Dark Side of the Moon by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Hero: Ravyn Kontis
Heroine: Susan Michaels
Grade: B-

Susan Michaels was once the hottest reporter on the Beltway Beat until a major scandal ruined her life and left her writing stories about alien babies and Elvis sightings. Life as she once knew it is over, or so she thinks until she gets a lead on the biggest story in town: The Seattle Slayer. She heads to the local animal shelter, expecting a tip on the latest rash of killings. Instead, she gets a story about the mayor feeding citizens to a ring of vampires... yeah. Just another day in her life.

Then she gets talked into adopting a cat she's allergic to. Her first thought is to neuter the cat. But when he turns out to be a gorgeous shapeshifting man who claims to be an immortal vampire slayer she thinks: not so fast. Next thought: seek professional help.

Susan doesn't know what to believe, but as she's drawn into a paranormal world, she comes to realize that the story that could bring her credibility is too unbelievable to expose. Now it's no longer a question of bringing the truth to her readers, it's a matter of saving lives and souls, and her only ally is a man she's allergic to. In the world of the Dark-Hunters, it's always dangerous. But never more so than when one very human woman can shatter their entire world with just one story. The only question is... will she? Dark Side of the Moon is full of Sherrilyn Kenyon's trademark sexy humor and breathtaking imagination.

Dylan Says:

Whoa.

I inhaled this book like there was no tomorrow, like my life depended on finishing this book before I could ever go on and live a normal life again. I really enjoyed it too. It was a fun roller coaster, meeting new Dark Hunters, seeing old Villains who just won't stop, seeing more of the people we wanted to see more of in the previous books, men who are still oh so mysterious and has me curiouser and curiouser to find out more about them. Lots of shocking news, a bunch of OMGOSH cliff hangers, the book had it all.

I was literally gripped throughout the entire book. But, that might be because I LOVE the whole Katagaria and Arcadian side of these books. It was really crazy, I mean one adventure after another and boy was Susan Michaels one kick ass heroine. She didn't really get on my nerves which is the norm for me and heroines. I either don't care for them, forget about them later or think they flat out rock!

And Susan Michaels flat out rocked! She was a good strong heroine, one who didn't back down from a fight, one who stood by the man she loved and fought (I mean literally battled it out by his side, think Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to the death with him. She didn't take crap from no one, she let people get to her but was done with all that so she got strong and she didn't back down from no where and she was one funny cat too...had a quirky sense of humor that cracked me the hell up.

Now as for Ravyn, I really liked how SK portrayed him. Quiet and lethal. That was Ravyn. Trust no one, that's how he saw things and yet Susan fought her way into his heart and I loved how he didn't shy away from his feelings for her, how he didn't push her away like all of them do, he knew what she was capable of and instead of being all alpha male on her, he embraced her capabilities. He held her hand while they went and fought the good fight, but you didn't get the I'm a sissy vibe from him, he didn't NEED Susan to fight with him but he did like having her by his side, someone that he trusted with all that he was, since he wasn't the trusting kind. I thought it was more endearing than anything, it was cute.

We get lots of Ash in this book and I have developed a soft spot for him, I mean I really liked him in the other books, but he wasn't this ULTIMATE hero for me, he was more or less my Adam Black of the DH's. I liked him well enough but not nearly as much as I liked the other, lesser DH's. But in this book, I really softened toward him, I really felt for him. He's so alone, Ash is...never letting anyone in, I wish he trusted someone, anyone enough to confide in, because everyone needs a friend to talk to, he lost the best friend he ever had to his hasty comments, words that he didn't even mean.

Nick is back and as much as I love this man, I can't wait to see what SK has in store for Nick's character because he is really pissed off at Ash, a lot of it is unjust but he's really emotional right now and everyone grieves in their own way, I guess Nick's way of grieving is to lash out at the person he thinks is responsible for it all, at Ash. *sadly shakes my head* Nick, Nick, Nick...you retarded guy, stop being so pissed off and wake up and see what's really going on. Ash isn't the enemy, you dolt!

Savitar. I love this guy and can't wait to read more about him. He seriously cracked me the hell up in this book.

