Dark Desires After Dusk

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 am so behind on this series! I am hemming and hawing on whether I should go back and start from the beginning. I really don't have TIME to go back and start from the beginning... but I don't remember what happened in the past books and its driving me crazy! Plus, the series is narrated by Robert Petkoff, who may just be my new favorite male narrator. I am very picky with the boys narrating my stories... so I am happy to have found one that I like.

This story features a fairly interesting heroine... a halfling as the hero is so fond of calling her. Holly Ashwin is a half-human, half-valkyrie germaphobe mathematician living a PG-rated life and suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Having grown up in a picture perfect adopted show more family, Holly does not know about her valkyrie heritage. He strange abilities were difficult to deal with growing up, so she forced herself into a strictly controlled environment free of any stimuli that would trigger her passion or rage. However now Holly is the vessel... the supernatural baby maker of the moment. Her first born child with be a great warrior of either good or evil, depending on whose sperm gets in there first. Going on the run with a millenium-old sexy demon shakes up Holly's life beyond belief, and it was great seeing her let go and transform into her valkyrie self.

Cadeon Woede, Kingmaker and Rage Demon has known that Holly was his fated female from the first time he saw her. However he wasn't able to claim Holly because he (and everyone else) thought she was human, and such pairings are forbidden for members of the Lore. Cade has only been waiting for his female for 900 years... so imagine how happy/relieved/possessive he would be once he learned that she was not human and he could claim her. Now imagine how he would feel finding out that he must give up his fated female to an evil sorcerer, brother of his enemy, because its the only way he regain his brother's crown and kingdom. I loved Cadeon... and I usually am not fan of demonic stories but I loved this big blond brawny demon. And it certainly helped that Robert Petkoff did a fabulous South African accent for him. I could have listened to that all day. I didn't quite get drawn into the load of guilt Cade had been carrying around, but I loved his cocky attitude and blunt nature.

This was not an insta-love relationship. Although Cade knew Holly was his fated female, he did not intend to claim her because he felt obligated to turn her over to the sorcerer in exchange for a sword that would kill the usurper of his kingdom. And Holly was too busy trying to resist all temptation to really notice or understand Cade's true interest in her... she was only seeing his surface instead of his deeper intentions and emotion. Once they do come together, things are very steamy - for a while at least. But Cade must still reach the sorcerer's lair by the deadline, so they must keep moving toward their goal, which will also be the ultimate test of their fledgling relationship. There was a lot of good sexual tension in this book, and the build up to Cade's claiming was nicely done. I liked that it fell to Holly to take the reins in the end because Cade was determined to be honorable and self-sacrificing. I also liked all the action and suspense that kept the story moving forward when we weren't focused on the relationship.

I an interested to see what happens in the next installment with Sabine and Rydstrom... and I will definitely be continuing in audio with this awesome narrator.

Full review posted at Bambi Unbridled.
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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 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.

This was another enjoyable read from Kresley Cole's IAD series. Going into this book I was a little wary. I knew that the heroine had OCD. I struggled heavily with the condition for six years, roughly (and still have my quirks). So reading a book about an OCD heroine worried me for two reasons:

1) I worried if Cole would do a good job portraying an OCD character.
2) I worried if Cole would do too good a job of portraying an OCD character. As I'm always concerned about something triggering my compulsions.

Suffice it to say, Holly came off very realistic to me. After I got past her fixation on multiples of three, which bothered me at first because I like symmetry and even numbers/multiples of two, it was smooth reading and a fun ride with show more no nasty side effects on my side.

Holly is a halfling: Half human half Valkyrie. She was raised by humans totally unaware of her Valkyrie lineage until she is kidnapped by demons with the intent to impregnate her with their demon seed. See, Holly is the Vessel. She is coveted because impregnating her will guarantee a child of either pure evil or pure good, depending on the father. Of course, the bad guys want her because they want that evil child, and the same could be said for the good guys wanting a purely good child. And Cade wants her, not only because he's positive that she's his mate, Holly is also the key to him righting his long ago wrong.

Holly is thrust into this new world where her Valkyrie side, powers and strength are new to her. She is without her medication and traveling with a Demon that throws all of her careful planning and meticulous living out of whack. She is attracted to him and scared of that attraction. Plus she has claws and fangs that sprang overnight. In short, she is on a thin string ready to snap at any moment. She handles it well.

It was really great having a Demon hero. Cole has given us Vampires and Lykae's before so it was nice to have a deviation from that with a sexy Demon. Cade was responsible for his brother Rhydstrom losing his place at the throne of the Woede Demons. His goal since then has been to get Rhyd his rightful place back. But he never thought that the only way to do that would be to give up the mate he has waited 900 years for.

Once Cade turns Holly over to The Groot, this nasty dude who wants the "Vessel" and holds the key to killing Omort the Deathless--the demon who stole Rhyd's kingdom--the power of the kingdom will be relinquished back to Rhyd. Only one problem: Cade is not so sure that he will be able to turn his mate over after finally finding her.

Dark Desires After Dusk was a good read for me. The characterization was great on Holly's part. There was no miraculous freedom from her OCD. She just learned how to deal with it better. Cade was a great hero with horns. He is totally action where Holly is think first, act second. They were very yin and yang so to speak, and made quite the duo. Cole did a great job with this book, it's one of my favorite's of the bunch now. show less