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Review
Book 4 in the Immortals After Dark series, and the action and romance is continuing at a great pace!
This book brings us the story of Bowen MacRieve. Ever since Bowen’s first appearance in the series, I have been intrigued by him. A 1,200 year old lykae with a deep Scottish brogue, he is deeply tortured since the death of his mate in tragic circumstances and has spent 200 years trying to find a way to bring her back. In the last book, No Rest for the Wicked, Bowen entered The Hie – a supernatural Amazing Race, where the prize could have possibly given him the chance to go back in time and save his mate. The timeline of this book overlaps the ending of the last book, with Bowen’s actions during the contest bringing him into contact with a young witch, Mariketa the Awaited.
Mari is only 23 years old, and hasn’t reached immortality yet. But her ascension is fast approaching, and she is destined to be one of the most powerful of her kind. In the meantime, she doesn’t really have a strong handle on her magick, and her spells seem to be hit and miss (that’s 99 misses for every hit). But she is stubborn, spirited and a bit of a badass, and I absolutely love her!
“She and her friends made Girls Gone Wild look like a quilting circle.”
Bowen hates witches, and his determination to win The Hie makes him ruthless, but Mari stands up to him, and sasses right back to him. Their first run in is full of insults and banter, and things get a little steamy, setting the stage for some great fireworks to come.
The story twists and turns, but ends up with Bowen and Mari needing each other to stay alive and the two of them trekking through the jungle to get her home to her family. Their adventure gives them plenty of time to get to know each other, and even though Bowen is still dedicated to his lost mate, but he can’t deny the pull he feels towards Mari, and she is madly in lust with him, and the sexual tension is awesome.
“There was an aura about him that was staggering to her, making it difficult to think. It wasn’t mere male heat and sensuality. It was raw sexuality, animalistic in its intensity—and she was starving for it.”
There’s some nice emotion in the story – Bowen’s struggle to accept his growing feelings for Mari and to let go of the past and move on, and Mari’s desire for a man who longs for somebody else. It’s all really well done and ties in nicely with the action and the supernatural aspects of the story. I loved Bowen’s lykae tendencies – his urge to protect and claim, even though he manages to be gentle with Mari, and his fever on the full moon (HOTTTT!!), and Mari’s powers start to focus for the first time in her life as she begins to understand who she is and what she’s capable of, and dayum, she is one powerful witch!
It all leads up to a finish that is full of surprises, danger, and kickass action as Mari and Bowen have to battle immense supernatural forces in order to claim their HEA.
“Your werewolf’s still got it, eh lass?”
I really loved this story. I loved the characters, I loved the way they are together – Bowen’s so alpha, but Mari is a fantastic match for him, and their arguments, banter and teasing are fantastic from start to finish. They have a lot to go through to get their HEA, and they both make mistakes along the way, but they don’t let each other get away with much, and they own up to their faults. And I loved every moment of it! Their dynamic is fantastic, and their love story is passionate and really beautiful.
“What’s your favorite place to visit?”
He absently answered, “Wherever you are.”
“Bowen, five things about you can’t all be about me.”
“But you’re the only good thing that I’ve got.”
I loved seeing characters from the previous books – Nix is becoming a favourite, she’s so freaking funny. And I loved the opportunity to check in with Lachlain and Emma. We also get to know more about Rydstrom the demon, and I really like him. Looking forward to his story later in the series.
Kresley Cole’s got a great formula for these books. The supernatural world is well developed and exciting with great characters, lots of action, humour, romance and sex, and it all totally works for me! I’m really enjoying this series, and look forward to continuing on.
4 stars.
And also have to give a quick shout out to the audiobook narrator of this series, Robert Petkoff. He does a FANTASTIC job with these books, with all of the accents, the right amount of humour, and depth where it’s needed, and he really brings the stories to life. I highly recommend listening to these if you can!
For full series info, see our Immortals After Dark series page.