Evernight

By: Kristen Callihan

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Once the night comes...

Will Thorne is living a nightmare, his sanity slowly being drained away by a force he can't control. His talents have made him the perfect assassin for hire. But as he loses his grip on reality, there is no calming him - until he finds his next target: the mysterious Holly Evernight.

Love must cast aside the shadows

Holly cannot fathom who would put a contract on her life, yet the moment she touches Will, the connection between them is elemental, undeniable - and she's the only one who can tame his bouts of madness. But other assassins are coming for Holly. Will must transform from killer to protector and find the man who wants Holly dead...or his only chance for redemption will be lost.

©2014 Kristen Callihan (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

• RITA Award for Best Paranormal Romance, 2015

"A dark, delicious tale of secrets, murder, and love, beautifully shrouded in the shadows of Victorian London." (Hannah Howell, New York Times best-selling author of If He's Dangerous, on Firelight)

"A sizzling paranormal with dark history and explosive magic! Callihan is an impressive new talent." (Larissa Ione, New York Times best-selling author of Immortal Rider, on Firelight)

"Callihan's solid world building draws the reader into 1885 London from the first page, and her lyrical writing will have readers racing to the thrilling finish." ( Publishers Weekly)

My favorite of the series

Genre: Paranormal, steampunk, romance
Setting: London 1880s
This is the 5th in the Darkest London series, and my favorite. In the 4th book Holly Evernight, an Elemental with an affinity for metals, was kidnapped by a demon and forced to make a clockwork heart to keep him alive. Because gold had failed in his previous testing, she made the heart of platinum. Then the demon decided Holly needed to test it on a living subject, so he captured Will Thorn, a vampire and an important secondary character in the series. Will was totally aware of what was going on, and feeling every bit of pain, up to the point when his living heart was removed for Holly to replace. Even though she was under threat, Will hated her and her emotional detachment from what she was doing to him.
In Evernight, it is almost a year after her rescue, and Holly still hasn't gone back to work. In fact, she hasn't left her home. One night there is a break-in and Holly finds Will, almost totally turned to platinum, trying to kill her. He is in horrible pain as the metal takes over his body, and crazed as it invades his brain. He hates her. I know I mentioned that, but really, he hates her. She is cold and aloof, seemingly detached from the messiness of emotion. At her touch, Holly is able to relieve Will's pain and reverse the change, but only temporarily. In exchange for his not killing her, Holly agrees to research ways to reverse the change permanently. Over the course of the book, the relationship between Will and Holly develops from antipathy and fear, to desire and love. Will manages to get Holly to leave the house as they try to find out who is trying to kill her. They grow as individuals as well as in a partnership.The author did such a good job of making Holly and Will multidimensional, with strengths and weaknesses. The plot was well-rounded, though a bit scattershot at times with a fair number of secondary characters. There was a continuation of a secondary plot that began in, I think, the first or second book. At any rate, the author manages to make all the action move the plot forward and come together. There is a bit of a cliff-hanger, but it isn't the type that will worry away at you until #6 comes out (which I hope is soon anyway).
The narration by Moira Quirk is great. While the timbre of male and female voices didn't vary much, her use of accents and pacing to differentiate characters was excellent. Holly is from Ireland, and the accent was true - an appropriately upper class Irish accent. Will is described as being from the north of England, and Ms Quirk gives him a wonderful Yorkshire accent. One of the secondary characters is from the American South and the accent is perfect for him. This narrator is just wonderful. You could listen to the entire series back to back without finding a difference in character voices from one book to the next.

Enemies to lovers perfection

Paranormal Victorian mystery romance is a hard niche to do well, partly because different listeners prefer different ratios of paranormal to romance, action to horror, and steampunk to historical. This series perfectly matches my ideal ratios and this is my favorite book within the series. Best of all, this series features my favorite kinds of men and women; I like my men dark and dangerous and I like my women feminine and fierce. This author delivers great characters and bucks expectations without sacrificing one bit of romance.

“As soon as the words were out, the truth of his predicament crystallized in his mind:
he wanted her; she’d told him to take a p!ss.”
The enemies to lovers friction in this book was combustible. The fight-foreplay was as sinfully delicious as the two full on scenes, which were scorching, especially his dirty talk.

“When a woman says she’s fine, an intelligent man runs in the opposite direction.”
Demons, Fae, witches and vampires give this a John Constantine goes Victorian vibe, with questionable allies and Devil’s choices. I loved that Holly wasn’t a damsel and uses her head and elemental magic. Favorite scene: demon fight club.

⚙️ If you want more horror in your paranormal Victorian mystery romance, try to trilogy beginning with God Save the Queen by Kate Locke. Goblins, steampunk heavy on colorful punk, and monster mayhem.

⚙️If you need your romance to be cleaner than Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons, stick with the Parasol Protectorate series. Personally, I found that to be a little too juvenile anime and focused on the look (rather than science) of steampunk.

⚙️If you want more steampunk than paranormal in your regency romance, and some LGBTQ friendly plots, go with the Iron Sea series by Meljean Brooks. While I liked that series, those books are more inconsistent in tone and storytelling (books 1 and 2 standing out).

⚙️If fantastic steampunk adventure is your priority, go with Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher. Romance is just a side dish, but the swashbuckling epic is phenomenal.

But, did I mention this is my favorite series for paranormal Victorian mystery romance?
I recommend this series before any of the above. Further, you need not start at book 1.
There are cameos big and small from the other books, but this book stands alone, so you could start here.

Not your Grandma's Vampire Story

I did not know this was the 5th in the DARKEST LONDON series. I just picked it at random from Audible recommended suggestions . Great surprise !! If you like Fantasy with a little Sci Fi thrown in this book is for you.The setting is Victorian England .The story unfolds revealing the underground culture of Demons,Witches Vampires etc .
This is not your Grandma's Vampire book.....................................
Kristen Callihan is an imaginative Master storyteller ,lacing her tale with the powerfully erotic,Suspense ,violent confrontations....... but with an intriguing plot that holds your interest & curiosity throughout. I tend more to Science Fiction but I would have to say Kristen Callihan has created something unique. I thoroughly enjoyed EVERNIGHT without reading the 1st four in the series but now intend to read the 1st one .