Reviewed for THC Reviews
Winter Born by Sherrilyn Kenyon – Winter Born was another enjoyable story in the Dark-Hunter series. At only 75 pages, it is pretty short and very fast-paced. The whole story took place in just one day's time. As I've said many times before, I'm not usually a fan of instant hook-ups, but in this case it worked OK for me. That's because it all made sense within the context of the heroine being in heat and the way that the were-hunter mating rituals work. At least they did slow down a bit after the mating mark appeared and tried to get to know each other a little before making a lifetime commitment.

I liked Dante and Pandora as the hero and heroine. Dante is a Katagari panther who first appeared in Kiss of the Night as the owner of a nightclub that the hero and heroine of that book visit. He reminded me of Vane, the hero of Night Play, because he has a similar personality and similar views on his race. Dante is proud of his heritage but still disdains their violent mating practices and prefers to remain unmated, taking his pleasure with human females instead. When he catches the scent of a female panther in heat, his body and instincts won't allow him to ignore her. Pandora is an Arcadian panther from the future who was brought to the present against her will. She doesn't really have a pack anymore and was seeking Acheron's help to return home when Dante showed up at her door. Her own mating instincts wouldn't allow her to refuse him, but she's never heard anything good about the Katagaria, just that they are vicious beasts which makes her afraid of him. I loved how tender and gentle Dante was with Pandora which was another thing about him that reminded me of Vane.

The only carry-over Dark-Hunter characters who appear in this novella are Acheron and Simi. They have some amusing scenes as they peruse the Dragon-Con convention where the story is set, and as always, Ash is a scene-stealer. With the story being so brief, there wasn't a lot of time for relationship building, so I didn't feel the connection between Dante and Pandora quite as strongly as I would have liked. Otherwise though, I really enjoyed this novella, and look forward to continuing with the series. Winter Born falls between Night Play and Seize the Night in the ordering of the Dark-Hunter series. There are currently a total of 19 full-length novels in the Dark-Hunter series and a number of related novellas and graphic novels as well, with more still to come. A complete list of all the books and their recommended reading order can be found on Sherrilyn Kenyon's website. Star Rating: ****

Born of the Night by Amanda Ashley - Born of the Night was a sweet paranormal romance about a young woman who falls in love with her captor. He has been cursed since birth to run with the wolves every full moon. The story takes place in an unspecified time and place that had a medieval feel to it. This novella had some very tender moments such as when Reyes saved Shanara from a would-be attacker, and when Shanara cut short her escape to help Reyes who had been wounded. Still, in the end, I couldn't help feeling that there was a little something missing. Maybe it was simply the short length of the story which didn't allow a great deal of room for character or plot development and which led to a fairly hasty wedding and declarations of love, but I just didn't feel the connection between this couple 100%.

I did like both Reyes and Shanara. Reyes had kidnapped Shanara in retribution for her father's misdeeds and initially was threatening to kill her if her father didn't consent to taking her place in his dungeon, but he became attached to her very quickly. After that he was pretty gentle and never truly harmed Shanara in any way. In fact, he saved her on more than one occasion. I liked that Reyes was a rare celibate hero, and if one reads between the lines, it might even be implied that he's a virgin, although it was never stated in so many words. It's just that he seemed to have no interest in sleeping with any of the loose women who followed their camp. He had also vowed not to marry because of his curse, so he was extremely cautious about passing that on to any offspring he might have. Shanara was a very nice heroine, but not a pushover. She bravely stood up to Reyes in the beginning, and once she began to fall for him, she would do anything to save him. It was rather sad that being the youngest in her family and a daughter at that, she was basically ignored, and her father was even willing to sacrifice her to get revenge on Reyes.

Even though I didn't fully connect with the characters, Born of the Night was a reasonably satisfying read. I really enjoyed the gentle kisses and embraces that Reyes and Shanara shared, and since this novella has no explicit love scenes, it should be suitable for most romance readers. Overall, I enjoyed the story and look forward to checking out more of Amanda Ashley's works soon. Star Rating: ****

Make It Last Forever by L. A. Banks - Make It Last Forever is a side-story in the Vampire Huntress Legends series. I'm not terribly familiar with L. A. Banks' work, but based on this novella, I would say that the series leans more toward urban fantasy than paranormal romance for a couple of reasons. First, even though the setting is completely rural, it had a much harder, edgier feel to it than other paranormal romances I've read. Second, by the RWA's definition, romance should have an HEA, but this story had a very bittersweet ending which left me feeling rather sad and unsatisfied.

I really liked the heroine, Tara. She is very sweet and has an air of innocence in spite of being on her way to transitioning into a vampire. Tara is a brave soul with a lot of self-control, refusing to feed from Rider and turn him into a vampire too even when she is dying. She was the one bright spot in an otherwise rather dark tale, but I wish that a little more of her background had been explained.

Rider was not exactly the typical romantic hero. To say that he is a diamond in the rough would probably be an understatement. In the beginning, he is described as somewhat scruffy and unkempt, but I guess he cleaned up pretty well. He is also into the hard living biker lifestyle, doing a lot of drinking, smoking and womanizing. In these respects, Rider just wasn't the sexy hero that I would normally expect. However, Tara calls him “man with a good heart,” and that was definitely true. He protected Tara and treated her with tenderness. I loved when he went out and bought all sorts of feminine things for her even though he didn't really know what women needed, and it was great how he kept his promise to her in the end.

