One Silent Night: Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Sixteen

Kenyon: One Silent Night



One silent night for sure. I started reading One Silent Night early Saturday afternoon. I was done with it by the next early afternoon. It was a really short book, but surprisingly cool, quick and hot. I guess it was traditional Kenyon in many ways. Traditional except for the fact we are focusing on the bad guys.

The “bad guys”? Who is to say who is bad and who is good? Is justice nothing more than balance or…..this isn’t really a philosophy class but hey who says romance novels can’t have a little intellect wrapped in the hot sweaty sex?

No one important…

So, who is this “bad guy” I speak of? I speak of Strykerius. Mr. Son-of-Apollo-turned Daimon-King-Himself.

At first glance I was “eh”. I can take him or leave him. I have to say that that really hasn’t changed much for me. He’s got the noble asshole thing going and I really love that, but the character himself doesn’t spin my goggles. I see nothing, but another relatively hot demigod who is just okay in the pantheon of hot Kenyon dudes. You know who got my fires going though?

Zephyra.

Normally the female version of “ you burned me and I’m bitter routine” comes off kind of too bitchy to me. A lot of writers go a little too far with it and the female gets annoying. Phyra isn’t in this category and her rage comes across as passion. Her anger is justified and when she sees the light she gives in without truly backing down. I think for the first time in a long while, Kenyon delivers a partnership of true equals and really that’s what makes One Silent Night one of the hotter books in the series.

So what’s the deal with the plot?

Here’s where I have to tread carefully. I want to tell you everything, but I also want you to have that bit of surprise. So, I will be brief. Stryker and Zephyra were once an item. He left her because Daddy threatened to kill her. The rest is full of miscommunication, hurt, anger and even lies. In the end, all is good. Well, what does “good” mean when we’re talking “bad guys”?

Oh, Stryker unleashes some major deadly shit to go after Acheron. The kind of deadly shit that the Gods really, really don’t want the stink of to the point that they are actually scared. And then there is Nick G.

Yeah, he’s back and well, I have to say with a vengeance.

You gotta read it now. I know you do. I can feel you aching for it. Believe me you, it’s entirely worth it and the only bad thing about finishing One Silent Night is now you have to wait for Kenyon to finish writing the next one.

© 2009

Acheron: Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Fifteen

Redeemed!!!!!!!

Yeah I know you are thinking I mean Acheron and partly that’s right, but this is personal.

Ack-uh-rhan. Turn to page 542 kiddies and look it up. That is the CORRECT pronunciation of Acheron. It’s like Cicero isn’t sis-uh-ro . It’s Kick-a- ro. That’s the way the old fucks did it and when I walked into a shop looking for Acheron under it’s correct pronunciation I got tsked, scoffed and treated like a total newb.

Okay, I was a newb. I hadn’t seen Acheron called “Ash” yet and I admit I like the sound of ASHERON better, but I am an anthro freak and all that historical shit means a lot to me, including pronunciations. So, like I said REDEEMED by the great one herself.

You gonna argue with me now, Miss Store Clerk?

Fuck no, you’re not.

Umm…I guess we can start the review now.

In my hopping around many a book store I often heard that the first half of the way long Acheron was just too harsh and “Kenyon goes on and on. Okay, we get it. His life sucked.” This sentiment and others like it worried me. What the hell was coming up?

Well, I’ve now read the entire book, out takes and all and you know, the first half is harsh. It is brutal. It did make me cry and at times it made me shudder. There were moments I connected to Acheron’s pain in ways I didn’t want to. And it took me four days to read the book because I couldn’t stomach a constant intake of such sorrow. That said, I think Kenyon did Acheron justice by telling his WHOLE story.

But if you have rape issues, molestation issues, or any kind of abuse issues and you are not ready to confront your own demons, skip the first half of the book and go straight to part two that takes place in present time. You won’t lose much by not knowing the gory details of Ash’s life. You will by now, assuming you’ve read the entire series, gotten the gist of everything.

I think it brave of Kenyon to put it out there though. I have stories that I have set aside because I thought the world wasn’t ready for them. I’m reading this stuff thinking that world is ready for such darkness and I will be able to plate up my own tales.

Anyway, let’s get back to Acheron.

The second half of the book brings us back to the “normal” feel of a Kenyon DH book. It’s lighthearted, humorous, romantic and dark all at the same time. We get to see parts of Ash that we already knew were there and we get to see him find his own way, wrestle with his own demons and find a happiness he deserves. Of course…..

Things are never easy and things often have a price. I don’t think, even in this, even in Acheron’s tale that he got out of it unscathed. Do any of our Dark-Hunters?

No, not really. They do find redemption though even if the purity of happiness is forged in fire. Acheron is no different and quite frankly, I don’t think he wants to be, not entirely anyway.

So who is the super chick? (She hates the word chick, by the way.) She is Soteria Kafieri. Hmmmm, sound familiar? It should. Megeara ala Arik is her cousin and we might have spent some time in Tory, Soteria’s, part of the world.

