I received this book for free from Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Munro by Kresley Cole Series: Immortals After Dark #18
Published by Valkyrie Press on January 25, 2022
Genres: PNR
Pages: 400
Format: eBook
Source: Advance Reader Copy
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A human monster huntress. An immortal werewolf. Could any passion be more forbidden?
The next stand-alone installment in the electrifying Immortals After Dark series by #1 New York Times best-selling author Kresley Cole. Venture deeper into the Lore, fierce realm of the immortals—if you dare. . . .
TORMENTED IN UNIMAGINABLE WAYS
Coming off torture at the hands of his warlock captors, Munro MacRieve never expected to find his mate, or to lose her just as abruptly. Driven to desperation, the ruthless warrior uses his enemies’ own powers to reunite with her—in the distant past.
STOLEN FROM HER TIME
When a crazed werewolf crashes her wedding, Kereny “Ren” Codrina does what any cunning huntress would do: she captures him. Yet she finds herself softening toward the wounded beast—until he turns the tables and forces her into an incomprehensible future.
CAN A HUMAN AND AN IMMORTAL UNITE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE?
As danger mounts, Munro will do anything to make her undying, even sell his soul to an evil sorceress. But first he must convince his fiery mate that she belongs with him. If seduction means her survival, Munro will use every weapon in his arsenal to possess her—forever.
Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series, the young adult Arcana Chronicles series, the erotic Game Maker series, and five award-winning historical romances. Her books have been published in 23 countries and consistently appear on the bestseller lists in the U.S. and abroad.
A master's grad and former athlete, Kresley has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings.
She lives in Florida with her family and too many pets.
OMG YOU GUYSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
Kresley Cole is back and when she does a come back, so does it right!
(quick note, if you haven’t caught up but still want to dive into Munro, then read MacReive and Shadow’s Claim. Those are the most relevant to Munro).
When we last left the Immortals After Dark world, we were in Wicked Abyss. We have been getting glimpses into what the Morior want (Immortal primordials/borderline gods). And through it all, Nix has been moving her pieces on the immortal chessboard of the Ascension. In this book, though the Morior are an ever-present threat, we focus more on Hot or Hotter, whichever one Munro is 😉
Munro has been in the dungeon of some wizards, being tortured to turn into his Beast, because at that point, the wizards can capture his beast and turn him into a vassal. He will be forced to live completely conscious, completely aware, and yet doing the bidding of the wizards. For anyone this is hell, but for a Lykae? Especially so. And he is forced to do the unthinkable. But he was able to learn a few things from the wizards. He knows who his fated mate is. And he’s going to rescue her..
His fated mate is named Kereney, and she’s a Transylvanian circus performer from the 1920s. Oh and she’s human. He’s able to get the wizards to open a portal and he pops into her world right as she and her fellow circus people are preparing to fight some newling Lykae (newly turned Lykae who have no control over their beasts). Oh and she hates monsters. Her entire circus is a troupe of monster hunters. The idea that a Lykae male could dare interrupt her life calling her his mate? Absolutely not. She’s what the monsters should fear, not what they should lust after.
But as she gets to know Munro, she begins to …like him. He respects her. He appreciates her. The main hurdle is that he wants to turn her immortal, and she wants to stay human. She feels that immortality should be her choice, and Munro figures since he’s older he knows best.
One thing I loved about this book is that Ren was able to see Munro’s point of view on why becoming an immortal would be for the best. And Munro finally realized he can’t change his mate, he can’t take that choice from her…he needs to change himself. And this big realization wasn’t in the last couple of pages! It was decently in the middle of the book where they were able to work it out from there on out. And another thing I loved is how Ren realizes that she doesn’t need to hunt monsters, in the broad sense. She’s hunting evil. That core part of herself is never lost. She fights for those who can’t, and she understands that like humans, Immortals are varied. Some will be good, some bad. It’s not as simple as Lykae = bad, and maybe it never was. But she’s starting to figure out who she really is, and what her place in this new time can be. The best part of this book is watching the hero and heroine work together as a team, and these two do it so well.
For a long awaited book, I feel like it has definitely made me feel as though the wait was worth it. Slipping back into the Immortals After Dark series was as comforting as slipping into bed. I’ve missed this world, and I know so many others have as well. This book, for all of its heartbreak and trauma also has joy, and happiness, and hope. In fact, I feel like a certain scene toward the end has a whole lot of that happiness and hope, and it’s almost like Ms. Cole wanted to give us the gift of the Happily Ever After (HEA) ending while showing us what the Immortals will be fighting for in the Ascension.
There are so so many threads that used to be loose that are being tied up, or at least tightened. Nix the Ever Knowing is running herself ragged to take care of so many things. And I can’t wait to see what the next book holds. I assume it will be as intense as the others, if not more so, since that epilogue just upped the ante. You guys need to jump back into the Immortals After Dark World. With her trademark strong heroes and stronger heroines, Kresley Cole has created something unique and special with her Immortals After Dark series, and this book is an excellent addition.
***ARC courtesy of the publisher
