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Dead After Dark | 
| Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon, J.r. Ward, Susan Squires, Dianna Love
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Category: Book
Buy New: $7.99
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 2629
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312947984
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780312947989
Publication Date: December 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Dead after dark falls 'short' - These Enjoyable Shorts Would Have Made Great Novels December 9, 2008
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
Dead After Dark is sure to attract a lot of fans with its inclusion of stories by paranomal romance heavyweights J. R. Ward and Sherrilyn Kenyon. Rounding out the author quartet is Dianna Love, Kenyon's writing partner for her B.A.D. series, and Susan Squires who authors a long running vampire series.
My favorite story out of the four stories was "Story of Son" by J. R. Ward, though I have enjoyed her Black Dagger Brotherhood I am not a fangirl (well, not an extreme fangirl), so it wasn't a problem that the story was not connected to that series. Here Ward tells the story of a workaholic lawyer Claire who finds herself kidnapped and trapped with the inhumanly beautiful vampire son of a client. The son has been imprisoned alone in the basement for decades except for three days a year when mom provides a woman to feed upon, this time Claire's dinner. --- I loved Ward's hero, whom Claire names Michael. Michael is beautiful, tragic, shy and vulnerable, and alternately, powerful and dominating as Claire's acceptance stirs his passion in addition to his hunger. The story was both sweet and steamy, and I liked it so well that I went back for a second read. (5 stars)
Also enjoyable was Dianna Love's "Midnight Kiss Goodbye". Trey returns home to find Sasha, the woman he spurned but still loves, in danger from one of his magical enemies. Drew made the difficult decision to leave in order to spare Sasha the burden of his secret magical heritage, but Sasha has her own magical secrets and the attraction between them still burns bright. Now Drew must again choose and this time the fate of the world hangs in the balance, but how can he possibly give Sasha up again? --- Though I do admit that this story was stuffed to the gills with world building, but (mixing my metaphors I know) author Love sows the promising seeds for what I hope is the start of a new series with magical warriors, gods/goddesses and witches. I liked Trey a lot but I definitely want more of Lucien. -- (4 stars)
Susan Squires' "Beyond the Night" - Andrew was framed for a crime as punishment for loving a women above his station, and left to rot on a prison ship, but fate stepped in and Andrew made his fortune as a pirate. Now as the gentleman `Drew' he returns to pursue vengeance. Acquiring a manor for his base of operations, Drew finds his new home haunted, but he is overcome not by fear, but by lust for the bloodsucking ghostly beauty who hides from her past. --- I am not a fan of Squires' `Companion' vampire romances in general, but this one was pretty good, even though the Drew's transition from his lifelong purpose of vengeance to acceptance of eternal love was a bit rushed. (3.5 stars)
"Shadow of the Moon" is Kenyon's story of were hunter wolf Fury - one of Vane's long suffering brothers - who had a significant supporting role in Night Play. When an attack leaves a lion shifter mysteriously trapped in his animal form, Fury sniffs out that the attackers were members of his old clan - including the best friend, Angelia, whose betrayal nearly cost him his life. Having learned his lesson the hard way , Fury has used his sarcastic attitude as protection to keep everyone at a distance, but now the acceptance by his brothers has put a chink in his armor, and memories of the woman he once trusted and loved again puts his heart and life in danger. --- I have loved Fury since Night Play - poor Fury, fate really played a cruel joke on him - and it was fun to see old favorites Fang, Bride and Vane,( and Zarek) one more time. Fury himself held up his end of the story here just fine. In fact, the parts with Fury and his sniping verbal games with the Bears at Sanctuary and the bits with Bride and Fury's pack at dinner made the story worth reading for Fury fans. But as far as the story in general and the romance between Fury and Angelia in specific, "Shadow of the Moon" was screaming to be a full length novel. There is a great deal of back-story - for Katagaria (animals that shift to human) and Acadians (humans that shift to animal) and for Fury's family in particular - that even fans may have forgotten. And while Kenyon did do a great job of working Fury up to the peak of disgust for Angelia's ignorance and cruelty, the middle was missing from Fury's reconcilement with Angelia. I never got to the point where I liked Angelia and felt she was worthy of a second chance with Fury and that, along with her abrupt change in attitude and Fury's too easy forgiveness, meant that the story wasn't really satisfying from a romance standpoint. -- For maximum enjoyment read/reread Night Play before reading this one - after reading this the first time I reread Night Play and I enjoyed the story so much more on the second read. (3.5 stars the 1st read, 4 stars the second)
Out of the four stories here, only Ward's was truly satisfying as a short story and romance, the rest of the three had very detailed build-ups but the resolutions felt rushed - Love's and Kenyon's had so much going on in the background that they really needed to be full length novels. Additionally, Squire's (along with Kenyon's) relied on the reader having knowledge of a long running series to understand all that was going on in the story. Overall I enjoyed Dead After Dark, but if you are not a fan of short stories, even if you are a Ward/Kenyon fan, this may not be the anthology to win you over.
Great story by Ward, the rest are OK December 6, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The stand-out in this anthology was J.R. Ward's contribution, "The Story of Son." That alone was worth the money to me. It's not part of the Black Dagger Brootherhood series, but fits into that world and is written more in the style of the first few books, before Ward started transitioning from romance to urban fantasy.
