Holly’s review of Night Pleasures (Dark Hunters, Book 2) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Dear Reader, Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be immortal? To journey through the night stalking the evil that preys on humans? To have unlimited wealth, unlimited power? That is my existence, and it is dark and dangerous. I play hero to thousands, but am known to none. And I love every minute of it.
Or so I thought until one night when I woke up handcuffed to my worst nightmare: a conservative woman in a button-down shirt. Or in Amanda’s case, buttoned all the way up to her chin. She’s smart, sexy, witty, and wants nothing to do with the paranormal—in other words, me. My attraction to Amanda Devereaux goes against everything I stand for. Not to mention the last time I fell in love it cost me not only my human life, but also my very soul.
Yet every time I look at her, I find myself wanting to try again. Wanting to believe that love and loyalty do exist. Even more disturbing, I find myself wondering if there’s any way a woman like Amanda can love a man whose battle scars run deep, and whose heart was damaged by a betrayal so savage that he’s not sure it will ever beat again.
Kyrian of Thrace
I read this as part of our Author Spotlight this month. I was really nervous going in because I wasn’t sure it would hold up to the test of time.
I was more disappointed in parts of it than I remember being previously, most notably the way Amanda and Kyrian mentally lusted after each other at the most inappropriate moments. This has long been a pet peeve of mine anyway, but they’re in the middle of a car chase and the bad guys are closing in and Kyrian catches a whiff of Amanda’s scent and is suddenly so hard his pants are uncomfortable? Seriously? Amanda was no better. She’s chased after, thrown into a knife fight and finds out Kyrian is the “good guy” equivalent of a vampire and all she wants to do is lick him? I can understand her not freaking out over being thrown into a paranormal world – she’s lived it practically all her life with her parents and sisters. But the constant lusting was just to much.
Some things were just down right cheesy. The villain especially had me rolling my eyes. I remember thinking he was totally scary and badass when I first read this book, but this time around he was just dumb. His one liners were stupid and I didn’t understand what made him such a formidable foe for all his bumbling around. Also, a lot of Kyrian’s lines to Amanda were cheesy…and kind of sweet. I couldn’t decide if they were eye roll inducing, or enough to catch my heart. An example:
“I’m only sorry I failed you. I wish I could have been the hero you deserved.”
That’s pretty freaking cheesy…but kind of sweet too. And that’s the thing about this novel, for all the cheese (and there was quite a bit of it) it’s very sweet.
When I was reading about Kyrian’s torture my heart hurt for him. And despite knowing what was going to happen at the end, my stomach still flipped and my heart still squeezed for him. I really liked that Amanda stood by him, even when he was being dumb.
Overall I enjoyed it. It’s a very readable novel, and though I spent some time rolling my eyes, I was still swept up in the story.
I’d say it held up fairly well, all things considered.
4 out of 5
The series:
This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.
It may sound sweet while reading the book, but reading it quoted in the review just makes it sound cheesy. LOL
I agree with Casee. That shit did sound pretty cheesy but I remembered eating it all up when I first read this book.
Isn’t it funny how cheesy this series is (because I thought the same thing reading Fantasy Lover again) and how fangirly we were over this series back in the day?
Cracks my shit up! LOL.
I know! I’m almost ashamed of how much I loved these back when. LOL
Oh man and I used to get soooo mad at you when you’d say something bad about the books. I used to think, “How dare she make fun of these books, they’re soooooo good”
LOL.