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Review: A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley ColeLiviania‘s review of A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark, Book 1) by Kresley Cole
Paranormal Romance released by Pocket Star Books 28 Mar 06

Kresley Cole’s popular Immortals After Dark series begins with A Hunger Like No Other. The book opens as Lachlain, King of the Lykae, escapes a torture chamber to pursue the scent of his mate. He’s waited centuries for her to appear. His mate, to his displeasure, turns out to be recent Tulane grad Emmaline Troy, a half-vampire, half-valkyrie. She’s a bit of a coward instead of the warrior she has the potential to be, and Lachlain scares her when he abducts her in Paris.


I expected to love A Hunger Like No Other since it’s a favorite with fans of the series and I greatly enjoyed Dark Need’s At Night’s Edge. However, the hero-almost-rapes-the-heroine-but-she-falls-in-love-anyway storyline just does not work for me. I felt like I was reading a novel from the eighties, rather than 2006. Cole did it well; because of the book’s events, Emma becomes stronger and embraces her heritage. In the end, she kicks butt and takes names. I wish she had more significant cameos in the following books.

Lachlain, though . . . as soon as he redeemed himself to me, he would do something else to piss me off. First it’s the old, “You’re saying no but your body wants me,” line. Then it’s lying to Emma at a point when the truth would clearly work better. (Actually, he lies to Emma almost constantly. That’s a great basis for a relationship.) Then it’s getting Emma drunk so she’ll be easy. He manages to be enough of a man to not take advantage of her, which I liked, but I did not like that he did these things continually.

While the overall premise did not work for me, I enjoyed the interracial relationship aspects of the book. Cole achieved a comfortable blend of the real world and the paranormal. Lachlain has a strong hatred of vampires due to his past with them, but he only knows of the Fallen. He also does not realize Emma is part valkyrie and judges her completely by her vampire heritage. Emma knows almost nothing about the Lore. The two learn about each other’s culture and move past their initial prejudices. Lachlain must also gain the approval of her family. (So must Nikolai Wroth, who became the vampire lover of Emma’s aunt in Cole’s story in the anthology Playing Easy to Get.) To me, the mechanics of their developing a lasting relationship are far more interesting and plausible than the “I’m falling in love with the guy who kidnapped and abused me!” part.

I found myself reading A Hunger Like No Other for the antics of the other valkyrie and for the subplot dealing with Emma’s discovery of her father’s identity. The romance just did not interest me. Cole did the well with her premise, but I still found it too off-putting.

liviania.jpgGrade: C

Summary:

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?

Read an excerpt here.

Click on the Immortals After Dark series tag for more excerpts, more reviews, and more everything on this series.