A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark, #1)

by Kresley Cole

[Angie]

A Hunger Like No Other is infuriating like no other. This so-called romance is absolutely disgusting and I wanted to throw it into the fireplace after about 30 pages. I had enjoyed the previous book, although I did find some elements of it questionable, but had hoped the rest of the series wouldn't follow that pattern. Well, this one took all of the troublesome things and took them to the next level. This story is all about Lachlain, a werewolf who has been tortured by fire for the past 150 years, but manages to escape when he senses his mate, Emmaline, a half-vampire and sworn enemy of the Lykae. The prologue was actually pretty great and disturbing, but it's all down hill from there.

A Hunger Like No Other is 350 pages of romanticized rape, and no, I am not exaggerated. From the first chapter, Lachlain threatens to rape Emma multiple times. He touches her against her will and makes her touch him. She is crying and pleading, and is generally terrified out of her mind. He promises not to hurt her if she complies, but he continues to threaten to have his way with her for the first several chapters. He even molests her in her sleep! He says he continues to do these things because he can tell she's aroused despite her begging to be left alone. WTF is this!? He holds her hostage and makes her take him back to his home in Scotland, since he's been chained up for so long and doesn't get modern transportation, and promises again not to hurt her if she helps and stays with him until the full moon. Of course he's lying since he has no intentions of letting her go.

I totally get this whole alpha male, must claim his mate, old school male privilege nonsense, I do, but A Hunger Like No Other takes it to a whole other level. Lachlain repeatedly tells Emma that she has no say in what he does to her and takes liberties with her body that he has no right to. This is all excused away by the fact that she is his destined mate, and he can't control this side of him when it's close to the full moon. It is possible to be an alpha male who is totally enamored with his mate without threatening rape every few pages! Shouldn't he be more concerned with her well being and not wanting to cause her harm, since she is his one true love?! Everything about this relationship was total bullshit! It's not sexy!

There were points where I started to enjoy A Hunger Like No Other. Lachlain backed off a bit and actually started taking care of Emma, even though everything he still said was a lie or a manipulation. But then he gets her drunk and is all "I'm going to fuck you now!" But then he stops himself because he promised not to do that! Is that really a promise you need to make!? How about, just don't do it because it's wrong!

But then...oh...he rapes her. Yes, he does. She is literally running away from him. Like, she knocks him out, and RUNS! He catches up with her, tackles her, and forces himself in her! She screams in pain! She was a virgin, by the way, and he knew this. So, she screams in pain, but he keeps going, because eventually she starts screaming in ecstasy! This is blamed on the moon, because of some kind of moon lust or some such other bullshit, since she's been drinking werewolf blood. Never mind that she was LITERALLY RUNNING AWAY from him when he decided to do this. Do not write away rape as some kind of ritual! SHE DID NOT WANT IT!

Fuck this book. Fuck it all to hell.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.