The scene where Rider washed Tara's hair was a lovely combination of sweetness and sensuousness. Even though the love scenes lacked that little extra bit of detail that would have really made them emotionally spark for me, they still conveyed a certain intensity of feeling. Somehow, in spite of the brevity of the story both in length and time-frame, the author managed to make me believe that Tara and Rider had fallen in love which often doesn't happen in a novella and was also why the ending was so depressing for me. I have to give the author kudos for writing an inter-racial romance between a white hero and a heroine who was half-Black/half-Indian. I've never read this combination in an I/R romance before, and it was set in the 1970's South which made it all the more interesting. Another thing that I loved about Rider is that he always saw Tara as a beautiful woman and not just the color of her skin.

Make It Last Forever falls in between books 3 and 4 of the Vampire Huntress Legends, and was meant to tell the back-story of Jake Rider, who apparently is a prominent character in the series, and how he became a Guardian. I normally don't read series books out of order, but after doing a bit of research on the Vampire Huntress Legends, I can't say that it jumped out at me as a series that I knew for certain I would enjoy. Since I had never read L. A. Banks before either, I decided to take this as an opportunity to test out her writing skills and the series. Make It Last Forever stood pretty well on it's own, but it might have been helpful if I had read the other books first to get a better understanding of the world building and maybe know a little more about Rider and the other characters whose names were dropped.

Overall, I found Ms. Banks' writing style to be pretty solid. The plot was tight for such a short story, and other than it being a little narrative-heavy in places, it certainly engaged my attention which is why I was able to give it 4 stars. Normally, when I give a new-to-me author this high of a rating, it is a given that I will read more of their work at some point, but with Ms. Banks, I will have to give it some thought first. I wouldn't necessarily be averse to reading another of her stories, but I'm just not entirely sure that the dark, edgy tone of her writing is quite to my taste, nor do I know if my tender heart can take another melancholy ending like this one had. However, I can't deny that there was something rather enthralling about her storytelling which at the moment, leaves me on the fence, so I may pick up another of her books in the future after some careful consideration. Star Rating: ****

Red Moon Rising by Lori Handeland - Red Moon Rising is only the second paranormal story I've read that centers around Native American skinwalker legends which made it very interesting to me. Oddly enough, neither the hero nor the heroine is a supernatural creature, but instead are hunting and running from them respectively, which made it a unique read to the paranormal romance world. In my opinion though, this novella leans more toward urban fantasy than paranormal romance anyway. The combination of the heroine's first-person narration and the edgier tone, along with some dry, black humor seems more consistent with urban fantasy, even though the story is almost entirely set in a rural area.

Both the hero and heroine seemed more cerebral than emotional to me which made it a little difficult to connect with them. Maya is a best-selling author of action-adventure novels who is experiencing writer's block. She moved to the wilds of northern Arizona for some peace and quiet and to try to get in touch with her muse, but finds herself being stalked by a skinwalker. Maya was never an adventure type girl until she finds herself virtually kidnapped by Clay and running for her life. I have to give her credit though for being brave and toughing it out. In the end, I guess she was a kick-butt heroine. Clay is part of a secret government organization that hunts down supernatural creatures. He's been searching for the skinwalker who is after Maya, and when Clay finally finds him, they nearly get blown to smithereens not once but twice. Clay is an uber-alpha hero who doesn't have much of a softer side to speak of. I suppose in his defense, he had lost everyone he ever cared about to the creatures of the night. As a result, he had dedicated his life to hunting them, yet even when he spoke of the past he seemed more like a hardened warrior who had shut down all of his emotions than the vulnerable man I would have preferred.

Red Moon Rising was my first read by Lori Handeland, and based on this experience, I'd say that her writing itself is pretty solid. From an action-adventure perspective, the story was good, and I generally enjoyed that part, however, the romance, in my opinion, was rather weak. The story takes place over a mere two days time, and I'm afraid I just couldn't buy the idea of Maya and Clay falling in love and wanting to make a lifetime commitment in that short of a time. I didn't really feel any chemistry between them, and the love scenes happened far too quickly for my taste. There was very little tension leading up to them, and to me, the scenes themselves felt like virtually emotionless casual sex. If I didn't know any better, I'd think a man had written them. Overall, Red Moon Rising was a decent novella. I just didn't connect with the story or characters in the way I would have liked.

Red Moon Rising is part of Lori Handeland's Nightcreature series. It falls between Blue Moon and Hunter's Moon, the first and second full-length novels of the series. Normally, I don't read series books out of order, but I can't say that I was particularly drawn to this series and decided to take a chance in order to finish the anthology. Perhaps reading the first book might have enhanced my knowledge of the mythology and the world that Ms. Handeland has created, but I never felt lost at any point. After doing some research, I don't believe there are any carryover characters either, so I think readers should be fine with treating it as a stand-alone story. However, there is one thread that is left hanging at the end of the novella, which I suspect may be resolved in future books and might tempt readers to continue with the series. Even with that in mind, I can't say that I'm any more eager to read on than I was before starting Red Moon Rising, but I might give the author another try at some point. Star Rating: ***1/2