A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

Emmaline Troy & Lachlain MacRieve






A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2)

by Kresley Cole

Book Blurb:

 A mythic warrior who'll stop at nothing to possess her . . .

After enduring years of torture from the vampire horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he's waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.

A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy . . .
Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents -- until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae -- and their notorious dark desires -- ebbs as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings. 
An all-consuming desire . . .

Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be?

A Hunger Like No Other is book 2 in the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. A friend on Goodreads recommended that I actually read this book first and then read the book 1, The Warlord Wants Forever. I am quite anal about reading books in order but I do have a lot of trust in my Goodreads blogging buddies so I did read this one first. 

Right off let me tell you that A Hunger Like No Other reads as if it was the first book in the series. I was not lost at all nor do I think I missed out at all. I am going to read The Warlord Wants Forever next so I will share in my next review if I am still really positive that that I was okay to read this book first. 

So let me get what I didn't like off my chest first and then allow me to sing the praises of A Hunger Like No Other. 

One of the things that I do not like (and one of the reasons I avoid Paranormal or UF books) is that authors seem to think they have to create worlds and that are freakishly spelled and hard to pronounce. I hate trying to sound out words the entire time I am reading. Well I have to admit there was a touch of that in A Hunger Like No Other. Lykae and a few other character names did annoy me but I just learned to look passed them (even though I refer to Lykae as Lycra now). I guess there is just no such thing as a bad ass vampire named, Pete eh? 

The one other thing that kept me a bit frustrated was the lack of description about what the characters look like. I get that Lachlain turns into a werewolf (uhm kinda) but I don't get what he looks like. It is made clear that he doesn't look anything like what you and I traditionally think a werewolf looks like but I'll be damned if I have any clue of what he does look like. I am almost tempted to see if I can dig up some fan art. 

Here are some descriptions as it was explained in the story about what he looks like when he turns wolfy:
Yes to fangs. No to fur and there are frequent mentions of paws and claws. His eyes turn blue. His body gets bigger, while the shape of his face changes to lupine. (he turns purple???) Then when Emma asks if he gets a snout he replies, "No. Not like you are thinking." (So what does that mean?) And that my friends is a description of a his werewolf self. (did that even sound wolfish?)

As for the Valkyrie, (that is what is Emma is partially) I also don't have a clue what they look like other than they have pointed ears and that they are female. I have a pretty good idea of what Emma looks like but as for her full fledge Valkyrie aunts, I'm lost. I was thinking that they are short fairy creatures similar to what Disney created for Sleeping Beauty's guardians but later in the book Emma does say how beautiful all her aunts are so then it had me re-think. Anyone have any clue here what they look like?

Now for the good stuff. The story was really good and it kept my eyes glued to the pages. It was a joy to read how weak and timid Emma was at the beginning and then how she grew into a bad-ass warrior woman. She made me proud. 

I also liked how the author kept the readers in check. I admit to getting increasingly frustrated with Emma not giving into Lachlain's desires until Kresley Cole reminded me (via Emma's POV) just how devious he had been with her. Then I wanted to high five Emma. 

There was a lot of future stories to build on from A Hunger Like No Other but the readers are not left on cliffhangers. I really liked that. I am always willing to invest into a series while it is still being written if the author leaves nice breadcrumbs to return but not have me cursing waiting for the next book to arrive. Kresley Cole got me on this first book and I am eager to continue. 

There are lots of steamy scenes but it does take until almost the end of the story for them to do "it". The build up and teasing is really amped up. So much so that I think this rating would the first time I granted a heat rating of four when the actual act itself was so late into the book. 

Teasers: self amputation, electric love, grabbing the headboard spindle so hard they disintegrate into dust,  an odd way to make a father proud