Review: Shadow's Seduction by Kresley Cole

Book Description

In this scorching Immortals After Dark novella, #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole brings together a wicked vampire prince used to getting everything he desires and a demon warrior who always felt like an outcast.

A night of debauchery . . .

Prince Mirceo Daciano and his new friend Caspion the Tracker comb the streets of Dacia, drunkenly seeking out pleasures of the flesh. In what should have been a typical night, they coax a bevy of nymphs to bed. To impress their females, the demon and the vampire kiss on a dare.

Changes them forever . . .

Once they finally break away from their soul-searing kiss, they find themselves alone--and shaken. Had they imagined their explosive chemistry? Obstacles--ranging from a death sentence, to exile on a war-torn dimension--threaten to destroy their lives . . . and the vulnerable promise in that one kiss.

How long can they resist the fire that blazes between them?

Even if Mirceo accepts Caspion as his fated mate, the seductive vampire still must convince the stubborn demon that their bond is forever. And any royal Dacian union must receive the blessing of King Lothaire, an unpredictable and savage killer. . . .

My Review

Mirceo finds Caspion intriguing and wants to get to know him better. Mirceo is a prince in his realm that's hidden but he can get out and mingle among others which is when he spots Cas. Mirceo is openly bisexual and has no qualms about turning the charm on anyone he finds attractive but he does not believe in monogamy and only stays with each person once and then he moves on to the next conquest.

Caspion (Cas) is a demon without much to his name and grew up begging on the streets for whatever food he could get. Now he's a tracker and takes on bounty hunter and other jobs finding lost people in order to make enough money to live on. Caspion is straight and believes his fated mate will be a female that he can have children (pups) with.

Mirceo feels something he doesn't recognize right away for Cas and at one point he thinks it might be because he thinks Cas might be his sister's mate but it wasn't that. They spend a lot of time together bedding women and having a good time until they are tricked into kissing for a couple of women who want to see them do that. But everything changes after that kiss, Mirceo knows that they are mates but Cas won't accept that. 

Cas runs, he runs about as far as he can and while he's away he changes, quite a bit. Mirceo has a voracious sexual appetite so Cas doesn't think that he will ever be faithful to him alone and doesn't trust him enough to seal their mate bond. Cas doesn't think that he'll ever be enough alone for Mirceo and knows that if he were to go seek another that it might break him. 

Their romance is hard because there's so many obstacles in their way and the trust just isn't there in the beginning. This is a M/M romance but I didn't care because they were really good together for the most part. Mirceo is very aggressive in his pursuit of Cas and I think he goes a bit far at times. We actually find out exactly how far he went to make sure they were together towards the end of the book and finding out everything he did put a bit of a stinky sock all over their romance for me. It didn't endear him to me, it actually did the opposite for me. But being he was a spoiled prince used to getting his way or what he wanted, it made sense that he would go to those extremes. The love scenes are graphic and very hot, but at times were almost rough. 

The biggest problem I had with this book is the abrupt ending. We were left with a cliffhanger. This is book 17 in the series so I don't understand leaving a part of the storyline open like this. Cas and Mirceo's storyline was complete but someone is kidnapped and there's no conclusion to what happened to them in this book. It was part of the story so it should have been answered and concluded but this author tends to leave big plot holes in these books open and sometimes we don't see what happens to these characters for several books so this is a problem for me. 

So while I liked this story for the most part there were some problems but I will continue to read this series. But this is my least favorite book in the series so far.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.