A Night with Sherrilyn Kenyon

There are just a few authors I consider autobuys - which means that regardless what they write I will go out and pick it up automatically due to their proven ability to produce exceptional work. Kenyon is an autobuy for me and her Dark Hunter series is one of two series that are on my keeper shelf and actually gets re-read (on purpose).

Last Wednesday, my daughter Nyshma and I had a chance to meet Ms. Kenyon when her book signing tour brought her to Dallas.

The signing started at 5pm but we couldn't head out to Barnes & Noble until 5:15 which is when Nysh got out of work. Then we battled rush hour traffic for over an hour to arrive at 6:30 for the signing. Kenyon was to have a reading and a short Q&A that we missed but we were able to secure a ticket for the signing (#191).

While we waited, Diana Love (co-author to some of Kenyon's books from the B.A.D series) entertained us with anecdotes and gave out door prizes. We found a cozy corner where we settled in to wait our turn to get our copy of Bad Moon Rising (as well as our copy of Acheron) signed. I pulled out my Sony eReader and finished reading Night Play (I'm re-reading her Dark Hunter series) and started Phantom Lover while Nyshma started reading the new book. On occasion we would pull our noses out of our books to pay attention to the shenanigans happening around us and actually heard our door prize ticket being called. We won a little B.A.D. booklet autographed by Kenyon & Love.



While we waited we also met Sara Reyes from Fresh Fiction who was sitting next to us twittering about the signing for Fresh Fiction. She was so charming chatting us up about the Readers and Ritas get togethers and the DFW Tea Readers group. Susan Elizabeth Phillips (another favorite of mine) will be stopping by their book club in August!


It was finally our turn to get our books signed around 10pm. We spoke to Kenyon for about two minutes but she was a doll. She found Nyshma's name interesting (what a shocker there - this is why she goes by Andrea / Dre) and commented that her own children have name issues as well.

We chatted about her series coming out in Audiobook and that she is trying to get the older books done in that format and how handsome the narrator of Night Pleasure was.... It's funny how much you can chat about in a little over 2 minutes.


Pictures taken and books signed, we waved goodbye to Sara and headed home.
Wonderful evening!

Anthology - Stroke of Midnight

Continuing on my last ditch efforts of getting these Kenyon stories read as well as clearing some of those anthologies in my TBR pile, I picked up the next anthology from the series. The best of the bunch was the Were-Hunter story but the book on a whole was not terrible.

Winter Born - Sherrilyn Kenyon: (B) This was the story of Dante and Pandora whom also show up in Wren's story in Unleash the Night. I loved this story but there was not such a shock factor associated with it like V'aiden's story. What I loved in this one is that it takes place in a Con. Dragon*Con to be precise and Simi is there with her Akri! I love that Dante is so much of a gentleman and yet a strong leader for his pack! Pandora was lucky like hell to have ended up mated to the Were and I was very happy to see her realize it.

Born of the Night- Amanda Ashley: (B-) This was a bit on the dark side but in my experience that is not unusual in an Ashley tale. The Reyes family was cursed many years ago and are now destined to be werewolves. The Reyes and The Montiori family have a fierce family feud where Lord Montiori tricked Reyes' father into turning into a wolf and then killed him. He now wears his pelt as a prize. Lord Reyes kidnapped Shanarra to exact revenge for his father's death but Montiori could care less. It irks his pride that Reyes has taken his daughter but it's not until Reyes decides to wed her that Montiori comes charging in to fight him. I found it disconcerting that Shanarra really didn't accept Reyes as a wolf. In the end she loved him but I didn't get the impression she was accepting him completely until the curse was lifted.

Make it Last Forever - L.A. Banks:(C) I find it funny that this story was the one I found the most difficult to read and yet I acknowledge the writing itself was superb. I just had a problem with it dragging so much. If you are familiar with L.A. Banks Vampire Huntress series you will most likely love this one. It's the story of one of her guardians, Raider and how he discovers his destiny in the arms of a vampire.

Red Moon Rising - Lori Handeland:(B-) This last tale was more like a crazy satire of all things paranormal. Maya is a writer that moved to Arizona for some quiet time that would allow her to meet her deadlines but she finds herself being stalked by a Skinwalker (this is a side story to a series Handeland writes). Clayton is stalking the Skinwalker and is determined to keep Maya safe, but falls in lust with the stalking victim. The story is told in first person and Maya is shown to be very witty and sarcastic which makes this a very light piece. Nice way to round out the Anthology even if it really won't motivate me to look up the rest of the series.

