable demons. The future of mankind is at stake—and so is her life. The only question now is: Who is the bigger threat: the demons out to kill her, or the man who has left her forever changed?

Dream Chaser Review:
The third installment in the Dream Hunter series was a resounding success, in my opinion. Xypher and Simone had a much more believable love story and very fleshed out characters. Simone was a strong female heroine. She did not give way to Xypher's demands and knew what kind of person she was. Her witty humor was paired perfectly to her empathetic and intelligent persona. Her isolation also made her interesting. Without any friends to guide her through her tough times, she has a hardened personality and it was lovely to see her sisterly relationship with Jesse, Tate and her love for Xypher. Xypher was the same, on a much more serious level of course. Falsely accused and tortured for an eternity, he is given one month to prove his worth and to kill the one who caused him so much pain. With the time he was given, Xypher managed to get stuck to a human, fall in love with said human, bargain with a demon, nearly lose his life and discover a secret for his fate, and he threatened Ash. Quite a list for a guy on Earth for only a month! It was a sweet story while we watched Xypher reveal his inner vulnerability. I must say that Ms. Kenyon perfected her tortured hero in Xypher, leading to an interesting and touchy love story between Simone and Xypher. I am not a huge fan of dramatic love stories and sex scenes, so this book worked for me.

Secondary characters like Jesse, and Tate were great ways to relieve stressful situations with witty humor. Jaden was an interesting addition to the series. For anyone who has continued to read this series and those who have read the latest book of Chronicles of Nick will understand why he is such a pivotal character. He is a man of many secrets and one day some must be revealed. If you were looking carefully at Ms. Kenyon's posts, we know that we are now in the Jaden story arc, so our wishes may be answered soon! We also go to see old characters like Julian, which was great and of course Ash.

The plot was intriguing. We got to see a different side to the Dimme and meet the Charonte demons of New Orleans. The action was a underlying theme through the book and it was continuously peppered with light humor.

One such scene is the dance scene with Xypher, Gloria, Jesse and Simone. It was a cute scene right in the middle of drama, and was a great way to reveal the true emotions of the main characters.

The book is filled with very interesting sub-plots that keeps on expanding throughout every book. There was HUGE world-building in the novel and it will continue to grow from here. I love the direction the series is going, but a fair warning that there is probably going to be less romance from now because of the mythology and series of characters involved. Overall this book was a 4.5-5 star rating, so far the best in the Dream Hunter series.

Upon the Midnight Clear(Dark Hunter #12)

Upon the Midnight Clear Summary:
Ever think Scrooge had it right before the ghosts ruined his life? Meet Aidan O'Conner. At one time he was a world-renowned celebrity who gave freely of himself and his money without wanting anything in return...until those around him took without asking. Now Aidan wants nothing of the world--or anyone who's a part of it.

When a stranger appears at his doorstep, Aidan knows he's seen her before…in his dreams.

Born on Olympus as a goddess, Leta knows nothing of the human world. But a ruthless enemy has driven her from the world of dreams and into the home of the only man who can help her: Aidan. Her immortal powers are derived from human emotions--and his anger is just the fuel she needs to defend herself…

One cold winter's night will change their lives forever…
Trapped together in a brutal winter storm, Aidan and Leta must turn to the only power capable of saving them--or destroying them both: trust.

Upon the Midnight Clear Review:
This was a very quick read that felt more like a novella than an actual book. It had a much more darker twist than most Kenyon books contain, and I was worried that she might not be able to pull it off so well. Sadly, it didn't live up to her previous books. Don't get me wrong it was still good, but compared to the book she had written before, this fell short. I felt there was not enough time for the world building nor for the necessary character development.

This book centers on two different characters. Leta has been mentioned before but never made a true appearance. She is interesting enough but it gets a bit tiring because there doesn't seem to be much depth to her outside of protecting the good guys. This was the same problem with Aidan. He constantly repeated how he was such a successful actor and repeated over and over again how he was betrayed by everyone. This made the plot very simple and short. I appreciated that Ms. Kenyon didn't want to make the book longer, it would have made the book more tedious than it already was.

