Embrace the Night

Cassandra Palmer, Book 3

By: Karen Chance

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

Recently named the world's chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire---the sizzling-hot Mircea---are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own.

The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex's location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found---the past.

But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain some seriously dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world.

©2008 Karen Chance (P)2008 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"Karen Chance will entrall you." ( Rebecca York, author of Ghost Moon)

Really good series

This book has lots of action. Vamps, Pixies, Witches, a little sex and a lot of laughs. Great narrator.

She is finally ready to kick some butt!

This book has really made this series better. Good things to look forward to:

1. Character development
2. Time travel - the author gets a better handle on the rules of jumping in time. Still a few missteps but it's fiction and one must have an open mind
3. Fewer unnecessary info dumps. They are still there but I only counted 3 major ones so thats an improvement from the last.
4. More action, more steamy scenes, and questions get answered

Gosh, looking at my list I don't know if I should have labeled them good things, but...

Want more details... well here you go...


The characters are becoming a bit more developed. Our main character, Cassandra, really does some growing. In this installment she stops complaining about not wanting the job and actually embraces it.

"The moment you take a role of responsibility, people will expect you look up to you, expect you to shield them, and expect you to save them"

(Kinda Spiderman-ish, IKR )After listening to her say that I knew she was going to put her big girl panties on and start thinking like a Boss Lady.

The time travel in this book gets a bit complicated but I was able to follow. There is one scene at the end when she says, "She shifted back in time two weeks"... either it's a typo or some context was missing because two weeks shouldn't have taken her to that point. Also, if she needs lessons... Why not shift back in time to ask the old one before she dies how to do stuff... Cassy could shift back after she dies and is still in the witches body...just my opinion there.

Though there are less info dumps. There are still some parts were the author gets caught up telling the backstory, or explaining something that by the time she gets back to the actual story I had forgotten what we were doing. I had to rewind back and then skip the incessant stuff to stay on track. Example, there is a scene where they are in the muddle of some action, they slip away slightly and the author uses those few moments of reprieve to have Mircea tell this long story of how he became a Vampire. Though it is something I would have wanted to hear ecentually... at this point and in this book it was unnecessary to move the story forward.

Also the ending didn't make any sense. After being told for 3 books not to do something it is the one thing that fixes things... not buying it.

Overall, I enjoyed this read/listen. It was complicated and I like my fantasy complicated.

Fun and worth the listen

This series is just plain fun. These characters aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, but they are hilariously flawed :) I can't wait for y'll to get the next book in this series as well as more books from Karen Chance.

Like the stories--hate the narrator

I like the series other than the fact that the heroine is as dumb as a box of rocks, it gets tiresome after a while. I would recommend the stories but caution as strongly as possible to be prepared for some of the most mangled pronunciations a narrator has ever uttered. I like the stories enough to try to ignore it, bad luck for us this narrator does most of the authors I like so I am getting better at finding her less maddening.

What happened?

I liked Embrace the Night, but all of the half truths, time travel, death threats, the sisters, fights, the children, the arrest, the ouroboros....all together it was a bit too much. I really liked the opening scene in the Paris catacombs but after that everything just seemed as if the author threw together ideas and stirred the pot leaving readers wondering where this story would go next or how it would all tie back together. For the most part, open threads were closed.

Third Time's the Charm

Absolutely love this entire series. Karen Chance solves one problem but still leaves you hanging, asking for more at the end.

Timey Wimey

Time travel is always tricky, especially in a book with this much constant action. It is played out well here, with a few holes that are easy to over look, since the story in itself is fun and keeps your interest easily. The narrator, whom I know from other books, is very good in this one, the timing is finally spot on, an it is a pleasure to listen to. Best to start at the beginning with this series, as the world in it is all connected book to book. Really liking this series!!

Fun, sexy, wildly inventive UF series!

Any additional comments?
Another great installment in a fun series. This one follows Cassie's escapades through time as she frantically tries to save Mircea's life and both of their sanities from a spell gone wrong. Fun, sexy, wildly inventive UF. Cynthia Holloway does a great job of breathing life into each character.

3 ☆'s

This book was OK. Some parts seemed to drag on. I found myself rewinding parts over and over because they were boring but, critical to the storyline.

Action, Passion, Adventure

A race to save Mircha! Cassie is clever and adventurous, and smart. She fights to save him yet, save the timeline and history.