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Review
“Vampires, Valkyrie, and Lykae, oh my. Or as Regin calls it – the ‘fucking monster mash.’”
This is the second book in the Immortals After Dark series, and I loved it! Fast-paced, with lots of action, humour and an enemies-to-lovers romance that is both hot and swoony, and all set in a fantastically intense paranormal world. Win!
Lachlain MacRieve is the King of the Lykae, and when we first meet him, he is being held captive by the vampire horde. For close to 150 years he has been brutally tormented almost constantly – tortured to death only for his immortality to kick in and bring him back to life so that it can happen all over again. Before his captivity he had spent over 1,000 years searching for his life mate – the one woman meant for him. So when he senses ‘her’ in the streets above where he is being held, it gives him the incentive to finally (and brutally) break his bonds, so that he can find and claim her. And then he discovers that she is a vampire.
Emmaline has been raised among the Valkyrie. As a one of a kind half Valkyrie / half vampire, she has lived a somewhat sheltered life, and at 70 years old, she is a baby in the immortal world. Beautiful and sweet, she has a quiet strength and is endearingly sarcastic, but she remains innocent. So when a huge, enraged Scotsman comes for her, all she wants to do is run.
Nix had told Emma before she’d left for Europe that on this trip she would ‘do that which you were born to do’. Apparently, Emma was born to get kidnapped by a deranged Lykae. Her fate sucked.
Lachlain doesn’t know about Emma’s Valkyrie half, and is enraged that his longed-for mate has turned out to be a vampire – and a seemingly delicate one of that – so that insult, combined with his driving need for revenge against the vampire horde has him seriously pissed. But he is still determined to claim her and drag her back to his castle in the Scottish highlands and keep her with him forever.
“Never run from one such as me, female. You will no’ get away – and we like it.”
It’s a great set up, and a bit of an adventure as Lachlain and Emma set out for Scotland, all the while with Lachlain pushing Emma, and Emma pushing him right back. She has no intention of giving in to him, and I loved watching them wrestle with the reality of their situation and their growing attraction, as Lachlain puts away his aggressive side and attempts to seduce Emma into being his.
“You’re mine, Emma,” he grated between ragged breaths. “Do you understand what I’m telling you? … Do you understand me? Always.”
… “It’s you, Emma. It’s always been you.”
I really enjoyed this story. Sure, the beginning of their ‘relationship’ is extreme and some of Lachlain’s actions are out of line, but it’s who he is and I think the reasons behind it are explained well. It shows just how much he changes his nature for Emma, shifting from an aggressive brute to a gentle, considerate lover, and I loved watching the change in him as they slowly (and frustratingly) found their way forward together and fell hard for each other.
When he watched her sleeping, he often thought, My heart lies vulnerable outside my chest.
And similarly, I loved watching Emma find her stride as she grew in strength and confidence, becoming quite the little badass, willing to do what she needed to in order to protect her loved ones. But at no stage did I look upon her as a victim, and she proved over and over that she was able to stand up to her big, strong mate.
“Are you jealous, lass?”
“Yes!” she cried, as if she couldn’t believe the question. “While you’ve been running around growling ‘mine’, I’ve been silently saying it right back at you.”
This got better and better.
The book is very strongly focussed on the relationship between Lachlain and Emma. There is other stuff going on – Lachlain’s quest for revenge against the vampires, Emma’s family’s quest to get her back, as well as a mysterious creatures tracking her down, and there are some great fight scenes. And more is revealed about the dynamics within the paranormal world, with future books being set up really nicely.
I was also surprised at how funny this book was. I loved the little added twist that Lachlain had to acclimate to life all over again. He has been locked up for so long, that technology is completely alien to him, and seeing him react to things like cars, television, telephones and computers was hilarious. And I love that we got to see more of the Valkyries. This is a crazy-ass bunch of women with insane powers. They are strong, sassy, fiercely protective, and violent when they need to be, with a great mix of personalities. They had me laughing out loud at their antics.
“Myst hasn’t returned yet, But you know that, or else you’d both be naked and fornicating on the front lawn”.
“The night’s young. Give us time, and it was a field a mile away.”
This is a series that I think of as ‘hard core’ paranormal. There is very little human interaction, with the story set entirely within the paranormal world, with all of the politics, violence and intensity that comes with it. I was instantly sucked into this book, and was enthralled the whole way through. It was a great read, and I’m really excited to go on with the series.
4 stars.
For full series info, see our Immortals After Dark series page.