Dark Desires After Dusk

This is the fifth installment in Kresley Cole's wonderful Immortals After Dark series, and its one of her finest. It follows the tale a Holly, a half-Valkyrie who was raised as a human. Her neat and tidy world is turned upside down when she meets Cadeon, a demon mercenary, who informs her that not only is she an immortal, she is also the "Vessal"--a rare woman who in the coming war will bare a child of either ultimate good or evil. He offers her protection, but has ulterior motives that threaten the fragile relationship developing between them.

I was amused by both characters. Cadeon is extremely funny and hot. Holly is smart and quirky, and it's fun to watch her develop a backbone. My only complaint with this book was that the ending show more was a bit rushed and unsatisfactory, but it's definitely worth reading anyway. show less

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads.

After three superb installments, this series hit a bit of a snag with book 4, but I wasn’t going to hold that against Kresley Cole or Robert Petkoff, and I’m glad I didn’t because DARK DESIRES AFTER DUSK was glorious! One of the things that I love most about IMMORTALS AFTER DARK is that you meet some of the protagonists beforehand because on top of giving you something to look forward to, it also helps to get readers invested in each character’s eventual outcome.

Holly wasn’t the first heroine whom I’ve encountered that’s been afflicted with OCD, however she was by far the most likable. Ashwin has lead a very PG life as a result of her condition which in turn is the reason why her transformation to show more Valkyrie was unusually delayed. Intense emotions and warriors are practically synonymous, so when a group of immortals attempt to kidnap her, it frees her combatant side. I think Cade’s attitude in relation to Holly’s disorder went a long way towards endearing her to me because he not only understood her limitations, but respected them, and that sensitized me to her plight instead of making it into a baffling annoyance.

As fetching as some of the female leads have been, let’s face it, I listen to this series for the men (and Petkoff’s narration, but I’ll get to that), and Cadeon Woede was delectable. I liked that he wanted to do right by his brother, and to a lesser degree, his mate. His loyalties were first, and foremost to Rydstrom, although that didn’t stop him from teaching Holly how to fight. Nix’s behind the scenes meddling continues to amuse, and with all of this talk of vessels, the Ascension, and the demons going to war, it’s not unreasonable to assume that I’ll be in the loop on all things IAD when #14 comes out because this series just keeps getting better!

You can tell that Robert Petkoff recorded the first ten novels in close proximity to one another by his ever increasing proficiency with Cole’s characters and writing. He was fully immersed in this universe for quite some time while bringing the audiobook versions of this series up to speed, and that fact comes through in his delivery, accents, and fervor. I enjoyed his rendition of the rage demon aspects of Cade’s personality, and applaud his commitment to the steamier parts of these stories.

DARK DESIRES AFTER DUSK put the MMMmmm in demons. ~4.5 stars show less

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting.

Holly has OCD and is a bit of prude. Because of this she really annoyed me at the beginning of the book, but once she started to get more comfortable with herself and the world around her I really started to enjoy her character. One of the best things about this story is that Holly doesn't wait around to be saved. She saves herself most of the time during this story.

It was also refreshing to see Holly the one in control and sometimes aloof towards the hero, Cadeon. While he's the one to lose his head when she gets near him. You rarely see that done in romances. It was also nice to see a heroine who doesn't think that promiscuity in a man is sexy.

So all in all this was a pretty refreshing show more book. I liked Cadeon for his boy-ish demeanor and the world building here was also great. This is wonderful character driven paranormal romance. show less

Loved Holly as a heroine! From her total geekiness to struggles with her OCD, she was def not your average pnr heroine. The sturggles she had with her OCD were dealt with very realistically & I love how they weren't magically "cured" after she turning into a Valkeryie. Also, she really got to kick butt & take names at the end of the book. No Hero swooping in to save her, she did it all by herself.

I had liked the hero more as a side character I think, or maybe I just hoped to like him more in his own book but stayed about the same. The heroine was the problem for me though. She had some unique aspects that made me hopeful, but was overall just tragically sheltered and naive. Like an exaggerated caricature of a proper/sheltered/naive/repressed woman past the point of believability. *Spoiler but from early on in the book-> At one point the hero, who is basically a stranger to her, has literally just thrown himself in front of bullets to protect her and they're running for their very lives- and she keeps scolding him for swearing. ... like wtf is even wrong with you at that point?! It would be ridiculous enough just to scold show more another grown adult for cursing *at all* but especially not when they've just taken bullets for you and you're still in the process of fleeing for your lives! Maybe it was going for an opposites attract rom/com sort of thing or something, but it missed the mark with me and just felt cringy. She does improve by the end, but for too much of the story she behaves like a 15 year old girl raised by Amish or something. Otherwise it had some entertaining dialogue and steam and such, so I'm still going to give it 3 stars, but the heroine definitely killed some of my enjoyment. show less

I felt so bad for Holly, pretty much, throughout this novel and how much she suffered (with OCD etc.) because she refused, and her (adoptive) parents refused, to accept her as she is. Instead of accepting her, they medicated her.

For her entire life, more or less, she fought against who she is and believed all the things that made her who she is was wrong and that she was, essentially, broken (and then her mortal boyfriend used that against her, to steal from her!!.

The redeeming part of the book was the end when she more or less changed to accept herself.

Dark Desires After Dusk is the fifth novel in the Immortals After Dark paranormal romance series. The story concentrates on Cadeon Woede, a character first introduced a couple of books ago when he was competing in the Talisman's Hie (No Rest For The Wicked). Cade has cropped up as a secondary character in all the books since then but now he finally has his own story. For a while now Cade has been painted as a fun loving but slightly unreliable (if not down right unlucky) demon. He was responsible for his brother, deposed King Rydstrom, losing the crown of their homeland and although he has fought along side Rydstrom for nine hundred years since then he has never succeeded in regaining the throne for his brother. The Dark Desires After show more Dusk prologue finally tells readers exactly how he lost the crown in the first place and chapter one gives Cade a sure-fire guaranteed not to fail way to regain it and redeem himself with his brother. All he has to do is capture the Vessel, a female of the Lore who is capable of giving birth to the ultimate warrior, and turn her over to an evil sorcerer who wishes to sire the ultimate evil warrior. In return Cade and Rydstrom will be given the only sword in existence that can kill Omort the Deathless who stole their throne. Determined not to get it wrong this time, Cade's resolve is tested when he realises that the Vessel is the human female that he has been mooning over for the past year. Recognizing her as his own fated female, he has been forced to watch her from afar because a mortal female would not survive the mating ritual. Holly, a mathematician suffering from OCD, has her safe controlled world ripped away from her when a posse of demons kidnap her from campus. Frightened beyond all measure her body is kick-started into its transition from human to Valkyrie. Thrown into the company of Cade, the pair makes a dangerous cross country road trip where they battle with demons, ghosts, vampires, noble fey and wendigo who all seem to want Holly either "dead or bred." This book seems to everything I could possibly desire - sexy heroes, feisty heroines, imaginative mythology and hot, Hot, HOT romance just for starters. This combined with plenty of humor and an action packed plot that speeds faster than a bullet train, makes reading Dark Desires After Dusk an addictive pleasure. show less