The action was good and there was some romance. There was a lot of mythology and it was interesting to see how this book tied in with the others. Knowing what happens in the books after, I found it quite ingenious how Ms. Kenyon planned out the characters and story lines ahead of time.

The quick short story that came with this book was the Dark-Hunter Christmas and it was a lovable gathering. I'm glad this was included as it greatly raised the rating of the novel.

Without the short story, Upon the Midnight Clear was a 2.5-3 star rating. With the short story it was a 4-4.5 rating!

Devil May Cry( Dark Hunter #11)

Devil May Cry Summary:
As an ancient Sumerian god, Sin was one of the most powerful among his pantheon. . . Until the night Artemis brutally stole his godhood and left him for dead. For millennia, this ex-god turned Dark-Hunter has dreamed only of regaining his powers and seeking revenge on Artemis. If only life were that simple.

Unfortunately he has bigger fish--or in Sin's case--demons, to fry. The lethal gallu that were buried by his pantheon are now stirring and they are hungry for human flesh. Their goal is to destroy mankind and anyone else who gets in their way. Sin is the only one who can stop them--that is if a certain woman doesn't kill him first. Unfortunately, Sin discovers that now he must rely on her or witness an annihilation of biblical proportions.

Enemies have always made strange bedfellows, but never more so than when the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Now a man who knows only betrayal must trust the one person most likely to hand him to the demons. Artemis may have stolen his godhood, but this one has stolen his heart. The only question is will she keep it or feed it to the ones who want him dead?

Devil May Cry Review:
After reading Dream Hunter, this story was much, much better! We are introduced to a new hero, Sin, a Sumerian God of Fertility. Some readers found his name, Nana funny but with a little research I found that this was Sin's real name. Sin was the modernized name that Sherrilyn made, but Nana was the Sumerian God of Fertility in Mesopotamia. We also have the heroine Katra, who have met three or four times since the beginning of the series. I went into this book confused because of Seize the Night. I thought that she was in love with Acheron, until I saw she is supposed to love Sin. The reason she cares so much about Ash, is discovered and what a secret it is!

Sin and Katra are very "3D" characters that were intriguing and smart in the way they handled their problems. It was also realistic to what a normal couple would face. Both have been isolated largely due to external factors. Sin has been abused by everyone that was supposed to love him and lost the ones that did. His tragic story blended perfectly with Katra's deception. It is because of Sin's tragedy that he can teach Katra an important life lesson, to stop keeping secrets from the people she loves. Unfortunately, there were some moments where I was rolling my eyes. For example, Katra is an eleven thousand year old virgin. It is understandable because of the protection she gets from both Apollymi and Artemis, but I was skeptical that she could keep it in so long. And then she gives it to a guy who she met a few days ago. Other than the plot flowed seamlessly, and the characters had constant development throughout the story. The novel was full of humor and witty comebacks timed to perfection. Just look below for one such scene:

“Any game plan? Xypher asked Sin.
Don't die.
I like it. Simple, bold. Impossible. Works for me.
Kat scoffed at his sarcasm. What are you bitching about, Xypher? You're already dead.
He laughed. You know, for once, it's good to be me.”
and


“Kat laughed. 'Who wants to live forever?'
Kish put his hand up. 'For the record, I do.'
Sin scowled at him. 'Then why do you irritate me so often?'
Suicidal tendencies are inherent in my species?”
and

“We need to gather everyone we can.
Damien scoffed. Uh, boss, hate to be a pall, but I think everyone we can gather is currently in this room.
Sin paused to look at Simi, Xirena, Damien, Kat, Kish, and Xypher. It was a pitiful number of defenders. But it was all the world had. In that case, we need to seriously arm ourselves.
Damien crossed himself. Hail Mary, full of grace-
What are you doing? Kish asked. You're not Catholic.
Yeah but I'm feeling really religious all of a sudden and it seemed like a good idea.”

The plot was riddled with mythology and lots and lots of action. From this novel we can see a major clash that is soon to come in the series, between the Gallu, Daimons, DH and Humans. We now get even more bad guys and the line between good and bad is blurring. There was a lot of tension and excitement between Kat and Sin. Added to the fact that they are almost mortal enemies, it provided a lot of humor and balance to the story.

