Review: Embrace the Darkness to Fight the Darkness
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2011
After watching demons kill her husband, Winter joins the fight against the dark forces by binding her soul with a demon to become one of the Order of Templar. She is now a hybrid--half-human half-demon. To temper the demon half, hybrids must mate, but Winter has never worried too much about that since she knows she has time to bond. But, after 60 years, her control over her demon half is slipping....and that is when she meets Marcus, a nightwalker.  He knows at first sight she is his destined mate, but there has never been a bonding between Nightwalker and Hybrid. He does all he can to bring her into his life. When hybrid military compounds come under attack from demons, all superbeings are being forced to work together: Nightwalkers, Hybrids, and Shifters.KISS OF DARKNESS starts off strong and immediately sucks you into the story. We witness Winter's initiation into the Order in the 1950's then are thrust into present day where Winter is now a Captain and a strong warrior. When her commanding leader is killed in a surprisingly organized demonic attack, Winter is promoted to Commander. And she has to figure out how the demons are finding them, who is organizing them, and why they are targeting her. As if that's not enough, she also has a sexy Nightwalker who won't leave her alone.Winter is an awesome Commander. She's strong willed and knows it. Her own words about finding an equally strong male? "She couldn't even remember the last time she'd met a man she was interested in who was also strong enough to take her on. She needed an alpha, dominant type, but didn't know many who could share control of a relationship. Everyone else she eventually reduced to tears."The action is fast and furious and well applied. With all the supernatural factions, it was still easy to follow along. The POV switches back and forth between a large cast of characters, which added a lot to round out the story without slowing things down. I really liked the cast of characters that surrounded Winter and their own problems and struggles: the world didn't revolve around Winter.Unfortunately, KISS OF DARKNESS didn't deliver on a few key elements for me personally. Firstly, although I loved the tension that built and built between Winter and Marcus, I couldn't really understand the change that came to their relationship. It seemed like all the sudden they completely knew and understood each other. I get that Marcus has been inside Winter's thoughts and mind for months, but I feel like I missed the transition from strangers to complete soul mates. Again, I know it has to do with the supernatural magic from fated mates, but it just seemed jarring.Secondly, the story didn't flow all that well. It wasn't the changing POV that interrupted the flow, and honestly I can't put my finger on what it was. I just found that I just wanted things to end, come to a head, to get to the point. I started skimming the book at about 80% through just to get on with things.Thirdly, where's the ending? Some key elements of the story are left hanging. Is there a second book coming? I can't seem to find out on her website. I'd like to know how things go because the big baddie is still out there.Overall, it was a very interesting read. I loved the fact that Ms. Hunt created such a unique world of supernatural beings. It's full of great action and mystery.