Review: Blood Red Kiss by Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, and Gena Showalter

Blood Red Kiss by Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, and Gena Showalter
Publisher: Pocket Books
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Sci-Fi Romance

ISBN: 9781501142581
Release Date: September 20, 2016
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N
Kresley Cole Reading Order
Larissa Ione Reading Order

Get ready for a collection chock full of vamps, demons, aliens, and plenty of sizzle!

In Kresley Cole’s remastered story "The Warlord Wants Forever," the first in her scorching Immortals After Dark series, vampire warlord Nikolai Wroth will stop at nothing to claim his Bride, the one woman who can make his heart beat again. But can beautiful Myst the Coveted accept an enemy vampire as her own?

Tehya has spent the last twelve years as an accidental wolf, but is truly a vampire at heart. When she gets injured, Lobo sneaks her inside MoonBound’s headquarters and nurses her back to health…with potentially deadly consequences. Desire collides with danger in "Forsaken by Night," a MoonBound Clan novella from Larissa Ione!

In Gena Showalter's Otherworld Assassins novella, Dark Swan, Lilica Swan isn't quite human or otherworlder; she is the best--and worst--of both. She is willing to do whatever proves necessary to save her sister from the seductive and deadly Alien Investigation and Removal agent, Dallas Gutierrez, even bond her life to his...effectively wedding him. But without consummation, the bond will fade. Can Dallas resist his insatiable desire for the powerful beauty? Or will she lead to his ultimate downfall?

“The Warlord Wants Forever” (Immortals After Dark, Book 1) by Kresley Cole
Myst the Coveted is the most beautiful of all the Valkyries, the one her enemies have underestimated for centuries. Five years ago vampire warlord Nikolai Wroth made the mistake of doing the same and she left him in agony. Now he’s on the hunt to capture Myst and claim her. For she’s his Bride, and he won’t let the vicious woman who tempts him like no other get away from him again.

I fell in love with “The Warlord Wants Forever” a decade ago, and it remains a favorite of mine to this day! Myst and Wroth’s story is passionate, energetic, and captivating from start to finish. Not only is it the perfect introduction to Kresley Cole’s sizzling Immortals After Dark series, it’s an edgy, exciting paranormal romance all on its own. Myst and Wroth battle in bed and out and their chemistry is simply out of this world. Myst is sassy, fierce, and sometimes vulnerable, and it’s an appealing combination. Wroth is a hardened warrior who is her equal in every way, and he has his work cut out for him if he hopes to become the man – vampire – Myst deserves. Their romance is tumultuous and engaging and no matter how many times I read it, I fall in love all over again. Myst and Wroth are a dynamic pair and the world of the Loreans Ms. Cole has created is vibrant and wholly addictive.

Please note: This is a revised edition of “The Warlord Wants Forever,” but none of the changes to the story were substantive.


“Forsaken by Night” (MoonBound Clan Vampires, Book 2.5) by Larissa Ione
Vampire Lobo was exiled from the MoonBound Clan years ago for breaking the rules using his skinwalker abilities. He’s been a loner ever since, his only comfort being his wolf, Tehya, who he found twelve years ago. His not-quite-solitary existence is turned upside down when Tehya is injured. Lobo is willing to break every rule to save her, but what will he do when she transforms and the wolf he adores becomes a gorgeous, tempting vampire?

I can always count on Larissa Ione to deliver a unique story and “Forsaken by Night” definitely fits the bill. I absolutely adored this fantastic romance that has an unusual beginning. Watching Lobo and Tehya’s love go from platonic to romantic warmed my heart. Both of them have suffered and have been shaped by circumstance, but with each other they find love and acceptance. Their love story is one of risk and sacrifice, and when you add in the sizzling heat between the two vampires, a dash of humor, and the utterly fascinating world of Ms. Ione’s MoonBound Clan Vampires, and it’s easy to see why I found “Forsaken by Night” so appealing.

Readers new to the MoonBound Clan Vampires series can jump in with “Forsaken by Night” and not get lost. That being said, “Forsaken by Night” does contain spoilers for the first two books, Bound by Night and Chained by Night.


