Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series has been rather hit and miss with me, and although I can't say that Kiss of the Night was the best book I've read in the series so far, it was pretty good overall. That's not to say that I didn't do quite a bit of eye-rolling during the first half of the story, because there were certainly some things that provoked my incredulity even for a fantasy world. There are things that happened which I felt stretched the bounds of credibility, even of what had previously been revealed about Dark-Hunter mythology. Ms. Kenyon seems to have a penchant for making things occur for the convenience of the plot that she then does not explain very well. I don't really care much for this as a story-telling style, because it seems too lazy to me. While it is readily apparent that Ms. Kenyon has a vivid imagination, I sometimes wish she would reign it in a little to give her world a bit more clarity.

Normally, I avoid giving away major spoilers for the books I read, but I had serious issues with two of the main plot points in Kiss of the Night that I felt needed to be addressed, so if readers don't want to be spoiled, don't read this paragraph of my review. ************SPOILER ALERT************* First, Wulf apparently did not become a Dark-Hunter in the usual way (ie Artemis became the keeper of his soul upon his death, and he is given one act of vengeance and immortality in exchange for a lifetime of service to her). Instead Wulf apparently never died but made some kind of soul switch with a Dark-Huntress who he slept with all those centuries ago. This never made any sense to me at all, because Dark-Hunters don't have a soul to switch in the first place. Then it was stated that Wulf still had a soul which is why he wasn't bound to Artemis in the same way as other Dark-Hunters, but in the end Acheron said his soul was being held by the Norse god, Loki. All this was incredibly confusing to me, and I finally gave up trying to figure it all out. The second thing I took issue with is the first two love scenes of the book that resulted in Cassandra's subsequent pregnancy. Wulf and Cassandra's love-making was apparently completely engineered by Artemis and took place inside their dreams without them knowing that it was “for real.” Since neither of them was a consciously willing participant, this kind of weirded me out. The other thing that bothered me about all this was that Wulf was able to impregnate Cassandra in a dream (How on earth did that happen?). Also, Wulf believed himself sterile since all Dark-Hunters are supposed to be, but he conveniently had one of those loopholes I mentioned. The idea that he didn't know he was able to father children, and had likely had numerous unprotected sexual encounters for the last twelve centuries yet had never gotten a single woman pregnant really stretched the bounds of my ability to suspend disbelief. I was also a bit annoyed that early in the story Ms Kenyon's answer to Wulf's soul-switch was merely, “some things are inexplicable,” and as to Cassandra getting pregnant in a dream, she had a secondary character make a flippant comment about this being fantasy not reality. I began to wonder if the author was just poking fun, but I really need for things like this to make sense even in the fantasy realm and not just be left unexplained. ************END SPOILER ALERT*************

By the second half of the book, there was less focus on the two above issues, so I was able to put them on the back burner and just enjoy the rest the story for what it was. There was quite a bit of excitement with Wulf and Cassandra going on the run from the evil Spathi Daimons, the occurrence of a blessed event, and the quest to find a “cure” for Cassandra's curse that would leave her dead on her next birthday which was only a matter of months away. I thought the action scenes improved a bit and weren't quite as B-movie cheesy as they had been earlier, and with Wulf and Cassandra's consciousnesses fully engaged, the love scenes were much better for me too. I loved how Ms. Kenyon brought back all the main Dark-Hunters from the previous books to help Wulf in his hour of need, but what I liked most about this half of the book is all the depth that was added to the Apollites and Daimons. Up to this point, they have been the mortal enemies of the Dark-Hunters, and somewhat demonized as the bad guys. With Cassandra being half-Apollite, readers get a whole new perspective on her race and are given a lot of food for thought about what constitutes true evil versus someone doing something that seems evil for the sake of survival. It made me wonder if this union between an Apollite and a Dark-Hunter may be the beginning of something bigger happening in the overarching plotline of the series.

As for the hero and heroine, Wulf and Cassandra, I liked them, but I thought they needed a little something more to make them stand out. Wulf was a Viking warrior who has some regrets about certain choices he made before becoming immortal, and has had to bear the burden of watching all his brother's descendants (his only blood kin) die for the last twelve centuries until he now only has one relative left. Wulf also bears the curse that no one can remember him five minutes after he leaves the room except the Dark-Hunters and humans who are related to him by blood, so he has lived a pretty lonely existence. Once Cassandra was able to remember him (another one of those convenient loopholes), I felt like the author dropped the ball a bit on this, and it might have been interesting to see more of how this curse affected him. Although it was another of those things that was sketchy and confusing to me, apparently Cassandra is the last direct descendant of Apollo's bloodline and there is a prophecy that if she dies all Apollites and Daimons will be freed from their curse, hence why they are both hunting her. What they don't know though, is that if she dies, the world will end too. Cassandra has lived her entire life running from the Daimons, and has watched all her family members except her human father die at their hands. Now she is trying to find a way to extend her unnaturally short lifespan of a mere 27 years. Cassandra is also a brave warrior in her own right, and takes an admirable “glass-half-full” approach to life. Overall, Wulf and Cassandra's relationship was nice with some tender moments between them that I liked, but I still wasn't able to entirely buy into their love connection. I think things just happened too quickly in the beginning, and there weren't enough deeper relationship building scenes to really make their romance spark off the pages for me.

