Search - Night Play (Dark-Hunter, Bk 6)

I'm having trouble parting with this book; I enjoyed it so much. Vane Kattalakis is a Were-Hunter wolf who is wanted dead by his enemies. He isn't looking for a mate but the Fates have marked Bride as his. Now Bride is a wonderful, loving woman. When her latest boyfriend had no more use for her he broke up with her. So Bride has sworn off men but deep down inside she still yearns for a knight in shining armor.

What makes Bride special is not only her personality, character and long auburn hair and porcelain skin, but the fact that, by today's standards, at a size 18, she is overweight. For a large woman to be the heroine of a romance book was quite brave of the author. She is also quite feminine though she can be tough when she needs to be. She's no hard, skinny heroine out to kick someone's butt. In almost all of the paranormal romances I read, the woman are either fashion model thin, underweight, tall and willowy, have perfect figures, etc. and often have hard personalities. I could immediately identify with Bride because of her imperfections. In fact, her weight was why her last boyfriend broke off with her. He used her trust and giving nature against her.

Then along comes gorgeous Vane and he sees Bride through her shop window and is smitten. Whenever Bride is shown through Vane's point of view, you see how beautiful he sees her; how turned on he is by her; how much he wants her despite her humanity. Vane sees her preparing to close up, vacuuming and crying. Her tears move him and he enters the shop. And then we're in for some steamy sex....

When he leaves, Vane thinks he'll never see her again. That it'd be better this way. But again, the Fates intervene. He has 3 weeks to either convince Bride that the supernatural is real, not an easy task since Bride thinks the supernatural just doesn't exist. If Vane fails to convince her, he'll end up neutered. Meanwhile, his brother Fang lies in a comatose state because of their enemies, and Vane's enemies continue their attempts to kill him.

This story has it all and is especially strong on character development and an action plot. It's my favorite Night Hunter book so far. I couldn't put it down and read it in one evening.

I was looking forward to Vane and Bride's story since they first meet! I was even more excited with the excerpt from the book!! It paled in comparison to the actual read! I sat down and read it in one night! I love the chemistry between Bride and Vane, the characters are well sensitive and flawed without being overly whiny. There are a couple slightly cheesy revenge scenes but even those are at the very least fun. I've already gone back and read it twice more.

I think that this is my favorite Dark Hunter story. The Heroienne is not a thin, toothpick thin blonde. He thinks she's perfect. In the end, she saves herself from a would be killer. The sex scenes are hot.

What makes Night Play a cut above the rest in the Dark Hunter series, is the fact that it's totally character driven. (For me, it's always about the character.) I adored the heroine, Bride. She's a real woman and her feelings are so well expressed (by showing not telling,) SK hits dead on with this one.

The book starts out with Bride being dumped by her selfish boyfriend of 5 yrs. Not five minutes after she received her dumping papers, via HER OWN fedex account no less- we meet the hero who swoops in for the rescue.

The hero, Vane, is alpha male to the max, of course the fact that he's what basically amounts to a werewolf in Kenyon's world has a lot to do with that.

Vane is totally focused on she-who-is-to-become-his-mate from the get go. Most of us average never-been-a-cheerleader-non-101-lb women know it's pure fantasy to believe that a man, gorgeous and ripped, would fall for us so completely and totally- but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy the fantasy of it! AND Most every woman wants her man to think she's the most beautiful creature on earth and long to be told that, as well as shown. Vane does it spades. And that's what makes one fall for him and this book too.

After years of verbal abuse by her ex, Bride's ready for some attention like Vane dishes out, even though she can hardly believe she deserves it.

There is a scene where Vane asks her to meet him at her favorite restaurant- the one which the ex never took her too because he didn't want to be seen with her, unfortunately when she arrives Vane is nowhere to be found and reservations have not been made. She stands outside only to realize her ex is coming up on her with a perfect babe on his arm. They snicker like high-schoolers at Bride and saunter in while she stands outside clutching her shawl around her, attempting to make herself invisible and thinking she's been stood up.

Right then I fell in love with the story. The first part was too unbelievable, (Vane and Bride get it on a little to early in the story AND c'mon he's just too sexy to be believed.)

But feeling like an idiot because you actually felt good about yourself for awhile only to be knocked back down into the crab pot of life once again? That I can buy into.

Never fear, Vane rescues her in stellar fashion. And, despite the typical Knight in Shining Armor cliche, the story plays out to a satisfying end. I loved every single page!!!!

This series is great, lets the reader live in another world for a while

I love the way SK ties the characters in her books together. For instance, we will "see" Bride & Vane with their children at Ash & Tori's wedding much later in the series. I love to get an update on my favorite characters a few books later, you know?
I never met a Dark-Hunter book I didn't like. I keep my eyes open for them so I can post them to spread the DH joy, but I have the entire series on my shelves at home & plan to always keep them.