If I have my memory straight, I didn’t care much about Tory when I first met her. I didn’t hate her or like her. She was just there. In this latest piece by Kenyon though, I do like her and what seems like an unlikely match becomes very likely. And I have to say this:

Tory is not stupid. She didn’t let a lot of things slide like her cousin did in her tale. Tory thought things through, questioned and had a balance of curiosity and logic. I guess I’m saying Tory is a believable character.

And I guess I’m saying I like the book. I do, very, very much. ALL of it, too. So nab it if you haven’t. I think it’s still in hardback, but if you get it through Rhapsody Romance the book is a tad lighter than the one you might get at Borders or a place like that.

So what’s next? One Silent Night. I can’t wait. Well, yeah I can. I think I’m going to revel in the idea of Acheron before I move on. It was a long time coming, so I’m going to savor it.

© 2008

Dream Chaser : Sherrilyn Kenyon (Book Fourteen)

What can I say?

It’s about fucking time!!

I mean that in two ways.

One, it’s about time I actually started and finished Dream Chaser. It feels like months have passed since this book was at the front of the queue. Well, the Holidays do take months two get through. Starting with Halloween my time is…oh, this is a book review.

Two, it’s about time I adored a Dream-Hunter novel. This is book three in that little part of the Dark-Hunter ‘Verse and I have to say I love this one. Xypher is just the right mix of gothic angst and demon/god bad ass. And the best part? I love the chick in this one, but before I go on let’s talk plot.

Xypher who we met in the little Dimme incident is back, with a vengeance for vengeance. He’s pretty pissed at Satara and when you find out why you’ll be pissed at her as well.

So, Xypher is freed from hell for one month for revenge. In his search he happens upon Simone, a medical examiner who collects oddities, oddities that happen to be ghosts, squires and the like. Simone is a great woman. She’s smart, funny, playful and has her own demons to contend with. (After you read the book that sentence is funny.) Dream Chaser takes us on a romp through New Orleans, love, death, betrayal and the coming together of two people.

All in all it’s fab. This Dream-Hunter novel takes on more of the feel of the Dark-Hunter ones. I’m glad Kenyon found her groove in the story lines. I don’t exactly want her to do a DH repeat, but I do want believability. I like logical reaction to circumstance and she comes back to that in this installment. Seriously, she needed to or I was going to bail on the whole Dream-Hunter thing. Now I won’t and now I will suggest the other two D-C novels as should reads, still not must reads, but you should if you want complete knowledge of that side of the world. You certainly should read this one and meet Jaden an apparently upcoming focus.

Yanno I could go on, but I don’t want to. Acheron is next and I have several hundreds of yummy pages to get through. Mmmmmm,Ash….

(c) 2009

Twilight, The Movie

I had this long, no short debate on whether to read the book first or not. It only seemed long because I had two or three five minutes bouts of this since the movie came out.

However I kind of did both. Let me explain because how do you read the book before it’s movie and vice versa at the same time.

Simple. I didn’t finish the book.

I read Twilight up to the point Edward is all grinchy and wants out of his biology class. Then I set the book aside and read Sunshine even though I’m supposed to be reading the last couple available books in the Dark-Hunter Series. Truth be told, I’m holding off on them only because I don’t want the world to end, my interaction with the DH world anyway.

Let me get on with it.

So, as you read this review do remember that I haven’t completely read Stephanie Meyers book completely, but I did read enough of it to get the feel for the two main characters and the town.

I liked Bella. I think she was cast very well and well just about everyone was cast with a visual success right down to Bella’s beat up truck. The feel of the upper mid-west was captured effectively from the rainy, overcast, leisurely feel to the enormous consumption of vitamin R, Mount Rainier beer. (There is a pun in there….)

The movie also seemed to follow the book rather well, as far as I read anyway. But…

I have to say the sorest point for me is the soundtrack. I hated 90% of the insipid music that was trying very, very hard to create a 70’s romance but instead made what could have been wonderfully romantic scenes into big yawners and the need for the movie to “just get on with it”.

Not to mention that the vamp make-up sucked ass. Everyone was too pretty, too perfect and it looked too fake. (And all the vampires seemed like they had constipation issues.)The golden skin thing was cool, but they were waaaay too pale for believability and well, I was absolutely reminded that Twilight is for young adults and though the reading of it may transcend age, the movie didn’t. (Strange how Harry Potter movies do and this doesn't.)

And….well there are some flaws in the plot, some notions that teenagers have such freedom and well…it’s fantasy so we’ll let it go.

Aside from that, I kind of liked the movie. I wasn’t thrilled with it in any way, but the overall story is a nice departure from basic vamp stuff and that in and of itself is cool. Oh and the fight scene was good, predictable, but good. Overall, if you’re a vampire fan go see it just to say you did. (Or rent it, that might be better unless you have teenage girls or are one.)

Hmmm, if I were going to give out stars, five being super way excellent then I’m giving Twilight, the movie, 2 and half stars. I’ll probably be nicer to the book, but not until after I get my DH fix.