Secondary characters like Xypher, Ash, Simi, Kish, Damien and Kessar all added to the suspense of the ending. Kessar is an evil villain, meaning 10 times worse than Stryker. I hope that he eventually falls, but right now it was very interesting to the see the aftermaths of the war play out. The last battle was awesome, with just enough to action and gore to please readers, but enough happy endings to not be a cop out.

This book is mandatory for every reader as it has HUGE world building themes, reveals important characters and sub-plots and was overall an astounding read. Overall a 5 star book!

The Dream Hunter(Dark Hunter #10)

The Dream Hunter Summary:
In the ethereal world of dreams, there are champions who fight to protect the dreamer and there are demons who prey on them...

Arik is such a predator. Condemned by the gods to live eternity without emotions, Arik can only feel when he's in the dreams of others. For thousands of years, he's drifted through the human unconscious, searching for sensation. Now he's finally found a dreamer whose vivid mind can fill his emptiness.

Dr. Megeara Kafieri watched her father ruin himself and his reputation as he searched to prove Atlantis was real. Her deathbed promise to him to salvage his reputation has now brought her to Greece where she intends to prove once and for all that the fabled island is right where her father said it was. But frustration and bad luck dog her every step. Especially the day they find a stranger floating in the sea. His is a face she's seen many times.... in her dreams.

What she doesn't know is that Arik holds more than the ancient secrets that can help her find the mythical isle of Atlantis. He has made a pact with the god Hades: In exchange for two weeks as a mortal man, he must return to Olympus with a human soul. Megeara's soul.

With a secret society out to ruin her expedition, and mysterious accidents that keep threatening her life, Megeara refuses to quit. She knows she's getting closer to Atlantis and as she does, she stumbles onto the truth of what Arik really is.

For Arik his quest is no longer simple. No human can know of a Dream-Hunter's existence. His dream of being mortal has quickly turned into his own nightmare and the only way to save himself will be to sacrifice the very thing he wanted to be human for. The only question is, will he?


The Dream Hunter Review:
The Dream Hunter was an interesting read to say the least, and not always in the best way. The plot line was VERY interesting, same with the secondary characters. I can't say the same for the main characters. It is important to note that this book goes back before the first DH novel, back when Nick was still 24.

At this point, it is getting a bit irritating to have the same introduction about Were, Daimons and Apollites in every book. I understand that it is made for new readers, but for some of us it gets irritating because we have already know this information. Anyways, if you manage to skim over this, the story gets much better than the explanation. It starts off interesting enough with a Gaery (heroine) sleeping with Arik (hero) in her dreams. He is a skytos, a dream hunter that feeds off human emotion because he comes from a race that has no emotions. Arik then literally sells Gaery's soul to Hades so that he can spend 2 weeks with her. This is somewhat understandable because he knows no compassion and has no idea the value of a soul.

We then watch him stumble through him discover of human emotions and feelings. It was quite entertaining actually but other than that he didn't have much substance. For example, his non-existent love story between him and Gaery. I did love his relationship with Tory and Solin though. It was great to see him learn sarcasm, deal with young girls and figure put what friendship was. I also loved how he acted with characters like Ash, Kyrian and Nick. If there were more scenes like this, the book could have been more interesting.

What I didn't like about Arik was his reaction to Gaery. While it was quite amusing to see him stumble to impress Gaery, he doesn't seem to care too much about her. Don't get me wrong, by the end of the novel they did work to love each other, but from the start Arik only wanted to have sex with her. You would think that after 27,000 years he would learn something about humans or DH cause they do have similar mannerisms, and how one should interact with them. Also, I can forgive giving away a human soul at the time, but he made an extremely stupid choice by bargaining with a god. He is old enough to know better yet foolishly makes the same choice. In conclusion, he wasn't the strong alpha type from previous books and his innocence was fascinating, the rest of him was very 2D making him quite weak in some aspects.