We meet a lot of new Dark Hunters, Cael, Dragon, Amazon, Zoe, etc...I like them all, nice addition to the Dark Hunter family. I look forward to getting to know them better.

Now, don't' get me wrong this book was good, really good but there was a great deal of things that bothered me. Like Susan gets dicked in the beginning, someone set her up and her career ends because of that something that happened, we never find out who set her up, it was as if she was suddenly over it and was forgotten, in true SK form, Ravyn should have found out who did it and righted that wrong, just like Vane did in NP for Bride and Kyrian did for Amanda in NP, they all got their ladies back and Ravyn was cheated out of coming to Susan's rescue. So that's what sucked about it. Oh wait and then there's the assumptions about what Ash does when he's doesn't take their calls, it seriously makes me mad when they all assume Ash is lazing around letting them get beat up, like he didn't care....if they only knew what the hell Ash goes through on their behalf, it would shut them up but good. Gosh, I can't wait to see how they react when they find out.

So, this book has it's ups and it had it's downs, BUT the downs didn't ruin the book for me, not at all...I would totally recommend this book, it was great fun to read and I totally enjoyed this book. Give it a shot, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.

But I must say this, Izzy and Grace I know you guys will enjoy it. Holly, I know you might not. So, I don't know if I would recommend for you to read it, I know you'll be pissed.

Isabel Says

This book was ok. It was great, but it was still good. My favorite is still Night Play.

Nick just totally pissed me off with his "I hate Ash, I hate everyone attitude." What happened to the Nick I used to love. And Nick *bitch slap* What the HELL are you thinking?

Did I miss something about Kyrian and Amanda dying in New Orleans? Cause I don't remember that at all.

Cael and his wife? ( I don't know how to spell it.) Oh shit. This shall be interesting.

Ash. What are you? I had a feeling you were a god. Is Nick right? Hmmm.

I liked Susan. I thought she was sarcastic, funny and kick ass. Ravyn, my heart broke for him. Damn his family. They were just jerks. Except for Dorian. He seemed to have compassion. But I cheered when Susan gave them a piece of her mind.

Again, it was all right.

Grade: C=/B-

Holly Says:

I wasn't even going to read this book, because I just flat out refused to buy it in hardcover, but a good friend sent it to me and I couldn't resist. After reading what Dylan and Izzy had to say about it and forcing my friend (the one who sent me the book) to tell me all the spoilers, I was curious.

It's funny, because in all the different threads I've looked at where this book is being discussed, hardly anyone talks about Ravyn and Susan. Mostly the discussions surround Ash and Nick and Savatar and Stryker and whatever. Just from peeping out those threads, I thought the book would be more focused on Ash and Nick than on Susan and Ravyn and I was prepared to be irritated by that. To my surprise, that's wasn't the case at all. We don't really even see any of Ash or Nick until halfway through the book. I was glad of it, too. I think a lot of times we, as SK readers, forget to focus on the main characters and instead get caught up in speculating about everyone else and what will happen in future books.

Anyway, on to my thoughts for the book:

Sarah over at Life Romantisized said that she couldn't get into the story and put it down after reading about 20 pages. I can see now why she felt that way. The beginning of the story seemed to move really slowly for me. I read extremely fast and it still took me two days to finish this. It finally picked up around the middle of the story, but it didn't grip me like some of her earlier novels did.

Susan: In the beginning, she really irritated the crap out of me. I was sure she was going to end up as one of those idiot heroines with Penis Envy that I hate, but she managed to redeem herself. I think it was her constant, "I do what I want, not what other people tell me to do", that bugged me in the beginning. There comes a point - oh, like say when you're being chased by really scary guys with guns who are shooting at you - when it's better to err on the side of caution and listen to the big, badass man who just saved your life, right? Luckily, by the middle of the book, she'd settled down.

One of the many things that bothered me in this one was the time frame. Susan seemed to be fairly planted in reality. She didn't suspect that there were "other" people/things in the world and she was extremely skeptical. But in the space of one day, she softens towards a man who can turn into a cat, accepted that there were evil vampires in the world, agreed that the Greek myths she'd learned in grade school were actually truth and then had sex with a complete stranger (ok, maybe that didn't happen in the first day, but you get what I mean). At least in previous books SK gave the heroines time to adjust to having their world turned upside down. I just think that was wayyyy too convenient. I did like that Susan was able to take care of herself in most situations, though, and I did enjoy her quick wit and sarcastic humor. Reminded me of...me.