“Dark Swan” (Otherworld Assassin, Book 2.5) by Gena Showalter
Lilica was created and raised in a lab, and all that she has in life, all that she cares about, are her sisters. When she learns that Dallas Gutierrez, an Alien Investigation and Removal agent, is a threat to one of them, Lilica decides that she’ll stop him any way she can. Then something goes wrong – or incredibly right – and Lilica’s life is bonded to the tempting man who should be her enemy…

“Dark Swan” features two complex characters falling in love against their better judgment. Gena Showalter delivers an interesting pair in Lilica and Dallas. He’s an AIR agent who isn’t entirely human, and she’s a mix of numerous species with incredible abilities. Both of them have heartbreaking pasts and neither of them are quite what others believe them to be, so watching them come into their own was fantastic. Their bond is the catalyst for their change, but it also speeds up the process of them falling in love when all the odds are against them. It’s clear Dallas and Lilica are attracted to each other from the start, but throw in their sudden bonding and the sexual tension ratchets up a thousand percent. Add in some high stakes and tons of action with Lilica trying to save her sister and Dallas trying to save the world, and you have one exciting story.

“Dark Swan” is a novella from Ms. Showalter’s Otherworld Assassin series, but from my understanding Dallas is a supporting character who first appeared in her Alien Huntress series. Having not read either series, I can say you won’t feel lost jumping into “Dark Swan,” but at the same time it’s not as easy to become invested in the story when you aren’t really familiar with the world. There are also a couple of relationships outside the main romance that I felt I was missing out on the emotional impact because I wasn’t familiar with the characters. That being said, I did like the detail and was intrigued by what I saw in this story, so I’ll definitely go back to the beginning and start with Awaken Me Darkly, the first Alien Huntress book.



Blood Red Kiss features three passionate romances with wonderfully unique characters. Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, and Gena Showalter are all powerhouse authors and their talents are on clear display in this anthology. Whether you’re a fan of Mses. Cole, Ione, and Showalter or are simply looking to read some dark, seductive paranormal and otherworldly romances, Blood Red Kiss is sure to please.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Read More

Review: The Professional: Part 1 by Kresley Cole

The Professional: Part 1 by Kresley Cole
Series: The Game Maker, Book 1, Part 1
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary Erotica
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Audible | iTunes

He makes the rules…
Mafiya enforcer Aleksei “The Siberian” Sevastyan’s loyalty to his boss knows no bounds, until he meets the boss’s long-lost daughter, a curvy, feisty redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Aleksei will do anything to possess her as well—on his own wicked terms.

Rules are made to be broken…
Grad student Natalie Porter had barely recovered from her first sight of the dark and breathtaking Sevastyan before the professional enforcer whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. Every day under his protection leads her deeper under his masterful spell.

Are you ready to play?
Yet all is not as it seems. To remove Natalie from an enemy’s reach, Sevastyan spirits her into hiding. From an opulent palace in Russia to the decadent playgrounds of the mega-wealthy in Paris, the two lovers will discover that even their darkest—and most forbidden—fantasies can come true...

As a fan of Kresley Cole’s paranormal Immortals After Dark series, I was eager to see this talented author tackle contemporary erotica. The Professional: Part 1 shows promise, though ultimately it’s not as imaginative or sexy as I’d hoped given the author (to clarify: the scenes are more explicit, but to this reader they were less sexy than what can be found in other books of Ms. Cole’s). The beginning of The Professional: Part 1 falls victim to post-Fifty Shades of Grey erotica commonalities: the post-grad virgin BDSM novice, the suited, wealthy, mysterious Dom, the push-pull relationship because “he’s not for her,” and more. That being said, the story picked up about halfway through and stays strong until its abrupt end (it’s not really a cliffhanger so much as a chopping point for this serial).

