Friday, January 14, 2022

Feature Friday ARC Review: Munro by Kresley Cole

*Feature Friday ARC Review is a meme hosted by The Tattered Page to review books not yet released.  

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher Valkyrie Press
Release Date: January 25, 2022
Pages: 400 
Source: ARC 

THE STORY:

The next stand-alone installment in the electrifying Immortals After Dark series by #1 New York Times best-selling author Kresley Cole. Venture deeper into the Lore, fierce realm of the immortals—if you dare. . . .

TORMENTED IN UNIMAGINABLE WAYS

Coming off torture at the hands of his warlock captors, Munro MacRieve never expected to find his mate, or to lose her just as abruptly. Driven to desperation, the ruthless warrior uses his enemies’ own powers to reunite with her—in the distant past.

STOLEN FROM HER TIME

When a crazed werewolf crashes her wedding, Kereny “Ren” Codrina does what any cunning huntress would do: she captures him. Yet she finds herself softening toward the wounded beast—until he turns the tables and forces her into an incomprehensible future.

CAN A HUMAN AND AN IMMORTAL UNITE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE?

As danger mounts, Munro will do anything to make her undying, even sell his soul to an evil sorceress. But first, he must convince his fiery mate that she belongs with him. If seduction means her survival, Munro will use every weapon in his arsenal to possess her—forever. 
LINKS: Paperback  | Google | Kindle


RATING

ONE-WORD REVIEW: TANTALIZING

SPICINESS: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

CREATURES:
   * Werewolves/Lykae
   * Warlocks
   * Nymphs
   * (Vampires, demons, valkyrie, witches, etc.)

TROPES:
    *Possessiveness/“Mine”
    *Mates 
    *"Enemies"-to-lovers
    *Forced proximity
    *Another yummy one that shall remain underwraps hehe

TAG LINE:

A human monster huntress. An immortal werewolf. Could any passion be more forbidden?

OPENING LINE:

The cracking of Munro's bones echoed in the cell as his friend's fist delivered another blow.




REVIEW:

THE SHORT:

The IAD drought is over! Phenomenal comeback! Bravo Kresley Cole!! Absolutely worth the wait.

Now, I must gather my thoughts—and what remains of my sanity—to finish writing this review.

I shall return shortly, Loreans.

THE LONG:

“𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 & 𝐿𝑜𝓇𝑒.”

I
HAVE 
BEEN
DESTROYED
AND
RESURRECTED
AND DESTROYED AGAIN
SEND HELP

MUNRO was exactly what I’d been waiting for in the next IAD book: A cunning Shrew meets her match in a devoted, hot as sin werewolf.

𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝒶𝓁𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑒𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒. 𝒲𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓈, 𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝑜𝒶𝓃𝑒𝒹, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝓂𝒾𝓍 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝓁𝓎.
𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝒷𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻.

It had been several years since the last IAD book and the promise of Kereny and Munro's story so there was a lot of expectation and a high bar to live up to. And let me say: Kresley Cole did not fail to conquer my little thirsty-ass bookish heart. MUNRO was a scrumptious "enemies"-to-lovers story filled with sexual tension, witty banter, pining, Lore, and so much more. 

The plot of MUNRO was of our tried and true flavor of smutty paranormal romance wrought with impossible odds that would disintegrate lesser couplesopposing goals, mortality, time travel, evil nemesis—all expertly crafted with KC's hit-all-the-right-spots-flare we Loreans had come to love. As with the previously tantalizingly penned novels in IAD, I was sucked into MUNRO where I fell in love with the leading Lore creature, Munro, while also being insanely jealous of his reverence for Kereny.

Munro had always been the loyal, supportive, no-frills younger brother of Will Loreans (KC fans) were always dying to see get Mated to his long-ago prophesized harridan. The wait was worth it! Munro definitely had his work cut out for him when he finally got his hands *cough cough* on his wee harridan. Loved learning about Kereny's backstory and the life she was living before being thrust into Munro's orbit. And let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised. Let's just say Kereny had a fun day job and a deadly moonlighting jig. Moreover, Kereny was a fierce, cunning shrew who gave what she got. But as much as she resisted Munro, Kereny never stood a chancewhich was to my utter delight. *swoon*

“𝒟𝑜 𝐼 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝓇𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓈, 𝓌𝑜𝓁𝒻?” 
“𝐵𝒾𝓉.” 
“𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝑒? 𝐼’𝓂 𝓂𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝒶 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓁.” 
“𝐵𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓁𝓎, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝑒.” 
𝒥𝓊𝒹𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝒸𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝒸𝓀, 𝓈𝒽𝑒’𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝓊𝓃.

As for the cast of characters in MUNRO: there were many! IMMORTALS AFTER DARK has a wide range of characters. And it was an absolute delight to have cameos of some of our favorites from the series. Aside from the MUNRO's main coupleMunro and Ren (Kereny), we got to see Will and Chloe, Nix and Bertil, and so many others. *Spoiler* Lothaire made a prominent appearance and it didn't disappoint. He brought that KC humor we so love. 

This book gutted me in the most delicious way. If you want spicy Paranormal Romance with fierce heroines and their hot as sin, intensely devoted love interests, you must read the IMMORTALS AFTER DARK series. You will not regret it! 

Honestly, my only qualm with the newest installment in the series was it didn’t have as much smut as previous IAD books. That’s the only reason MUNRO gets 4 Enchanted Roses instead of 5. I absolutely, highly recommend MUNRO! The entire IMMORTALS AFTER DARK series is swoon-inducing. The Queen of Paranormal Romance is back! Now, I am impatiently waiting for the next sizzling Lore couple!


CHARACTERS:

KERENY: Harridan indeed. The unknown soothsayer from centuries ago had it right, our girl Kereny was a harridan for sure. A fierce, loyal, protective, cunning harridan. Of course, knowing Munro as well as we do, being annoyed with how Kereny treated Munro was a definite. Nevertheless, I still loved the sexual tension-filled banter between them. When I tell you Kereny made Munro work for it . . . and boy was it was fun reading.

"𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝑒?" 𝐻𝒶𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁? "𝐼𝒻 𝒷𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓈, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝓁𝒶𝒹𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑒𝓈. 𝒪𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓃."

MUNRO: Hotter. Definitely the Hotter brother out of the Hot and Hotter Lykae twinsmove over Will. And sweet. Remember, this wolf literally gave the shirt off his back to his mess of an older brother just so Will could look somewhat presentable to his Mate the first time he met her. That same sweetness was still there in MUNROunder the stubborn, desperate to keep his Mate alive and with him Alphaness. This guy was simping over Kereny the entire book and I loved it!

“𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂." 𝐻𝒾𝓈 𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝓈𝓅𝓎, 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒶 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝑔𝓊𝑒. "𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂." 𝐻𝑒 𝓈𝓅𝑜𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝒻 𝓃𝑜 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒 𝑒𝓍𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹. "𝒩𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁.”

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Massive thank you to Kresley and Naomi for selecting me to be part of the KC ARC team!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series, the young adult Arcana Chronicles series, the erotic Gamemakers series, and five award-winning historical romances.

A master’s grad and former athlete, she has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings.
Her IAD books have been translated into 23 foreign languages, garnered three RITA awards, a RWA Hall of Fame induction, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists, in the U.S. and abroad.

Cole lives in Florida with her family. Learn more about Kresley at: www.kresleycole.com & www.thearcanachronicles.com

Happy Reading!

 

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