Night’s Darkest Embrace

By: Jeaniene Frost

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 3 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Enter the dark realm of Nocturna, where blisteringly sexy Rafael dominates the demons of a lawless dimension and tries to help a beautiful young woman avenge her cousin's disappearance.

©2012 Jeaniene Frost (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Another fun read. A bit heavier on the sex

I can count on Frost to create a fun adventure with great sex scenes, and this novelette doesn't disappoint in that regard. This one didn't get 5 stars from me only because I wasn't drawn to the characters and situation as quickly and as fully as I normally am in a Frost story, and necause I prefer her stories where the characters and and plot capture me fully before the sex comes in to ice the cake. Still, I enjoyed this, and think that I'll enjoy rereading it even more than the first read, now that I'll already know and love the characters. Tavia Gilbert was once again a good choice of reader.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

JEANIENE AND TAVIA ARE AN AUTOMATIC BUY FOR ME!

Any additional comments?

I was excited to find this and listen, this is the world of Nocturna, a demon realm...well people have been going missing and it is time to get to the bottom of it! This short story was really great, and I hope JF adds more to this world in the future!!

I WILL ALWAYS RECOMMEND JEANIENE FROST AND TAVIA GILBERT BOOKS!!!

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

Did I miss something?

Would you listen to Night’s Darkest Embrace again? Why?

No. I don't generally listen to books a second time.

Would you recommend Night’s Darkest Embrace to your friends? Why or why not?

If you are a Frost fan, this is worth the read.

What does Tavia Gilbert bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tavia does an outstanding job in reading.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I'm Fallen, and I can't get up

Any additional comments?

The worst thing about this book is that for at least half the book, I kept thinking that I missed something. I kept going back to the book description, to see if I accidentally got the second book in a series. But no, this is the first. The book reads as if you should know about Nocturna, and the protagonist's early ventures there. It isn't until the very last chapters that she explains what happened back when she was a teen, and then it isn't even that compelling. I had a few books in my playlist, and i kept going to other books and then coming back to this. Oy, not one of the best of Frost's books. I will say that it ended okay, and if there was a second book, there is a story worth building on.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

For younger readers than me

While this novella did a decent enough job of providing a diversion, it was not as interesting as the authors more fully developed works. It would likely be better received by the teen & early 20's set than someone like me on the far side of 40.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Disappointed, even Tavia didn't make it better

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Maybe junior high.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jeaniene Frost again?

Yes, because I love at least 6 or 7 of her books. Her Cat and Bones, and her dark prince books.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

She is one of my favorites, top 4. I just did not like her in this.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, I expected more from Jeanine.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Pretty good story :)

3.5-4 stars

This is in a different world than the other books by Frost but it was an interesting one. The normal human world exists but there are also portals that lead to other worlds, some ruled by hybrid-demons (from pureblood/human matings) and some in which only pureblood demons (the offspring of Fallen angels) live. Pureblood demons feed on hybrid-demons that haven't reached 18 yet and are hated because of it. No other supernatural creatures were mentioned in this story so I don't know if any other types exist.

This was a pretty good story. Mara is a 22 year old Hybrid-demon (1/4 demon) and Raphael is a hybrid that rules a world, Nocturna, that is inhabited by hybrids and never has daylight. Mara and her cousin, Gloria, entered Nocturna as teens to party and it ended badly, with Gloria dead. Mara feels guilty and hasn't been able to let go of the idea of finding the person responsible.

There's an extremely strong attraction between Raphael and Mara but she doesn't trust it because Mara is suspicious of Raphael. TBH, Mara was kind of being an idiot because she assumed a lot and saw a lot of circumstantial evidence as conclusive proof of wrongdoing. It annoyed me a bit but it was workable and moved the story in the right direction. After some angst and such, things do get worked out in a way I liked and Raphael and Mara end the story together and headed for a HEA.

This was a pretty enjoyable story. Mara...well, she was obviously young and didn't completely use her brain. I actually think her assumption that Raphael must be a bad guy is because she was freaked by her feelings for him. I liked her very much once she got past those assumptions. Raphael..he was great and made it to my book-boyfriend list (I just wish we got more facetime with him). Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable and interesting story that I would recommend. :)

Just Okay

The intonation of the narrator bothered me as her tone rose and fell at odd places. Her voices for the characters were alright, and she got into the characters - just her choice of intonation wasn't for me.

The story overall was alright for being a novella. But I would definitely mark it as something I would have enjoyed when I was probably 18-23 rather than almost 30. This was my first experience with this author - and this story didn't turn me off to her writing. Many people comment here about her cat/bones storyline being better/favorite, so I'd still be willing to give that series a try after this novella.

Fantastic Author

Jeaniene Frost is one of my favorite authors. I only bought this book because of my love for her vampire series featuring Cat and Bones, I am so glad I did. I love her phrasing and how her words send moving pictures to my mind. Great narrator, she has so much expression in her voice. Listen or read this wonderful novella, you will be glad you did.

Short

Any additional comments?

Maybe I just totally missed it but I thought that this was part of the Night Prince series based on the cover art and probably just because audible suggested it to me with the series. It definitely isn't. So if you see the cover art and think "Oh, Vlad is on this cover too just like he is on the cover of the last three books I read, so this must be part of the Night Prince series," you are very wrong. These are completely new characters, same narrator, same cover art so it was confusing at first. It took me about thirty minutes to realize it wasn't a continuation or side story, but a completely different story. It wasn't bad, it was interesting once I realized I was reading something different, but then it ended. I felt like it was too short and left me with a lot of unanswered questions. I feel like this book could be expanded into its own series. Sometimes the narrator is over the top (I think she does that a few times in the Night Prince series too) but overall she is good.

Great read!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Most definitely! This book grabbed me and kept me interested until I devoured it. I wish it was longer; it definitely had the potential to be a great series. I couldn't seem to put it down. Great book!