Review: Seize the night by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Seize the Night
(Dark-Hunter #6)
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: Dec. 28, 2004
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating:

Valerius isn’t a popular Dark-Hunter-he’s a Roman, which means that the largely Greek Hunters have a major grudge against him and his civilization for superseding them. To make things worse, he’s very conscious of his aristocratic background and breeding. So it serves him right when he runs into Tabitha Devereaux. She’s sassy, sexy, and completely unwilling to take him seriously. (Not to mention that she’s the twin sister of the wife of former Dark-Hunter Kyrian-Val’s mortal enemy.) What Tabitha does take seriously is hunting and killing vampires-and soon she and Val have to grapple with the deadliest of all Daimons-one who’s managed to come back from the dead, and holds a serious grudge against both of them. To win against evil, Val will have to loosen up, learn to trust, and put everything on the line to protect a man he hates and a woman who drives him nuts.

This was a great story. Both characters are hugely underestimated and misjudged. Tabitha is viewed as the crazy, spontaneous woman who runs around at night killing vampires. Valerius is the much hated Dark-Hunter who is disliked by all but Acheron. In fact, his own squire can’t stand him and does everything in his power to make his service to the dark-hunter as miserable as possible for Valerius.

We had heard about Valerius in previous books with Zarek’s story. Zarek was Valerius’ younger brother and let’s just say that they didn’t have the best childhood. In fact, Zarek blamed Valerius for the way he was treated and the death he endured. Valerius was also a sour spot with the main character from the first book. He was killed by Valerius’ family and Kyrian blamed Valerius for his brutal death. So, to say that Valerius is a hated man would be an understatement. He’s lived centuries being despised by those around him. He’s built up this wall to keep others at a distance so that when they hurl insults and blows, he isn’t as affected by it.

Tabitha is kind of viewed upon as a joke. She runs around at night killing daimons and people just think she’s crazy. Well, technically, they think her whole family is a bit nuts. All of her family members have special gifts. For Tabitha, she’s an empath. So, when she comes about Val, she immediately feels how reserved and hurt he is when he’s around other people. She takes it upon herself to set things right for him.

I feel like this book had a lot going on. Not only was there romance, but some character twists pop up, and there’s a massive battle that takes place. So much happens in this book that it really shakes the universe up and I’ve no idea what next for everyone. The entire time I was on the edge of my seat wondering if there would be an easy fix and things would go back to normal, but they never did. I don’t really want to go into anything, but just know that there’s no guarantees for some of our favorite characters.

Between the epic battle, the new developments that pop up, and the romance, there was never a dull moment in this story. I loved getting to see Val get a happily ever after. The poor guy had a very rough human life and somehow was blamed for the torture and deaths of others even though he was just as beaten and broken as they were. I thought the author did a great job upping the ante with this one while still holding on to the romance aspect that we’ve come to love with these books. I can’t wait to read what’s next for this gang.