"Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter #1)" by Sherrilyn Kenyon

From Goodreads

I picked up this book as a Kindle Daily Deal, mostly because I'd heard of the series and was curious. Also, its Goodreads rating is 4.24, which led me to think this book would be something different than the average Paranormal Romance fare.

Dark-Hunter Mythology (The Quick Version):
Dark-Hunters are out to kill Daimons (Apollites who drink blood and eat human souls to live past 27, nom nom). Dark-Hunters were originally humans who suffered terrible deaths and want revenge. In exchange for a chance at vengeance, they give their souls to the keeping of Artemis and receive immortality, an allergy to sunlight (which Apollites and Daimons also have), and special skills (which depend upon the Dark-Hunter). Apollites are beings Apollo (Greek Mythological god of the sun) made and then shunned when they killed his lover.

The Plot:
Dark-Hunter Kyrian lives to do only one thing: kill Daimons. Amanda Devereaux, on the other hand, leads a normal, boring existence working as an accountant, until one day she's kidnapped and handcuffed to Kyrian. They soon realize they face a common enemy in Desiderious, but will Kyrian be able to protect Amanda from him?

There is a lot to love about this series, and I could understand why people like it so much. The Dark-Hunters are attractive, mysterious, and a lot a bit tortured. The humor makes it well worth reading this story, but there were a lot of little other things that irked me.

Kyrian has mind-reading abilities that he was gifted when he became a Dark-Hunter. He actively reads Amanda's mind until she has enough of his crap and tells him not to. I can understand reading her mind at their first meeting, but the rest is truly unnecessary and intrusive.

The use of the words yummy, scrumptious, and other silly things by Amanda to describe Kyrian. As a former Montanan, I've never heard those words outside of a diner, or a middle school girl's bathroom. At twenty-six (and supposedly college-educated?) she should have more words than those to describe a handsome man.

The Dark-Hunters are a group of men with physically "perfect" bodies (and faces). There is no ugly duckling in the bunch: not one with just passably good looks. I understand these are romance novels, but I like a little more variety in terms of characters and I don't like reading about perfectly beautiful people.

Night Pleasures is a good start to a paranormal romance series, but I wasn't too impressed due to all the little nitpicks above. It certainly doesn't lack for romance, action, or humor, but falls flat compared with other books I've devoured before. If you're willing to look past its flaws, Night Pleasures may be the book for you, but otherwise, look elsewhere.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars for a good, but decidedly flat read.

Content: Ages 18+ for sex, violence, and a little gore. Also, tortured soul(less) alert.

Page Count: 336 pages in the ebook edition