Audiobook Review: A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2)

A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2), by Kresley Cole
Published April 1, 2006
Publisher: Pocket Books
Format: audiobook, purchased
Genre: adult paranormal/fantasy romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4 STARS

(From Goodreads) A mythic warrior who'll stop at nothing to possess her...

After enduring years of torture from the vampire horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he's waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.

A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy...

Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents—until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae—and their notorious dark desires—ebbs as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings.

An all-consuming desire...

Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be?

I know - I'm a little late to this party. There's 14 books in the Immortal After Dark series, plus a spin-off now, and I just now started it. Better late than never, eh? 

Although a book precedes A Hunger Like No Other, it's really more like a prequel novella. Last time I checked, The Warlord Wants Forever (Immortals After Dark #1) was available for free on Kresley Cole's website. But, A Hunger Like No Other was the first full-length story set in this awesome world where we humans exist among all manner of creatures - vampires, werewolves, valkyries... it's a veritable melting pot of weird, and I loved it. 

Emmaline is one in a million - a half valkyrie, half vampire. She's on a mission to find information about her parents when she is kidnapped by sexy Lycae, Lachlain. Lachlain has been imprisoned for over a hundred years, and he finds the strength to escape when he senses Emma - his true mate. He is devastated, though, to find out she's half vampire. Her strength and character break through his prejudices, though, but will it be in time to save her from a bigger threat? 

I loved the dark passion in this book. Lachlain is such a tortured soul. He's spent so long all alone being tortured. He's half nuts when he finally connects with Emma, and then he's half blinded by that and half blinded by rage that she's the mortal enemy of his kind. Add to that the fact that the world is a much different place now than it was when he was imprisoned, and it's no wonder Lachlain is a bit surly. 

Emma, although timid and meek at first glance, is really pretty brave. She stands up to Lachlain time and time again. She knows when to pick her battles, so she handles him pretty well. My problem with Emmaline was that she handled Lachlain a little TOO well. She not only pushes him away, but is pretty mean and hurtful to him for so very long. Admittedly, Lachlain deserved it in the beginning. He didn't exactly make their first meeting sweet and romantic. He chased her and tackled her in the mud, and then kidnapped her and forced her to drive him to his home in Scotland. 

But, eventually, Lachlain wised up and realized how incredible she was and that her being a vampire wasn't the end of the world for him. Problem was, Emma still was having a hard time getting over his initial treatment of her. That irritated me, and it did get a little old after awhile. 

There was a whole lot of other things going on besides the romancing of Emma and Lachlain. It's obvious the various species of supernatural beings don't get along with each other very well. They are all on the cusp of war, and the tensions spill over and create little skirmishes all over the place. We see several of these take place in the book. 

We also see Lachlain's intense desire for revenge against his jailer which ends up having some pretty crazy ties to Emma. So, that story sort of comes full circle, which was interesting. A Hunger Like No Other was told in third person, so we shift frequently between Lachlain's and Emma's POV. Since it is in third person, we also get several other characters' POVs as well, and a nice set up for the next book in the series. 

I listened to the audio version of this book. Male narrators haven't ever been my thing. It's harder for their voices to change enough to distinguish between the characters. Robert Petkoff who narrated A Hunger Like No Other was freaking brilliant. He was, by far, my favorite male narrator - hell, he was one of my favorite narrators ever, period. Lachlain is Scottish, and the Scottish accent that Petkoff delivers was sexy and perfect. I look forward to the next book in this series, partly just so I can hear his voice again. And, partly because I really enjoyed this complex supernatural world that Kresley Cole created and can't wait to go back again soon. 

Book #92 - Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1)

Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1), Kresley Cole
ARC - Publish date:  October 2, 2012
384 pages
post-apocalyptic, urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Started 8/14/12
Finished 8/19/12
4 STARS

I obtained an ARC of Poison Princess, the first in a new series by Immortals After Dark author, Kresley Cole, at a book signing, which was indeed providence, as I had really been looking forward to reading it anyway. My overall impression is that it is a really great, unique read, albeit a bit confusing and slightly disjointed at times. Evie's story is told in flashback form as she recounts the circumstances of her life over the past eight months to a serial killer who is looking to make her his next victim.

Our heroine, Evie Greene is getting ready to start her junior year of high school after spending the summer away at a mental institution. She has visions and sometimes hears voices - never good when you're a rich almost-16-year-old heir to a sugar cane plantation. On her first day back, she meets rogue Jackson Deveaux, a Cajun boy from the wrong side of the swamp. It's a love-hate relationship right from the start.

But then the world nearly ends in a fiery apocalypse, and surviving is now priority numero uno. Evie and Jack find each other and set off on a mission together, growing closer even while Evie tries to keep the vision-seeing and voice-hearing a secret.

The mythology of this story is steeped in astrology and Tarot Cards. Perhaps I wouldn't have been as confused as I was at times if I understood anything about those two things. As I do not, I need to rely on the story and the author's ability to explain things in the proper context. I felt that could've been done a bit better. Although Cole did explain some about Tarot, I felt it came a little too late in the story to be as helpful as I needed it to be.

However, I did think the world building and character development was done very well. The story mainly takes place in Louisiana. I really liked how Cole made the Bayou come to life for someone like me who has never been there. 

 Evie had lots of depth and emotion. She is this rich chick who is dealing with the belief that she's nuts, and she's trying to hide it from everyone. One would think she would be delicate and high-maintenance, but when the crap hits the fan and the world falls apart, Evie shows incredible strength and courage. 

Jack, I liked too, although a little less than Evie. He's very crass and rude, almost to a fault. I get that he's supposed to be rough and unapproachable and that it's supposed to be Evie that softens him. Sometimes I felt that he was almost too mean and irate, so that he was almost a caricature of "the bad boy." There were, however, moments when Jack balanced out, and I really felt like he cared about Evie. Those moments were too few and far between though. I desperately wanted Evie and Jack to figure things out so they could be together. I really loved those two when they were good to each other.

All-in-all, this was a solid four-star book. I will warn you - as good as it is, the ending is abrupt and cliffhangerish. It made me crazy! It's a good long wait until the next book is out. And, as my friends know, I have no patience.