Riley is supposed to be on holiday to recover from events in the previous books but she never has been one to sit around doing nothing. This time her holiday is spoiled when she is contacted by a member of her mother's pack - the pack that exiled her & Rhoan for being half breeds. Riley wants as little to do with them as they have had to do with her but now they need her help - one of their pack members has gone missing and they want Riley to find her. If Riley refuses then her mother will be killed - a threat she knows they will be happy to carry out.

I'm already a big fan of this series and Embraced by Darkness was a great installment. We have seen Riley go through a lot in the year we've been following her but she has some difficult personal decisions to make this time regarding her relationship with Kellen. I started getting really bad feelings about Kellen near the beginning of the story but I'm not going to say if I was right or not - you'll have to read the book to find out. I just find it very hard to trust Riley's taste in men given her history!

I liked finding out more about Riley & Rhoan's upbringing and their relationship with members of their old pack. It would have been nice to have a chance to meet their mother though. I do love the strong bond between Riley & Rhoan though - they have always been close but as you learn more about their mother's pack it becomes clear that they've only really ever been able to rely on each other. It's good that they are still always there for each other.

I enjoyed the hunt scenes with the bad guys towards the end of the book and was really unsure how Riley would escape. There was a really interesting twist to the way Riley's powers are developing due to the experimental drug she was given at the start of the series, I'm very curious to see how this changes things for her in the future. I did find the bad guys abilities were a little unbelievable and didn't think we were given enough of an explanation for that. I was also a bit surprised at how easily they are defeated at the end considering how powerful they were.

This is a great series for fans of urban fantasy but I would definitely recommend starting with book 1 Full Moon Rising. Riley has developed quite a lot as a character throughout the series & I think you'd be missing out if you didn't read the books in order. I liked the fact that Riley's hormones played a smaller part in this story - I don't mind sex in a story but it can get a little repetitive when the main character is repeatedly having sex with many partners, especially when it is often with people she doesn't like & just as a part of her job. If you haven't started this series yet but are an urban fantasy fan then I would definitely recommend giving it a try.