REVIEW: A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

In A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole, Emmaline Troy, half Valkyrie/half vampire, has set out on her own to investigate her origins. Her parents might have passed away years ago but certainly there has to be some information somewhere out there. Paris is where Emmaline finds herself when her luck runs out. A huge male–she’s not sure if he’s a vampire or some other type of Lore–barrels straight toward her and claims she’s his fated mate. Umm, what? As Emmaline tries to understand why she’s spellbound in Lachlain’s presence, they make their way to his home in Scotland. And her fears about who or what he is are warranted. Because the beast of a man truly is a *beast*, a werewolf (aka: Lykae) who happens to be the leader of his clan. She should run screaming for the hills. But Emmaline is soon entranced with Lachlain as well as intrigued with his home and clan. And she’s not sure she wants to escape his dark embrace after all.

“Never run from one such as me.”
Her attacker didn’t sound human.
“You will no’ get away. And we like it.” His voice was guttural like a beast’s, breaking, yet his accent was… Scottish?

Lachlain MacRieve has been kept prisoner underground for so many years he can barely remember what it was like to roam the world free and (mostly) unburdened. Then he scents The One. His Mate. And it gives him the strength to finally break the bonds that held him in the catacombs under Paris. When Lachlain finally does locate his mate, she’s honestly nothing as he imagined. She’s a tiny sprite of a female. And she appears to be vampire–well, at least half vampire. After being held captive by her kind, he’s peeved his long-awaited mate is not a Lykae as he is. But Lachlain can’t argue with fate. As soon as he flees Paris with Emmaline in tow and makes his way back to his beloved Scotland, he realizes how much has changed in the years he’s been gone. Bringing his female into his world, he knew, would pose risks. But none so much as what Emmaline’s past throws at them, forcing them to fight against evil with no choice but to win.

‘When he watched her sleeping, he often thought, ‘My heart lies vulnerable outside my chest.”

Kresley Cole always writes entertaining, exciting, complex paranormal romances that are as sexy as they are smart. And A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER was the book that kicked off her popular Immortals After Dark series with an explosive storyline that just didn’t quit.

‘Nursing the rage in his heart is all he has.
Until her.’

Whether it’s the first time I read a Kresley Cole book or the second (or third or fourth) she never fails to keep me entranced from beginning to end. And while I know A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER was a tad controversial due to some dubious consent and the way Lykae Clan leader Lachlain MacRieve treated half vampire/half Valkyrie Emmaline Troy at times, I enjoyed every moment of my re-read of this classic. The characters seemed just as fully fleshed-out as they originally did. And their dynamic was still as captivating as I remembered.

While the majority of the story was on the darker side as one would expect from Cole, the moments of levity really broke through to shine as a spark of light that kept the characters going. I won’t rehash the plot or action scenes as they’ve been explained and chronicled since the book’s original release in 2006. I will say that I think Emmaline and Lachlain were the perfect pair to begin the series. It gave us a good idea what fun and feuding were to come as well as how Cole would balance the light and the dark, and good vs. evil–okay, morally grey vs. evil. Because as the long-running series continued on over the years, my thoughts kept returning to this beginning. To Lachlain and Emmaline. To Paris and Scotland. And to the first taste of the Immortals After Dark we readers experienced.

QOTD: Are you an Immortals After Dark fan? If so, do you have a favorite character or couple?

Book Info:

Publication: March 28th, 2006) | Gallery Books | Immortals After Dark #1

Acclaimed author Kresley Cole introduces a sizzling new series with this tale of a fierce werewolf and a bewitching vampire—unlikely soul mates whose passion will test the boundaries of life and death.

A mythic warrior who’ll stop at nothing to possess her…

After enduring years of torture from the vampire horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he’s waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.

A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy…

Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents—until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae—and their notorious dark desires—ebbs as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings.

An all-consuming desire…

Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be?