Review: Kresley Cole - Shadow's Claim

Immortals After Dark Series
Book 13:

The Dacians: Realm of Blood and Mist Series:

Book 1:

Shadow's Claim: Prince Trehan Daciano “The Prince of Shadows” and Princess Bettina of the Deathly Ones

Purchase Book on Amazon: Kresley Cole - Shadow's Claim (Immortals After Dark: the Dacians)
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
Shadow's Claim features Prince Trehan, a ruthless master assassin who will do anything to possess Bettina, his beautiful sorceress mate, even compete for her hand in a blood-sport tournament—to the death.

He won't be denied...
Trehan Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadows, has spent his life serving his people, striking in the night, quietly executing any threat to their realm. The coldly disciplined swordsman has never desired anything for himself—until he beholds Bettina, the sheltered ward of two of the Lore's most fearsome villains.

She's bound to another...
Desperate to earn her guardians' approval after a life-shattering mistake, young Bettina has no choice but to marry whichever suitor prevails—even though she's lost her heart to another. Yet one lethal competitor, a mysterious cloaked swordsman, invades her dreams, tempting her with forbidden pleasure.

A battle for her body and soul...
Even if Trehan can survive the punishing contests to claim her as his wife, the true battle for Bettina's heart is yet to come. And unleashing a millennium's worth of savage need will either frighten his Bride away—or stoke Bettina's own desires to a fever-pitch...

Review:
For some reason I having a hard time writing this review, my thoughts are scattered and I can’t seem to start in the right spot. Erg! Do I have reviewers block? Does that even exist? LOL

Well anyway, I loved this book. From beginning to end it was passionate, fun, funny, action packed and the characters lovable. Trehan was a sexier, more lovable version of Sebastian Wroth. Both are scholarly, warriors, but for me, Trehan does it better, sexier, more brooding, a master assassin for the land of Blood and Mist. Yummy! I’ll take a Trehan any day! He’s an undercover alpha male he’s so calm and collected, that he can deceive you, then all of the sudden….he’s NOT! And then all hell breaks loose and you have an explosive alpha male on your hands. Oooweee! But our Master Assassin also has a soft side; he is so supportive of Bettina when she is struggling with her fears. He just looks at her and puts his faith in her that she could beat that deep seeded fear and his unwavering faith in her gets her past a huge block. He meets Bettina when he is drawn to her window by some inexplicable force. He is supposed to be hunting a demon Caspion for breaking his lands laws. When he enters Bettina’s room he finds his Bride in a beautiful maiden and she is responding to his touch! But she soon realizes that the person touching her is not who she thought it was and Trehan realizes his Bride doesn’t want him. He decides then and there that he does not want a Bride that does not want him, or does he?

Bettina is so damn cute, if I could have folded her up and put her in my pocket to take with me, I would have! She does an incredible amount of growing throughout this book. She goes from scared and a push over to a sorceress that other sorceri should fear someone ready to rule the deathly ones! She is half demoness and half sorceress. She grew up in her homeland where her demon father was king up until his death shortly following her mother’s death. She always felt out of place, taking on most of her mother sorceress qualities. She had no friends until Caspion a foundling orphan link up and suddenly she has a best friend who she secretly loved for most of her young life. When she is away from her realm in the human world she is viciously attacked by Vrekeners, not fully into her immortality it takes her 2 months to recover. Three months later her guardians decree that there will be a open tournament for her hand in marriage and to be king of her kingdom, which brings out all sorts of Loreans and a lot of them are not any creature you would want to be married to, ever! For years she has fancied herself in love with Caspion, he has been her childhood hero! She begs him to enter the tournament and finally he agrees if for no other reason than to avoid Trehans blade coming at his head for breaking Dacians laws. Bettina never expects to see Trehan again after that first night when he declares her his Bride and then takes off. But then he shows up for the tournament to win her hand and then all of the sudden she is having all these confusing feeling towards this stoic ancient vampire but she loves Caspion, doesn’t she??

As with the majority of Kresley Cole’s books you are taken on a merry go round of emotion and action. With the tourney to win the fair Bettina’s hand you are guaranteed to get plenty of fighting, because the Lore is nothing if not violent. Lol The sparks between Bettina and Trehan are enough to make you fan yourself off. They certainly have the sexual chemistry going on from the beginning. He leaves her panting and wanting more, even as he is confusing the hell out of her. Caspion added a fun love triangle-ish element to this story. The interactions between Bettina, Trehan and Caspion are sure to keep you entertained! We also have Bettina’s guardians, her demon godfather and her powerful sorceress godmother. The dynamic between these two make me think that there may be a future story brewing there. There are too many sparks flying there. Also, her evil-ish godmother is quite funny, she kind of reminds me a bit of Reign the Radiant who makes demons eat carburetors for fun. Add in a perverted former phantom and current phanTom as Bettina’s bodyguard and you have the makings of some good times and laughs. We get cameos from Munro, Nix, and Sabine and Lothaire who is at full crazy from previous IAD books.

This is a must read! Days later I still find myself smiling from this book. I think I’d have to say I enjoyed it even more than Lothaire, which was fantastic in its own right.

Sorry, for the disjointed review lol. I’ve been trying to write it for two days. LOL!! Damn reviewers block!

Rating: