Re-Read Challenge March 2009

This month, I was a little ambitious because I read two books this month for Nath's Re-Read challenge. These books do have a common thread though, the heroines are identical twin sisters that are matched with mortal and immortal enemies. Needless to say, the conflicts aren't the usual ones!

Title(s): Night Pleasures (Dark Hunter book #2) and Seize the Night (Dark Hunter book #7)

Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Copyright: 2002 and 2005

Type: Paperback

Pages: 309 & 325

Why am I re-reading this book? When I first heard of Nath's re-read challenge, Night Pleasures was the first book to come to my mind! I couldn't wait to re-read it. When I first read this book back in 2002, it was my first vampire/paranormal book! In fact, this is around the time that I started reading romance books heavily. I have fond memories of reading this book for the first time. I loved, loved Kyrian of Thrace (hero)! He was my first alpha hero!

I also decided to re-read Seize the Night both because the heroines in these books are twin sisters and because I remember this book was my most anticipated book in the Dark Hunter series. For me the series started heading down hill after Seize, so much so that I don't read this series anymore. :(

Summary: Night Pleasures: 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 minutes 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, one 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.

Seize the Night: was born the noble son of a legendary Roman senator. I walked through the ancient world as a general, admired and supreme until a brutal betrayal caused me to bargain my soul. Now I'm an immortal Dark-Hunter, bound to protect mankind from the evil scourge that haunts it. Over the centuries, I've seen many frightening things: plagues, pestilence, disco music...

And now Tabitha Devereaux. A human, she has trained herself to fight vampires every bit as capably as any Dark-Hunter. Idiosyncratic and off-beat, she is my personal bane-and yet she beguiles me. There are only two small problems. She happens to be the twin of my mortal enemy's wife. More than that, Tabitha and her sister are being stalked by a power that will not rest until everyone she holds dear is dead.

Unlike my Dark-Hunter brethren, I rely on no one but myself. They spurned me and I turned my back on them. But the only way to save Tabitha and her family is to find some way to bridge a two thousand-year-old feud.

They say opposites attract, but can they stay together when even the Fates conspire to keep them apart? Then again, the Fates have never dealt with the likes of Tabitha Devereaux before. They're going to be in for quite a fight...

What are my feelings upon re-reading this book-Do I still like it as much? Well, my feelings have changed a lot since I last read these books. It's really surprising to me. In both books, all four characters are in significant parts. Kyrian was tortured by Valerius' father. Valerius was also horribly abused by his father. So Valerius' father is the bad guy but Kyrian and all the other Dark-Hunters hate Valerius. Does not make since to me because of "sins of the fathers" and all that. Valerius also accepts that they hate him and he is alone.

Kyrian is someone I remember with fondness but reading him this time I just felt bored. I was bored by his whining, his hatred for Valerius and his whimpiness. Dude, you are thousands of years old, grow up already! Let go of the past!

Valerius in his book STN, I remember feeling let down. I wanted him to be a fighter! But he wasn't he was a lover and a gentle soul and that appeals more to me now. He loved his twin (Tabitha) but he knew he could never have her because Kyrian would never allow it. He thought he could never be blessed to have anything so good in his life like Tabitha.

Amanada and Tabitha Deveraux are identical twins who fall in love with mortal and immortal enemies. They were the ones with the guts. They saved the men they loved and made them let go of their pasts and find some peace between them. The heroines were the true heros of these books!

I don't know why my tastes have changed but they have! I guess I'll have to read them again in a few years to see if I feel different again!

How many stars? Night Pleasures: 4 Stars

Seize the Night: 5 Stars

TBR Challenge March 2009

Title:  When A Stranger Loves Me

Author: Julianne MacLean

Copyright: 2009

Type: Historical

Pages: 372

Sensuality: Hot

Why am I reading this book? This is my entry into Keishon's TBR Challenge!

Summary: I saved his life . . . and I had much to demand in return.

When he washed up on shore, I knew my prayers had been answered, and that I, Lady Chelsea Campion, need no longer fear poverty and heartbreak. To secure my family's estate, all I needed was a child. Handsome, clearly noble-born, and with no memory of his previous life, the mysterious man was perfect. All I had to do was visit his bedchamber and seduce him. I had expected him to be a skillful, scandalously wonderful lover, but once in his arms I was overcome by something more than mere passion. I had fallen hopelessly, desperately in love.

My plan has gone shockingly awry. But I will not give up a man who makes me feel such wicked ecstasy. No matter his true identity, no matter the secrets he struggles to remember, I will do anything in this world to make this stranger love me.

Thoughts/Opinion:  Ms. Maclean is one of my favorite authors so I was expecting to really enjoy this book.  And I did.  This is the third in her Pembroke Palace series featuring 4 sons who must marry by christmas or risk losing their inheritance.   This is Blake's book.  He is the the brother that takes care of the families ducal estate.  He is the brother that is closest to the father and he sacrificed everything for his "duty" to his family.  

This is a very interesting amnesia story.  It is interesting because we know Blake pretty well from the other books.  Now he has no memory and he doing everything completely differently. He is acting angry, selfish and passionate.  The perfect alpha male, right?

Our heroine, Lady Chelsea was ruined some years ago because she eloped with some guy and it ruined not only her life but her family's.  Her father lost his very promising political career and died soon after.  Her mother has been living in exile with Chelsea ever since.  Chelsea's brother and wife live with her and her mother during the summer.  Chelsea's brother and his wife can't conceive so there is no heir to the earldom.  Right before our hero enters the picture Chelsea has received a marriage offer from an old, gross, icky cousin who is the heir to her father since her brother and his wife can't conceive.  The cousin says if she doesn't marry him when her brother dies, she and her mother and sister-in-law will be out on the streets.  

So Chelsea comes up with a plan to seduce this handsome stranger so that she can conceive a child and give it to her brother and they can pass it off as an heir.  

Things I enjoyed: Of course I liked Blake best.  He is such a great guy who loves Chelsea.  I love Ms. Maclean's voice.  Her writing just captures me every time and I love it. 

Things I didn't care for: Blake's so out of character behavior was a little far fetched for me. Almost  unbelievable, in fact.  He is so angry for most of this book and that just isn't like him.  

Ok, Chelsea and her plan.  It is hard to believe that someone like Chelsea who despite being ruined is a virgin, would go and throw herself at Blake the way she did.  Her plan was selfish because she wanted to not feel guilty anymore about what she did to her family but she also wanted pleasure.  Huh?????  That was didn't ring true for me.  Chelsea did redeem herself to me after Blake found out about her plan and he was furious at her and she tried to do everything she could to make it up to him.  

This book didn't have the emotional depth that Maclean's novels usually have for me.  So that was a bummer.  But I still enjoyed being back at Pembroke Palace!

Grade? B