"The Story of Son" is about a workaholic lawyer, Claire, who pays a home visit to one of her wealthiest clients. The client mentions wanting Claire to meet her son and Claire thinks the old woman is matchmaking. As it turns out the client has something else in mind. Claire is drugged and wakes up in a windowless room with a strange man, who keeps hidden in the shadows. The next thing she knows, he's apologizing and making a meal of her neck. As Claire gets to know the stranger, she finds out he's the vampire son of her human client and has been kept a prisoner in the room for more than 50 years, since he was a young boy. It's almost all he knows. Michael turns out to be kind, smart and handsome, though terribly shy, and it doesn't take long for Claire to fall for him and start planning a way to get them both out of their prison.
Claire is a smart, resourceful heroine and Michael is an endearing, tortured hero.
Sherrilyn Kenyon's contribution is "Shadow of the Moon," Fury's story. Normally, I think Kenyon does short stories very well, but this one didn't live up to my expectations. First off, I really loved Fury in "Night Play," Vane's book, and I'd hoped he'd have a full length novel, so that might have colored my opinion, but he didn't seem to have quite the same prickly, awkward charm he had in other books. As for the heroine, Fury forgave her much more easily than I did. I think this was a story where a lot of character development was needed, but there just wasn't room for it in the space allotted in an anthology. The story has Fury investigating an attack on a pair of katagaria lions when he discovers a woman from his past is behind it. Angelia was his childhood friend, but betrayed him when he needed her most. When Fury takes her prisoner, she starts to question if she did the right thing.
Susan Squires' story, "Seize the Night," is a historical about a young man, Drew Carlowe, who has transformed himself from a groom to a gentleman. He returns home to win back the woman he loved and lost 15 years ago, only to find there may be some truth to rumors that his new estate is haunted by a stunning young ghost with a taste for blood. After a passionate encounter with the mysterious trespasser, he learns what real love is. I'd never read Squires before, but this was a good story and after reading it, I'm interested in reading some of her other works.
The last story, Diana Love's "Midnight Kiss Goodbye," is that of Trey McCree who has long loved Sasha Armand, but keeps his distance because of his dangerous (and supernatural) work. What he doesn't know is that Sasha has a secret of her own. I can't really name a reason why, but I just couldn't get into this story and wound up skimming most of it.
 Do NOT buy this for Kenyon December 6, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
First let me state that yes I am a Kenyon fan, and have read most of her novels under either of her names. However I felt I needed to comment on this particular short story. It almost seems as though lately she is trying VERY VERY hard to make her heroines extremely unlikable. This one sat by while the hero was tortured and only intervened when the bad guys were about to stick a hot poker where the sun doesn't shine. And magically in what was it??? Like ninety pages we are suppose to like this woman? This short story MAJORLY shortchanged her readers.
The other stories are okay but overall.....rent it from the library.
Anthology December 3, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
The first story by Sherrilyn Kenyon is great. It tells the story of Fury the brother of Fang, and Vane who married Bride in one of the first books about the werehunters. Fury was raised Arcadian but he turned out to be Katagaria. So he was almost murdered by his own mother, brother, and family. He was accepted into the Kattalakis clan and later revealed to be their brother. The cubs were split when the mother and father split. She being Arcadian and he katagaria. She tries to kill every Katagaria she encounters.
Fury meets up with one of his Arcadian brothers and the female he has always loved when they attack a lion katagaria and use something to bind him to his animal shape. Angelina is taken prisoner and forced to realize that they are not animals, and that her own people are more animal than them. I loved it.
J.R. Ward tells us the story of a vampire who has been held captive by his mother for many years. Afraid of him and his powers she imprisoned him beneath her mansion. Now she is dying and chooses to use her lawyer for a feeding for her Son. He is very shy and gentle and the lawyer falls for him but he must remove her memories before she is released. I found it touching and wonderful.
Susan Squires tells of a vampiress who is shattered by the death of her sister and has left her father's home. She is hiding in an older estate that her father owns in England. The local squire is corrupt and instead of overseeing the estate he has sold it. Drew left after he was beaten for loving the squires daughter. Now he has returned with a great deal of wealth to try to reclaim his love. However, she is dead from childbirth, as her father married her off within a yr of Drew's leaving. Determined on revenge Drew finds comfort with the Vampire at his estate. She has the deed to prove her father owns the property. I enjoyed this one.
Dianna Love gives us a story with to much information. Trey is a member of a secret protection society. Sasha is a witch. Both are after the member of a group of people who serve the Celtic and Gaelic gods. There was just to much going on to really get deeply involved with the story. I think there must be a book somewhere that uses these characters.
The first three were excellent, and the last was passible. It was worth the money just to get Fury's story.
This was cute... December 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I thought this was pretty cute overall.
I'm somewhat dissapointed that Fury will not have his own Kenyon Dark-Hunter novel. I was surprised when Angelia and Fury got together so quickly, even for a short story, but honestly I enjoyed reading it.
I loved Ward's "The Story of Son" I thought both characters were endearing and the story was a pretty different variation on her tortured captive sort of theme.
I enjoyed reading Susan Squires story however having to guess what "Harriers" and "Aspirants" are was somewhat distracting to me but I'm ready to jump head first into one of her series.
The final story was my least favorite, but even being that I enjoyed it.
I say if you are a fan of any of these authors this is worth the read.
Sometimes the stories felt hurried but I didn't find it dissapointing at all.
That's just me :)
KR
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