Ravyn: Meh. I wasn't all that into him. In the beginning, he seemed the dark, tough, tortured, brooding type that I've enjoyed in previous books by SK, but after awhile he just seemed like a big ol' pussy cat (pun intended). Anne over at Let's Gab had a post up recently in which she stated that Ravyn didn't seem Alpha enough for her. I totally agree. She quoted a specific line from the book that showcased his Betaness and when I read it for myself I nearly gagged. What kind of self-respecting Alpha-Male says, "Ooo, a Starbucks girl after my own heart." Real men don't say "Ooo", do they? Overall, I wasn't that impressed with him.

Ok, now for my opinions on other things, some speculations and some confirmations:

Nick: Meh. Whatever. He didn't irritate me near as much as I thought he would. I was basically just rolling my eyes at him. Though I was surprised to hear that no one else remembered what happened in NO when his mother was killed. But him blaming Ash for everything, including the hurricane? Way over the top. He acted like the spoiled child he's always been and I just couldn't work up enough enthusiasm to even get irritated by him.

Ash: I've always like Ash. Right from the very beginning I was intrigued by him and couldn't wait to read his books. But to be honest, I'm starting to get really, really tired of seeing him act the ManWhore with Artie. Yes, I realize he's tortured and blah, blah, blah. But I am so sick and tired of seeing him sacrifice himself all the damn time it's disgusting me. I ended up just skimming over the parts with him and Artie together in this book. I was disappointed, too, that we didn't see more of Simi. I love her. heheh

Savatar: Love him. I liked him in Unleash and my opinion hasn't changed. I'm curious about how things will play out. And his line to Nick? Loved it.

Satara: I think she's going to be Ash's heroine. Which will be just perfect since she was instrumental in ruining Nick...can't wait to see how it plays out.

Overall, the book was ok. Not good. Not great. Not horrible. Just ok. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. Would I recommend it? Probably, just because it's part of the series and I have a hard time stopping in the middle of one, but that's just me.

2.75 out of 5

Jazz says:

Okay now I'm gonna be very honest here. I was not impressed with this book. I started it off really excited, I've been waiting forever for this book. Well actually let me correct that, I've been waiting for another SK to come out, I was not so pleased when I found out it was going to be another "animal" one. I am more into Dark-Hunters that were human and DON'T change into animals. Like this part grossed me out, actually at first it was hot then it was like ewwww why'd it have to get ruined like that! Okay here it is:

Susan's eyes widened as she realized that he was already growing hard again. Pulling back, she looked down to see that she wasn't imagining it.
Shocked, she met his evil grin.
"Welcome to the world of the Were-Hunters, baby. We're not like human men."
"No kidding. . . ." Before she could move, he sat up with her in his arms.

Hot right? Well here's were it got ruined for me.

"Now let me show you how a cat makes love to a woman."

Okay now granted he wasn't meaning 'me cat you woman let's get freaky'. lol, they both stayed in human form to do the deed, but still just him even jokingly saying that grosses me out.

But anyway ...... So I'm reading and so far so good even if Susan was a bit annoying. Then I continue on and it's good, the plot seems to be thickening and I'm getting into it. Then I don't know I kinda just lost interest. I was a little disappointed in Ravyne he wasn't a big-strong-macho-Dark-Hunter type like the others, he was kinda a softy. I mean in the beginning I was all kinds of hot for him he had the badass thing down, but only for the first 5 or so chapters. He really didn't fight much in the book, he was mostly in hiding, so that could have had a lot to do with it. This is a part that was in the beginning of the book that I really liked and if Ravyn kept like this the book would have been better:

He threw his hands out and some kind of invisible wave went through the room, knocking the two men off their feet. His eyes matched the red blood that still dripped from his chin as black clothing appeared on his body.
"You don't knock on the devil's door, boys, unless you want him to answer," he said, his voice deep and evil. He wiped the blood from his chin.
"Th-they said you wouldn't attack us," one of the thugs said in a frightened tone.
"They lied."