What worked for me in The Professional: Part 1 was Natalie and Sevastyan’s developing chemistry. Natalie is a sass-master who gets under Sevastyan’s skin, but giving in to their desire for one another isn’t a simple matter given Sevastyan’s role in Natalie’s father’s organization. How Natalie and Sevastyan will handle this is something that remains to be seen, but I’m intrigued. A bigger question mark is Sevastyan himself. Much of what we learn about his personality is dependent on what Natalie overhears him muttering, so I hope more layers are peeled back as we go on.

On its own, The Professional: Part 1 is a bit of hit and miss for me. I’ve come to expect a certain degree of originality from Ms. Cole which wasn’t really there in this book. However, as this is only the first part of The Professional, I’ll keep reading in the hopes that the story continues to improve.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Read More

Dark Needs at Night’s Edge by Kresley Cole: A Must Read

**Note: this review is spoiler-free, so read on without fear**

Unbeknownst to humankind, immortals live among us. Creatures of the Lore – vampires, Valkyrie, witches, Lykae, demons, and other magical beings are as real as you or I. Battles have been going on for centuries as different factions of the Lore vie for supremacy. But things are changing. Even as the fighting escalates, enemies have become allies, prejudices are slowly being chipped away, and love seems determined to have its say. This is the world of Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series.

Dark Needs at Night’s Edge takes us to the haunted streets of New Orleans where Conrad Wroth, a vampire driven to madness, hunted by his enemies, and consumed by his need for vengeance, plots to kill his brothers for having turned him into what he hates. In their last effort to bring him back from the brink of destruction, Conrad’s brothers capture and imprison him at Elancourt, an abandoned estate. What they don’t know is that the mansion’s former owner still lives there…and only Conrad can see her.

Néomi Laress was once a famous ballerina, until her life was abruptly cut short by her murder. For more than eighty years she has haunted her home, unable to interact with anyone – until Conrad. Néomi is drawn to Conrad, seeing the man beneath the madness. Can Conrad overcome the darkness inside him? Will love be able to grow between a vampire and a ghost? Or will Conrad’s enemies destroy them both? These questions I leave to be answered by the story.

I have two confessions to make. First, I absolutely love the first four books in Cole’s Immortals After Dark series. Second, I was fully prepared to dislike this book. Conrad begins the book wanting to kill his brothers, Nikolai, Sebastian, and Murdoch. After four books, two of which featured Wroth males as heroes, I am firmly attached to the Wroth brothers and did not believe I could like someone out to harm them for reasons I did not agree with. In addition, I do not, as a rule, like romances featuring ghosts. That being said…

I loved this book! Cole defied my expectations, overcame my biases, and delivered a love story beyond compare. I was engrossed in Conrad’s inner struggle, found myself understanding the reasons that fueled his desire for revenge, and loved his protectiveness of Néomi. I admired Néomi’s inner strength, adored her quirks, and was heartbroken by her need for love. Most importantly, I was completely enthralled by this story from the very beginning. Conrad and Néomi have numerous obstacles to overcome, none the least of which is her being incorporeal. I found myself cheering them on, wondering how their burgeoning love would survive.

I also cannot write this review without praising Cole’s skill, not just as a storyteller, but as a writer. Conrad’s thoughts, his disassociation from himself in his madness, are written in such a way that I am in awe of Cole’s talent. The transition of those thoughts as he slowly begins to reclaim control is so smooth, so flawless, that after I finished Dark Needs at Night’s Edge I found myself flipping back, trying to find the transition point. For this reason alone, I would recommend the book.

One of my favorite aspects of this series is that characters from previous books play strong supporting roles. In Dark Needs at Night’s Edge, readers get to revisit almost all the previous heroes and heroines of the series, and many more favorite characters reappear. In addition, Cole provides some tantalizing hints about her next hero and heroine, Cade and Holly, which makes me grateful Dark Desires After Dusk comes out May 20, 2008.

For those new to Cole’s world, Dark Needs at Night’s Edge does stand on its own. However, for a richer read (as all the supporting characters have appeared in previous books), I recommend reading the entire series, the order of which can be found by clicking here.