As with all the Dark-Hunter books, there are tons of secondary characters both old and new. The characters from previous stories who appear in Kiss of the Night include: Acheron, Simi, Artemis, Talon (Night Embrace), Spawn (first seen in Dance with the Devil), Julian (Fantasy Lover), Kyrian (Night Pleasures), and Zarek (Dance with the Devil) who I was glad to see has not lost his anti-social nature and sardonic wit. Two new characters who become the heroes of future stories were introduced: Dante, a were-panther, whose story can be found in Winter Born (from the Stroke of Midnight anthology); and Stryker, the leader of the Spathi Daimons, whose story is One Silent Night, although he behaved so evilly in Kiss of the Night, it will be interesting to see how the author manages to redeem him. There were several other interesting supporting characters who made a first appearance. At this time they don't have their own stories, but I hope to perhaps see more of them through the course of the series: Urian, Stryker's son; D'Aria, the first female Dream-Hunter; and Kat, Cassandra's mysterious bodyguard whose real identity was left hanging. I reread the ending more than once, but it seemed that she simply disappeared not long after Ash had said something which put her true alliances into question. Last but not least was Chris, Wulf's squire and last living relative. I loved him because he's funny, geeky and totally irreverent toward Wulf, and since I adore geeks, I wouldn't have minded seeing an HEA for him too.

In my opinion, Sherrilyn Kenyon has a tendency to introduce a lot of new characters and mythology instead of more effectively utilizing what she already has on the canvas, often making me feel like I need a Dark-Hunter encyclopedia to keep up. I can't say that I'm really getting used to it being this way, but I think I'm coming to expect it which may be making it a little easier to take. The plot of Kiss of the Night was a little thin especially during the first half making it a little slow-moving, but the second half held my attention well and made me warm up to the story and characters. I think this was meant to be something of a transition book with it's main purpose being the addition of details to the Apollite and Daimon mythology. I actually enjoyed this, because unlike some of Ms. Kenyon's other myth add-ons, I felt like this greatly expanded the character development of these races rather than just being there for the sake of the plot. Sherrilyn Kenyon recently changed the ordering of the Dark-Hunter series making Kiss of the Night book #4, but it essentially takes place simultaneously with Night Embrace and Dance with the Devil and then expands upon that time frame. In fact, Kiss of the Night has a near word-for-word replay of the phone conversation between Wulf and Talon from the beginning of Night Embrace, as well as the mention of some of the major events from those two books. Even though I had some problems with Kiss of the Night, it was entertaining enough to be generally enjoyable, and I plan to continue with the series. In any case, I'll likely keep going at least until I reach Acheron, because I simply must know the mystery behind the enigma that is Ash. ( )

Dark Hunter: " A souless guardian who stands between mankind and those who would see mankind destroyed" SK "Dance With The Devil"

Daimons: "Avicious breed of Apollite who chose to prolong their short lives by killing humans and stealing their souls" Sk "Kiss of the Night"

Wulf Tryggasen, ex viking warrior turned dark hunter, is uniquely curse. After leaving a preson's presence they forget all about him within five minutes. Causing him aggravation and lonliness.

Cassandra Peters is an Apollite princess who only has 8 months left to live. She lives life to the fullest as their is no time to waste. Cassandra is being hunted by the daimons as she has a unique gift.

Wulf is assaigned to protect Cassandra, a women of the very race that he has been hunting for centuries, who has the ability to get past his curse. Neither of them will trust each other. Together they must learn to trust each other to defeat the daimons and find their love for each other. ( )

This is the most different story and I loved it, full of depth, it's about life and living, death and dying. Although I knew there's a happy ending, Sherrilyn Kenyon put a lot of obstacles between the characters before attaining that happiness. They're like Romeo and Juliet, their love was forbidden because of who and what they were.

Wulf is a different Dark-Hunter than the rest of them and I liked the story behind that. I was a little confused at the first mention of Talon then I realized the events were simultaneous when Wulf called him while he was ordering chicory coffee and beignets. This story has a longer time frame because somewhere in the middle, Zarek's became a demigod. It's good to know he lived in a beach, it's quite cute, he's my fave DH after all.

Going back to Wulf and Cassandra, their story was really special, both of them were desperate and I really liked their fighting spirit. I also loved the reappearance of the characters in the previous books. As usual, Acheron played a vital role in this story. His squire Chris was equally interesting, I always have a soft spot for nerds and the way Wulf hovered around him was understandable, and the usual jokes and cracks were here.

The love scenes were hot but I was a little disturbed when they did it while Cassandra was pregnant. Putting that aside, I loved the story and the characters. ( )

This one wasn't too bad. I like the main characters, there was some drama, and some threatening tears and such, met some new characters as well. It was good and funny as well. ( )

Dear Reader,

What do you get when you take one immortal Viking warrior no one can remember five minutes after he leaves their presence, an Apollite heiress on the run for her life, and one seriously pissed off demigod? Basically, you get my life.

It started out simple enough. I went to save a woman one night in a club. The next thing I knew, the doorway to hell had opened and out stepped Daimons the likes of which I'd never seen before. Led by the son of Apollo, they are out to end the curse that has banished them all to darkness. The only problem with that is they have to kill Cassandra Peters to do it and if she dies, so dies the sun, the earth and all who dwell here. Life's just a bowl full of cherries, ain't it?

Brought together by fate, it's now my job to protect a daughter of the very race I have been hunting for centuries. Neither of us dares to trust the other. But she is the only one who remembers me... More than that, with her courage and strength, she is the only one who has ever touched a heart that I thought died centuries ago.

The only way for a Dark-Hunter to regain his soul is through the love of a woman. But what happens when that woman isn't exactly human?

Wulf Tryggvasen