Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole & Gena Showalter

Title: Deep Kiss of Winter
Author: Kresley Cole & Gena Showalter
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN: 978-1-451-60005-6
Pages: 520
Series: Immortals After Dark #8 and Alien Huntress #4.5
Type: Adult Paranormal Romance
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

This book combines stories from two of my favourite paranormal romance authors Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter. Kresley Cole's Untouchable fits into her Immortals After Dark series (the first book is A Hunger Like No Other) and Gena Showalter's Tempt Me Eternally is part of her Alien Huntress series (the first book is Awaken Me Darkly).

***Untouchable by Kresley Cole***

Daniela the Ice Maiden is widely known among the Valkyrie for being untouchable. As the daughter of the Queen of the Ice Fey, Danii's skin is ice cold and literally burns with any contact with warmth. Murdoch Wroth is a vampire most known for his human exploits as a warrior and ladies man. When a chance meeting results in his heart beating for the first time in three hundred years Murdoch knows he will stop at nothing to claim the untouchable Daniela.

This story is the reason behind my purchase of this anthology. Dani has been mentioned in several previous books and I was excited to learn more about her, and Murdoch is the last of the Wroth brothers to get his own story. I'd heard that this is supposed to fit between books 8 and 9 (Kiss of a Demon King and Pleasure of a Dark Prince) of the Immortals After Dark series, but it actually runs concurrently with the prequel novella in Playing Easy to Get and first four books. This gives a bonus of additional action, added to by the pursuit of Danii by the brutal Ice Fey.

I really enjoyed the story and loved getting to know more about Danii. It was also fun to get a different perspective on previous events although I found myself a little lost at times as not only has it been a while since I first read the books, I've also never read the prequel featuring Nikolai and Myst. I was pleasantly surprised by the duration of the story as many anthologies just feature insta-love whereas this is set over more than a year. The storyline is well thought out and I enjoyed the steady development of both the relationship and Danii's true nature. All in all, this is a great book that is a must read for IAD fans.

Plot: 9/10; Characters: 9/10; Ending: 9/10; Enjoyment: 8/10

***Tempt Me Eternally by Gena Showalter***

Aleaha Love can take the identity of anyone she chooses just through touching their skin. Her latest identity is Macy Briggs, an AIR (alien investigation and removal) agent. Her latest mission is to capture a group of otherworldly warriors but when her team is captured by the aliens Aleaha finds herself tempted. The alien commander Breean can see through Aleaha's disguise to her true form and his seductive nature means for the first time the only skin Aleaha wants to inhabit is her own.

While I have read some of Gena Showalter's books, her Alien Huntress series is completely new to me. That combined with the fact I rarely read anything even vaguely sci-fi meant I was more than a little apprehensive about this story. This falls between the fourth and fifth (Seduce The Darkness and Ecstasy in Darkness) books in the series, which does show in the novella. I felt like I'd been dropped in at the deep end as although some key events are mentioned, the backstory is rather brief.

The majority of the plot revolves around the romance between Aleaha and Breaan, and I was disappointed that more attention wasn't paid to the broader story. I found Aleaha's gift fascinating and I really enjoyed the glimpses into her backstory. Breean was well developed and again had a fascinating backstory. The problem is that there is a lot going on while the focus of the story remains in the bedroom. I'd have loved to have known more about what was going on with the prisoners, the evil Schon queen and the AIR so while I was disappointed in this story, I'll probably read more from this series in the future.

Plot: 7/10; Characters: 7/10; Ending: 7/10; Enjoyment: 6/10

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All in all, this is a fun read that I'd recommend for the authors' existing fans.

Average plot: 8/10
Average characters: 8/10
Average ending: 8/10
Average enjoyment: 7/10
Cover: 9/10

Overall: 40/50