Gaery on the other hand was just irritating. She hated on her father for ruining her life but continued on his mission instead and pretended it was the best thing. Also, I know she has an extensive background, but it seemed like she was her justification for think she found Atlantis was based on something being old, or ideas like that. She was also incredibly uptight, and this up until the last couple of chapters. I can understand characters be suspicious of others up to a point but she was rude, suspicious and demeaning to him for a long time. Even her 15 year old cousin, Tory had more sense than her.

The plot itself moved irritatingly slow and there was hardly any action. The only good battle is the last one and it was over in a matter of minutes. Another problem I had with this book was the fact that Arik and Gaery had to rely heavily on secondary characters. That does happening in other books to a certain extent, nevertheless you have to give the main characters to stand up for themselves. Almost all of their problems could have been solved without anyone's help yet it wasn't.

That leads to the best part of the series, and frankly what made it worthwhile, the secondary characters. Beings like Kat, Tory, Solin, ZT, Apollymi were an integral part of this story and I loved how they made brief but life changing scenes. Solin was probably the biggest surprise. A man with MANY secrets, he does live life to it's fullest while still holding back from going over. I hope that we get to see a lot more of him! This with all the mythology and world building in this novel, it was a pretty good book.

Overall it was 3.5-4 star book, no matter how the main characters were acting.

Dark Side of the Moon(Dark Hunter #9)

Dark Side of the Moon Summary:
Half animal, half man, wholly dangerous.
Locked in eternal battle, a Were-Hunter knows everything about peril and pain. But the greatest threat is yet to come...

Susan Michaels was once the hottest reporter on the Beltway Beat until she walked into a setup that ruined her reputation. Now she's working for a small Seattle paper, penning stories about killer moths and alien babies, convinced that her life couldn't get any worse...

That was before an idea for a breaking news piece brings her to a local animal shelter where she ends up listening to her source rant about vampires and gets coerced into adopting a cat despite her allergies. But when her new pet suddenly reveals himself to be a gorgeous - and lethal - shapeshifter, Susan realizes that there's far more at stake than a career-saving by-line.

Born into a world of predators, Were-Hunter Ravyn Kontis was betrayed by those he loved best. Soulless, pitiless, he has spent three hundred years battling the Diamons who seek to subjugate humankind. And with the ultimate battle about to begin, this one very human woman holds the power to shatter both their worlds...

Dark Side of the Moon Review:
To be honest this wasn't the most memorable book in this series. I knew going in I wouldn't be too interested because I didn't know any of the characters that well. Don't get me wrong, this book was still pretty good but not up to par with others in the series. A problem that most other readers had was with Susan. She can come off as a bitch or a little insecure at times and that makes her irritating, or you could have loved her sarcastic, kick ass self. I was more in the later. I also found some parts weird weird but funny. For example, how she's allergic to cats but fell in love with a werecat. Very ironic!

The characters were much more fleshed out than some other books because once again there was less mythology and more romance and character development. Susan was full of sarcasm no matter how dire the situation. She could be facing evil demons or having an allergic reaction and she could still bring on the snark. It was very entertaining. Paired with Ravyn's quiet humor and brooding mood, they balanced and complimented each other. Ravyn was more withdrawn than expected, for me at least. He was an unusual mix of wereanimal and dark hunter, making a him a being of unnatural power, and he was hated because his mate lead the deaths of many members of his clan. He reminds me a lot of Spawn. Hopefully we'll get a story about him as well. I loved meeting other characters such as Phoenix, and meeting old characters like Bryanna, who I know from CON. Nick was back, but not his usual Cajun self. He is angry and putting a lot of blame both on Ash and himself. And he is starting to come off a little whiny. This book takes place in Seattle which adds a nice change of scenery and it was nice to see how Kenyon wove Hurricane Katrina into her world.

The story was full of action, obviously and was full of witty humor. I may be getting a little irritated by the sarcasm because it happens so often and sometimes in the wrong spot. But it does good in action scenes and suits characters like Susan. Love, pain, hate and so many emotions are wrapped up in a wonderful package.

Just look at this quote:

"I've got to start taking drugs," she mumbled. "At least then I'd have an explanation for all this."

Overall it was a 4.5 star rating!