Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter Series, Book Seven): Sherrilyn Kenyon UPDATED

I seem to be on a bit of a Sherrilyn Kenyon reading kick as of late.  It's been fun going back through these stories and immersing myself in the rich world Kenyon has created.  There's been a long enough gap in between my first reading (HERE) and this go, so enough of the plot was "new-ish" and made it fun and exciting.

As with my first reading, I really appreciated how much this story added to the overall backstory and plot for this extensive series.  The nuances in the Appellate and Daimon worlds were so complex and served to prove how the world -- even this fictional one -- is never quite as black-and-white as it seems.  I will admit that I may even have to go back and read the very beginning of this book again to make sure I really understand all of the twisty turns of the mythology Kenyon has created.

As for the characters, themselves, I liked Wulf and Cassandra.  Wulf's backstory was well-written and  his curse was truly heart-breaking (and creative).  I appreciated how Kenyon handled it and used it to add depth to the plot.  While I understand Wulf's obsession (and even that feels as if I am putting it lightly) with keeping Chris safe, it sometimes felt a bit too over the top (bordering on silly).  I liked Cassandra as a female lead.  She felt strong and determined, with a well-crafted backstory.  Moments of the story felt a little bit cheesy (cue sex scene involving a red rose), but that may just be my own personal taste.

Some of the writing was slightly awkward at times.  I found my English-centered brain attempting to edit these sentences as I would when reading my own world or a student's.  The biggest instance of this is the way in which some words were repeated in sentences when other words would have sufficed.  This didn't dampen my enjoyment, but I did notice it enough to feel the need to mention it in this review.

I definitely enjoyed the supporting characters; they really seemed to make this book into something very fun and interesting to read.  I think, while Cassandra and Wulf had a great story, they service as a vehicle to set up a number of other threads for the rest of the overarching series.  Ash makes an important appearance (as did Simi...and we know how I feel about her obsessive rants about barbecuing everything...) and we learn more about Atlantean mythology and get some hints about Ash's hidden past.

One more comment I will make is that we get very little about Wulf's physical appearance to go off of.  There's a good bit right at the start, but not a heck of a lot after.  In a genre where readers should "fall for" the male leads, this fell slightly short.  (When I say "physical" description, I mean facial features.  We certainly get good physical descriptions, but not much else.  I feel like we got a better sense of Cassandra from Wulf's point of view.)

I did enjoy the story.  Parts of it were very touching and I can tell a tremendous amount of work went into this book.  I had a little bit of constructive criticism to offer, but I don't think it's something to deter you from reading this installment.