Night Pleasures
Dark-Hunter, Book #2
By Sherrilyn Kenyon
ISBN# 9780312998363
Author’s Website:  http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Amanda is trying to be the “normal” person in a family of crazy.  From her sister Selena that runs a psychic booth telling others their fortunes to her twin, Tabitha, who hunts and kills vampires with her boyfriend, her family has always been strange.  Amanda tries to stay away from all things paranormal and to just be an average Jane kind of girl.  She was recently engaged to Cliff until she finally took him to meet her family.  They pulled out all the stops to show him how nuts they could be and he dumped her because of it.

While Tabitha is out on one of her vampire hunts she calls Amanda to ask her to go to her house and let her dog out.  Amanda is assaulted when she walks in the door and wakes up in someone’s basement handcuffed to the most handsome man she’s ever seen, Kyrian.

“Tabitha was always trying unorthodox ways to set her up with guys. Although, to be fair to her sister, Tabitha didn’t usually knock the guy unconscious before she forced them together.

Still, with Tabitha there was a first time for just about anything. And extreme blind-dating was very vintage T.”

Kyrian and Amanda are released, but are told that their captor, Desiderius, is giving them until night to come hunting them knowing that Kyrian will do anything to keep her safe even if it costs him his life.

They work together and get freed from one another physically, but end up forming emotional attachments even though it’s against the Dark-Hunter code Kyrian is bound by.

After both Amanda’s and Tabitha’s houses are burned to the ground Kyrian knows he must keep Amanda close to protect her so he takes her to his house where they grow even closer.  But Kyrian knows that nothing can ever come of it because he has no soul and most Dark-Hunters that try to regain their souls end up dying as they have to trust their loved ones to protect it.  And after being betrayed by the one woman he ever trusted makes trusting anyone with something so important impossible.

Desiderius is Kyrian’s most dangerous target yet.  He uses Kyrian’s painful memories against him to hurt him where it counts and now he has a new weapon to use—Amanda.  Not to mention the prophecy from the Oracles says that only the Dark-Hunter with a soul can defeat him.  But Kyrian must do whatever it takes to protect Amanda even if it means he will die in the process.

I was amazed with how much I enjoyed this book after reading the two prequels before it  as I didn’t really care for the first one, Fantasy Lover, at all.  Although I loved seeing the characters from it reemerge in this novel…there is something about Julian that you can’t help, but like.  And I enjoyed seeing how they connected Amanda to that story being Grace’s friend’s sister.  And I don’t think I would have gotten as much out of them being in the story if I hadn’t read Fantasy Lover.  This book really made me glad I continued the series.

I loved Kyrian and seeing how he was betrayed and tortured in the past was heartbreaking.  Then, seeing Desiderius using that pain and making him relive it all made me want to stake him myself.  It made me that much happier to see Amanda return his power to love to him along with his soul, even though I expected that from the beginning.

This novel is a bit smutty though so if you don’t like to read sex scenes then this is NOT the book for you.  But if you don’t mind the smut as long as there is a good storyline than look no further!!  It was much better than I ever expected and I didn’t want to put the book down even for a minute.

The chemistry between Kyrian and Amanda was smoking hot and the sex….yowza… left me panting right along with them and begging for more.  I would say that this book even rivals the sexiness and intensity of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward.  And I absolutely loved when Kyrian came and picked Amanda up from work and showed off in front of Cliff who was trying to make her look bad.

“Her heart pounded as the door lifted and Hunter got out dressed in faded jeans, a gray and black v-neck sweater, and a black leather jacket, the man was drop-dead stunning.

And that deadly stagger of his made her weak in the knees. “Oh baby,” she heard Tammy whisper as he came around the car.

Hunter stopped in front of Amanda and raked a hungry look over her body. “Hi, luscious,” he said in that deep, evocative voice. “Sorry I’m late.”

Before Amanda knew what he was doing, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a sizzling hot kiss. Her body burned in response to his tongue tasting hers as he fisted his hands against her back. Then, he dipped down and picked her up in his arms.

“Hunter!” she gasped as he carried her effortlessly toward the car.

He gave her that devilish tight-lipped smile. His midnight eyes were warm and alive with humor and hunger. With the toe of his boot, he opened the passenger-side door and set her inside. He retrieved her briefcase and purse from the sidewalk where she had dropped them and handed them to her. Then, he turned and gave a knowing smile to Cliff. “You really have to love a woman who lives to see you naked.”

It all left me wondering…where can I find a Dark-Hunter of my very own??

“WHAT ARE YOU, NUTS? THE MAN’S A VAMPIRE! “
“Yeah, but he’s a really, REALLY sexy one.”