Grade: B-

Anthology - Midnight Pleasures

My daughter has been discovering Kenyon's DarkHunter series so I have been pulling out the books for the series. I discovered how I had skipped many of the stories that are in the anthologies and decided it was time to bring up my anthology quota for the 2007 year. I had hoped to read at least one anthology a month (12 a year) but I truly despise short stories and so the reading of the anthologies tend to fall on the wayside. I find that most anthologies just rush through the story and I can never enjoy a well rounded story. I think I will limit my purchases of these types of books in the future, but for now, I have ALOT of these to read.

Darkfest - Amanda Ashley: (B) This one was hard to place since the language was old but there was no indication of it's time period. The story is about Darkfest, who is considered a wizard to the village he lives with. His presence is accepted but not feared and he doesn't understand why he has the power to heal or to command fire. He is attracted to a blind girl and when her father asks for his assistance in saving his wife from a fever he bargains to bring the girl to his dominion. She accepts his bargain to stay at his castle for a year if he saves her mother. Darkfest can turn into a wolf and in the form he is able to give Channa Leigh the gift of sight. He endeavors to find a spell that will return her sight permanently and while on his quest he earns her love. It was a cute story but I found that there was a few loose ends at the end of the tale. Darkfest is becoming sensitive to light and he is also craving blood but when we reach the of the tale we are left with no explanation of his changes or whether these changes will continue to affect him.

Phantom Lover - Sherrilyn Kenyon: (A) First of the Dream-Hunter stories we get the background of the evils that lie in dreams. Erin McDaniels has been having horrendous nightmares that are driving her insane. During one of those nightmares she encounters V'Aiden who battles the Skoti demons that have been invading her dreams. In his first encounter with Erin he makes love to her in her dreams (which appears to be a big No-No). What I found fascinating about this story is how much we empathize with V'Aiden and how well drawn out Kenyon made him in just a few pages. The ending has a twist that I never saw coming and just blew me away. It redefined the way I jump to conclusions as to who the characters in a story are defined.

Under Her Spell - Maggie Shayne: (C) Melissa St. Cloud has been hired as a consultant to a TV show about witches.She is a practicing Wicca and is ready to put to right the misconceptions the show had been based on. Alexander Quinn is the producer to the show and is very curious about Melissa's beliefs but not necessarily because of the show but because of a hidden secret in his past. Seems Alex's father dabbled with dark magic and, although dead for several months, his presence is palpable and still creating havoc on a son who never knew he existed. The story was interesting but I think Shayne focused too much on details I could care less about when she could have worked more on having these two fall in love.

A Wulf's Curse - Ronda Thompson: (B) Elise Collins is running away from an uncle willing to sell her off to the first bridegroom to pay for her and when that groom has already seen several wives to the grave she knows that life on the run is safer... until she runs into Stearling Wulf. Stearling has tried to keep his past to himself and his curse hidden. He travels with a band of society's misfits in a troupe and on the stop close to London he picks up a stowaway. Even though he tries to keep his heart frozen to emotion he finds himself falling in love with the girl that is determined to stand up for herself and brave life's perils. This was just plain simple and to the point. I think there was more to say about Stearling's past and I would have liked him to stop running from his heritage but go back and help his brother's with their lives.

In the end this anthology was more of a winner than most and earn it's grade with very good stories.

Grade: B

Anthology - Big Guns Out Of Uniform

I'm not real big on Anthologies but I really am going to try to read on a month since for some reason I seem to collect the damn things. I have way too many of them to keep dismissing them and, well, I'm going to TRY to read more of them.

This anthology has three stories which is nice because it gives the authors more of a book to develop a story, and yet, it seems not everyone can hit it off in a short story format (my biggest gripe when it comes to anthologies)

Sherrilyn Kenyon - BAD to the Bone: Marianne Webernec is on a fantasy vacation where she gets to play the part of her favorite romance heroine. Kyle Foster is part of BAD, a covert government agency that rivals the Navy SEALS. During his latest mission he was shot and his boss sent him to a remote island for some enforced R&R. While playing commando to relieve his boredom, Kyle encounters Marianne and discovers that the other side of the island is a 'Fantasy Camp' where woman go to enact their romance novel fantasies and Kyle wants to help Marianne live hers. Although entertaining, this story was just a little too silly. Kyle wanted a simple relationship and someone that accepted him for himself but Marianne was viewing him as part of her fantasy so, it made no sense that Kyle was happy with Marianne. (C )

