Fantasy Lover (Book One, Dark-Hunter Series): Sherrilyn Kenyon

"Dear Reader,
“Being trapped in a bedroom with a woman is a grand thing. Being trapped in hundreds of bedrooms over two thousand years isn’t. And being cursed into a book as a love-slave for eternity can ruin even a Spartan warrior’s day.

“As a love-slave, I know everything about women. How to touch them, hot to savor them, and most of all, how to pleasure them. But when I was summoned to fulfill Grace Alexander’s sexual fantasies, I found the first woman in history who saw me as a man with a tortured past. She alone bothered to take me out of the bedroom and into the world. She taught me to love again.
“But I was not born to know love. I was cursed to walk eternity alone. As a general, I had long ago accepted my sentence. Yet now I have found Grace—the one thing my wounded heart cannot survive without. Sure, love can heal all wounds, but can it break a two-thousand-year-old curse?
“Julian of Macedon”

Well, this book was absolutely amazing! This was the book that I had been waiting for and it finally came! I was so happy that I immediately started reading it and I was NOT disappointed in the least. Julian was an AMAZING character and I COMPLETELY related to Grace—no lie, I saw so much of myself in her! There were so many witty moments and I laughed out loud and loved every moment of it! Julian was such a heart-wrenching character and the readers learn how troubled he really is and they bleed for him. It’s hard not to when the readers find out how hard he really has had it. Not to mention that whole part with Grace’s books—but I don’t want to give too much away!

As you probably know, I don’t usually read “modern” romances, but this had the PERFECT amount of history to make me happy as a kid in a candy store! : ) I CANNOT WAIT TO READ THE REST OF THE SERIES! YAY! I totally recommend Sherrilyn Kenyon to EVERYONE! (As well as her Dark-Hunter Series!)

*****UPDATE*****

Those of you who follow my reviews know that I really do not care to re-read books. Sherrilyn Kenyon, however, is a long-time favorite author of mine. I needed a good, entertaining book to take on vacation with me - something that didn't take itself too seriously because I've just finished my Master’s program and my poor brain needed a break. Kenyon’s writing seemed like the perfect choice. I remember laughing a lot and finding the romance very sweet and touching the first time I read this book almost ten years ago. I read this long enough ago that I knew there would be some dialogue and situations that would be fun and “new” and I looked forward to that. After finishing this book, I will say that, while still HIGHLY creative and fun, I found this book to be very clearly one of Kenyon’s early works. There were a few awkward moments in the dialogue and I felt like some of the self deprecation was a bit over the top, so much so that it sometimes made me struggle a little bit. While I liked Grace, I preferred Julian; however, even his borderline self-loathing hindered the flow at times. One other thing I will say is that I found it odd how Kyrian wasn't mentioned until the second half of the book, almost as if Kenyon decided upon writing a second book in the series once she was through a great deal of the story and didn't/couldn't go back and write him in sooner. Up until halfway through, Iason was the only one of Julian’s comrades mentioned. I would have thought that Kyrian would have been mentioned earlier on instead of ONLY Iason. Other than that, I still liked the book. It is s great introduction to the rest of the series and I'm excited to read back through these books and contiue from where I left off. Kenyon is incredibly creative and she really has created an amazing world. I think it was even more fun because I have traveled to New Orleans now and my friend and I made a point of visiting a lot of the most important places from the series. I recommend a trip to New Orleans for everyone, but especially for anyone interested in Kenyon’s books (or anything by Anne Rice) because it's so exciting to see these places in person.

I still recommend this book and will say that Kenyon remains, in my mind, a creative and talented author. My tastes have clearly changed over the last (nearly) 10 years, but I still enjoy Kenyon. I am certainly looking forward to moving on in the series and seeing if my opinions on those have evolved as well. Happy reading!!!