Review: Shadow's Claim by Kresley Cole ★★★★ ~ THE DEMON LIBRARIAN

Shadow's Claim by Kresley Cole
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Realm of Blood and Mist #1
Publication Date: November 27th 2012
ISBN: 9781451650051
Page Count: 481
Rating: ★★★★
Review Copy: Audiobook
Reviewed by: Lynsey

Synopsis:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole introduces The Dacians: Realm of Blood and Mist, a new paranormal series following the royal bloodline of Dacia, a vampire kingdom hidden within the Lore of the Immortals After Dark.

Shadow's Claim features Prince Trehan, a ruthless master assassin who will do anything to possess Bettina, his beautiful sorceress mate, even compete for her hand in a blood-sport tournament—to the death.

He won't be denied...

Trehan Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadows, has spent his life serving his people, striking in the night, quietly executing any threat to their realm. The coldly disciplined swordsman has never desired anything for himself—until he beholds Bettina, the sheltered ward of two of the Lore's most fearsome villains.

She's bound to another...

Desperate to earn her guardians' approval after a life-shattering mistake, young Bettina has no choice but to marry whichever suitor prevails—even though she's lost her heart to another. Yet one lethal competitor, a mysterious cloaked swordsman, invades her dreams, tempting her with forbidden pleasure.

A battle for her body and soul...

Even if Trehan can survive the punishing contests to claim her as his wife, the true battle for Bettina's heart is yet to come. And unleashing a millennium's worth of savage need will either frighten his Bride away—or stoke Bettina's own desires to a fever-pitch...

Review:

Classic Cole

Fans of the IAD series will have no trouble getting into this new spin-off. Other than it not being set in the human realm, and having a new type of "misting" vampire to learn about, it was pretty much business as usual. Which in Cole's case means a wonderful mix of outrageously alpha males, feisty yet strangely vulnerable females, off-the-charts sexual tension, and plenty of humour, which is about the only thing that makes these over-the-top men tolerable! They do and say some pretty jaw-dropping stuff, let me tell you!

This time, we have a half Sorceress Bettina in one corner, and Trehan, Prince of Shadows in the other, and, somewhat annoyingly, Caspion, her best friend since childhood whom Bettina thinks she's in love with, in the middle. Complicated, sure, but then these cross-species matings always are, which is part of the charm of the series. Seeing the conflicts, the seemingly immovable obstacles, the head-smackingly aggravating misunderstandings, all battling against overwhelming base instincts and primal urges. But nothing is ever a strong enough barrier against true love. Awww.

This story features an immortal contest which brought me back to the days of the Talisman's Hie from books two and three of IAD. During it, we caught glimpses of several werewolves which has me so excited for MacRieve, the next IAD book, which comes out in July. It's about time we were back with the Weres, don't you think? Yummy.

My only complaints were that this book was over-long and had slow parts. The Caspion thing dragged on a bit, and the mystery of her Sorcery powers fizzled out into nothing. So, while not one of my favourites, Cole simply doesn't know how to write a truly bad book, and I still found much to enjoy.

4 Stars ★★★★