Liz Carlyle - Let's Talk About Sex: Delia Sydney is a radio sex therapist who is living above her means after her husband dumps her for another woman. She thinks she is having a bad day until her Volvo breaks down in front of her neighbors drive way. Nick Woodruff is a cop forced on leave after a drug bust has him shooting a suspect. With two weeks to kill Nick offers his services as a mechanic to the neighbor he thought was a snob. Delia turns out to be the less snobbish person he has ever met and, despite himself, what starts out to be a very sexual affair turns into a lot more. These two have great chemistry from the get go and if Nick was not so paranoid about social differences between him and Delia the story would have been even better. Regardless of this, the story just flew off the pages and was a delight! (B )

Nicole Camden - The Nekkid Truth: This was the story that actually made me pick up this title. While reading the first story I kept wondering why I actually wanted to read this piece, since I am no fan of Anthologies. Debbie Valley suffered an accident a few years ago that left her face blind. This is a disorder that causes the person to lose the ability to distinguish faces. It's not that they cannot see certain parts of a face but that after the face leaves, they don't recall what that person looks like. Some people forget names, people with face blindness forget faces. Debbie is a photographer and works with the police taking crime scene photos. Detective Marshall Scott has a thing for Debbie but has been struggling to deal with his feelings of guilt, since his partner was the one that hit Debbie and caused her disability. When all of a sudden Scott gives into his feelings and decides to be with Debbie, it shocks her and throws her life into turmoil since she now has to deal with her own feelings of inadequacy and her fears of not being able to love a man she will not recognize the next time she sees him. Great story but would have enjoyed it even more if it had not been in first person POV. Would have loved to know more of what was going on in Marshall's thoughts. (B+ )

Grade: B-

Sieze The Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Just finished Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. If you go to the Dark Hunter website (http://www.dark-hunter.com) Kenyon says that this book is where everything changes and a new Dark Hunter is born. She was absolutely right. We get to know so much more about Ash that, at times, it was almost as if it was Ash's story. We find out that there is someone in love with Ash. We also find out WHAT he is. We find out Who is Simi and how the little demon relates to Ash. And we also find out that he has a weakness.

The new Dark Hunter that is born was a shock. Not a shock as to who he was (yes, it's a he. At one point I thought it would be Tabitha), but how he became a DH. I didn't expect the scene to go that way. There is also some question about his being a DH because of the way he died. Let say it was untraditional.

Next book won't be out until July. I guess I'll be waiting in line with my daughter. She'll be buying the new Harry Potter and I'll be picking up the New Kenyon. I'm not familiar with the DH called Alexion. The excerpt makes him appear very powerful. I'm wondering if he had a smaller role in anonther of the books and I just missed it. He could be the guy that provides everyone with their weapons. I think that just might be him. I also think Danger (the female DH) was in Karek's story.

I'm now going to tackle Krinard's Once a Wolf, the second in Krinard's historical wolf series.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters

I've been reading Sieze the Night and I must say I have really been enjoying it. There is only one thing that just makes me cringe when I read it. The whole falling in love within 24 hours. Not just a normal falling in love but a"I want to spend eternity with you" type of love. I think I can easier believe the whole Dark Hunter world with all it's Daimons and Undeads than this I spend 24 hours in your company, screw you like there is no tomorrow and therefore I can make a lifelong commitment to you. How does that work?

I have problems with books like that. I need something that can make me believe their love is true. How can you love someone you don't really know? That was my problem with Night Play as well. I loved Vane & Bride's story but he walked into her shop and was screwing her within the hour. What's up with that??

Anyway... I'm still enjoying the book. Valerius is a tortured hero and I'm just a sucker for a man thata has suffered. I guess that is why I really loved Zarek's story. He was hated by all and lived in such isolation, you just felt sorry for the guy. Now with Valerius, Zarek's brother, we see that it runs int he family. I love how Zarek, who is now a god, strikes Val with lightning and sends him rain clouds as a form of punishment. It's sort of funny.

Dre & I went to the movies today. Saw Flight of the Phoenix. It was okay, but more a rental than anything else.
Almost done watching Full Metal Alchemist. We're on episode 42 out of 51. I think we should be done by Wednesday.