Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter, #4) (The Dark-Hunter World)

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

[Amanda]

Actual rating 3.5

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2011/08/03/review-kiss-of-the-night-by-sherrilyn-kenyon/

Sherrilyn Kenyon’s formula is pretty simple, but it works: take two people who cannot possibly be together and make them fall in love and figure out a way to be together. I think that the reason this formula works when others have not is that each one of Sherrilyn’s characters is unique, even among the Dark-Hunters themselves. These characters add a richness to the series that keeps it afloat because each book is an entirely new and captivating story.

That said, I still struggled with the amount of information in Kiss of the Night. We have been fed information consistently over the past few books so that our knowledge has grown steadily along with our enjoyment of the series. But either I failed to pay attention (an entirely plausible explanation) or the details were not presented in a way that would help me remember, because I am still not sure I know as much about Apollites and Daimons as I should. I do know more than I did before I read Kiss of the Night so I guess that that is positive.

Kiss of the Night is set in St. Paul and Minnetonka (or the Twin Cities area at large). Being from the general area, I was somewhat disappointed at how little setting information we get. I have read other books set in the Twin Cities where I know the locations and could easily conjure up the image in my head. I do give points to how Minnetonka is portrayed though — I have driven through there and they do have really big houses. But other than a few mentions of St. Paul, one mention of the University of Minnesota, and a few mentions of Minnetonka, Kiss of the Night could have been set anywhere.

Cassandra is a character unlike anyone that we have seen thus far in the Dark-Hunter series. From a series standpoint, introducing us to her adds extra depth to the series and gives us a glimpse of what we have previously just seen as The Enemy. She is probably the female character that I have most felt for and connected with in the series. Her emotions and inner dilemma nearly leaped off the pages. Wulf doesn’t have the greatest luck with life, either, but funny how when I have thought about this book in preparing for the review, it is Cassandra that remains foremost in my thoughts, not Wulf.

I enjoyed the romance between Wulf and Cassandra, but I also think that the look into the Apollite and Daimon world was perhaps just as important to this book as Wulf and Cassandra. Although it was slightly rushed, it had to be considering who Cassandra is and how she was cursed. In some ways, Kiss of the Night was probably the most heart-wrenching story of the series because it wasn’t a tortured past they were dealing with, but an incredibly sad and uncertain future. This uncertainty had me glued to my Kindle and is also the reason why I finished Kiss of the Night in two days, despite having other responsibilities I should have been attending to.