A review by coral
Night Pleasures/Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon

4.0

I can't believe it took me this long to pick up these books. The name Sherrilyn Kenyon is practically synonymous with Paranormal Romance. I saw this two for one bundle, and figured I'd try out the pair to see what all the fuss was about.

The experience left me largely torn. There were some wonderful aspects of these books, and one really bad facet that made me want to throw things.

What I liked:
The characters. I dug them, a lot. In fact, I think if anything keeps me coming back to this series, it will be to figure out what happens to Acheron. I was hugely intrigued by his character, more so than the hero/heroine in each book. Nick was another secondary character I loved. Kenyon can definitely spin a character that makes me interested, which is a big, huge plus.

The idea. I really liked the premise of soulless heroes brought back from death to defend humans from demons. Learning about the heroes' histories was another plus. I enjoyed that historical aspect to each of her books. I also love the nods to various types of mythology.

What I disliked:
Head hopping. These books are the mother of all head hoppers. The constant, abrupt shifts, sometimes several times within a scene made me endlessly annoyed. My real frustration is that if it weren't for this one thing, these would be the best paranormal romance I've read this year. I can only hope that someone eventually told her how aggravating this was to some people and later on down the series it gets better.

Lack of antagonist motivation. It seemed like, in these two books at least, the bad guys were just being bad to create chaos. I guess that's okay, but I like my evil a little more sinister I guess, rather than just bad for the sake of it.

Originally I'd decided on four stars, but writing about the head hopping made me so angry I changed my mind to three. Rest assured, it's somewhere between three and four and the actual number depends on my mood the instant I post this. I will keep reading (at least for a few books) because I like her characters and the world she's building.

This is a must read for paranormal romance fans, and very high on the vampire smut scale, all things considered. If head hopping bothers you, maybe stay away.