Dark Needs at Night’s Edge is a fantastic addition to Cole’s already incredible series. A sexy, tortured hero, an enchanting heroine, an engaging plot, and a beautiful love story all delivered by a truly superb writer make Dark Needs at Night’s Edge a must read!!!

Read More

Love & Lies

Manipulative men – in real life, any man who would use or play games with me would find himself in the hospital getting my foot surgically removed from their rear end. In romance, however, the men who manipulate, while often walking the fine line between good and bad (but not evil), are often so darn sexy that I just don’t care. True, their heroines often give these men their comeuppance, but what is it about these romance bad boys that send shivers down my spine?

Case and point: I just finished reading Lora Leigh’s Harmony’s Way (which is a fantastic book, by the way) and one of the main secondary characters, Jonas Wyatt, completely captured my attention. For those not familiar with Leigh’s Breed series, in a nutshell Jonas is a Lion Breed (scientifically created humans with animal DNA spliced in – a very oversimplified definition) who can and will lie, scheme, and manipulate anyone and everyone in order to ensure the safety of his race. He, like all the other Breeds, has a very tortured past which we don’t know much about. In the books he has been in (Kiss of Heat, The Breed Next Door, Megan’s Mark, and Harmony’s Way), Jonas doesn’t hesitate to use others to get his way. Despite all this, I couldn’t help but absolutely fall for him and he’s become my favorite of Leigh’s Breeds, second only to the delicious Bengal Breed Cabal.

Another of those sexy manipulators is Rehvenge from J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Rehv is part vampire, part sympath and has the ability to manipulate the emotions of those around him, which if you’ve read Lover Awakened, you know he will do in order to get what information he wants. While Rehv has just a touch of evil in him, his absolute love for his mother and sister, and his kindness towards another vampire, Marissa, made my heart melt for him when I might have otherwise wanted to kick him.


What about heroes who manipulate their one true love? In Kresley Cole’s A Hunger Like No Other, Lachlain, a werewolf, doesn’t hesitate to bully and manipulate his heroine, Emmaline (who’s half valkyrie, half vampire), to get her to stay with him. But his schemes are tempered by his growing love for Emma and the fact that he’d spent well over a century being tortured by the king of the vampires. If you’re a fan of historicals, Chirstina Dodd’s latest, The Prince Kidnaps a Bride, has a hero, Rainger, who deceives and manipulates his heroine, Sorcha, to get what he wants. Again, Rainger had spent years being tortured by his enemies, and his goal is to save his kingdom from the hands of an evil usurper.



So I leave you lovely readers with these questions:
Do manipulative men in romance novels make you swoon or make you sick?
Does there have to be a reason behind their actions (ex: in my case most of them have tortured pasts or are trying to protect their people)?
Who are your favorite manipulative men?

Read More

What’s in a name?

This morning I came across the title of a new book by an author I have never read before. The book is How to Abduct a Highland Lord by Karen Hawkins. The title immediately struck my fancy so this afternoon I went out and purchased the book. I haven’t had time to start it yet, but on my walk home I started thinking about the various authors who now reside on my “auto-buy” list that I first picked up on a whim because a great title caught my eye.

This method of choosing new authors isn’t new to me. I started reading Julia Quinn after I came across The Viscount Who Loved Me and found the title amusing. Eloisa James is another author now on my auto-buy list after Duchess in Love caught my eye one day.

For some reason, I haven’t yet had many conversations over book titles with people. There is talk a plenty about whether or not someone will buy a book with a “trashy” cover, but no one I know has ever rejected a new book for a bad title.

And does anyone else get excited when one of their favorite authors has a really great book title? Some of my personal favorites are Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Side of the Moon and the upcoming Devil May Cry, Eloisa James’s Much Ado About You (I’m a sucker for a Shakespeare reference), Kresley Cole’s No Rest for the Wicked, and one of the classics – Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.

So for my very first blog, I leave these questions to you lovely readers:
Will a good title induce you to try an author you’ve never read before?
Will a bad title turn you off from a book?
And what are your favorite book titles?

Read More