Nick came back in this book, at first I was like okay he can be angry and bitter. With what he went through who wouldn't? Right? Well yeah, that was all good and fine. Till he did the stupidest thing at the very end. I don't see how this is going to work out in the series to come. But we'll see.

Ash kinda annoyed me in this book, he seemed more and more the male god whore to me. I know, I know something happened like forever ago to make him basically enslaved to Artie but I'm sorry it just really made my skin crawl this time around. And I know a lot of you will say it is so wrong that everyone gets annoyed with Ash and thinks he's lazy but what are they supposed to think? That's what they are all lead to believe and he doesnt correct them.

I think what this book was really lacking was emotion. I didn't feel that connected with the characters. I mean with Ravyne I felt sorry for him and it was sad everything he went through in his life but my heart didn't break. In SK's earlier books I seriously would cry, this one just didn't touch me the same way. I think I felt more connected to Cael then Ravyne. Speaking of that was a big loose end left hanging, I really hope to see more of him.

And let me tell you loose ends is one thing this book had plenty of. We were left hanging with Nick, Cael, Ash......

I mean even Ravyne with his family. For a minute there you think your going to get some closure there, and then ... nothing. Like nothing happened at all.

And the romance between Ravyne and Susan? Well it just seemed kinda like a joke most of the time. I mean you definitely knew they loved each other but it was so flippant and I don 't know, I think that the sarcasm to define the two of them was fine, it was part of who they were. But I just wish we saw more of them beyond that.

I also really hope her next books are in paperback, cause the hardback was not worth the money this time.

One last thought....Zoe. Is she a lesbian? Do you think she'll get a book? And would you read it if it was about her and another woman? Just wondering. And just so you know, I would probably read it. I really like Zoe. She seems so kick ass.

Grade- C

Daphne's Review:

I feel like the last person on the planet to have read this, mainly because I refused to buy the hardback. Now that I've read it, I'm relieved that I didn't go through with buying the hardback. One thing I will say for this book, I could not put it down, and I pretty much spent all afternoon reading it. Now here are my thoughts on several aspects of the story:

Ravyn and Susan: Meh, I didn't really go nuts over this hero. I'm kinda over the whole DH hero thing, and I really like the arcadian/katagaria stories more than the DHs, but Ravyn just didn't do anything for me. I remember more of his lines as a cat when he sent mind messages to Susan, than I do his lines as a human. Susan - at first I liked the fact that she wasn't completely helpless and she was pretty strong/brave, but it got to the point where it seemed unrealistic. Unlike Tabitha from the previous books, Susan knew NOTHING about the DH world. So I can understand Tabitha fighting off the Daimons, but Susan? I don't think so! I don't care if she was trained by Dragon in martial arts/combat, it's not like she does that for a living. She's a news reporter! Since when do news reporters just start kicking butt when vampires start attacking them? She made such a big deal in the beginning of the story about how vampires could never exist, and then she's okay with it all of a sudden and not a bit scared?

I also had issues with the fact that Ravyn and Susan barely knew each other, and then out of nowhere they have sex in the basement. Hello! You guys barely even exchanged words. And the whole allergic to cats thing was unnecessary, oh please. Can we not start sneezing and then just go down on Ravyn? There were too many questions left unanswered or just "resolved" in a hurry. What happened in Susan's past that made her lose her job and make her cut her wrists was never resolved. I stll don't fully understand it, and at this point I really don't care. Also, I didn't like Ravyn's family storyline. It seemed like it was just thrown in there to make me feel sorry for Ravyn, but I've already seen enough family drama in the previous stories (i.e. Zarek/Valerius, etc)

Ash and Artie: Seriously. I'm getting annoyed with these two. More so with Ash than Artie. Don't get me wrong, I love Ash like most gals out there, but come on! Enough already! I'm so sick of him being Artie's whore, and yes I know he's sick of it too, but geez louise, it's making me feel like he's a wuss. That whole scene with him having to give Artie six orgasms in an hour? Oh come on! I literally laughed out loud at how ridiculous that was. *sigh* I don't know how much longer she's gonna keep writing Ash in this way, but it needs to stop. I get it, I understand his relationship with Artie, but please don't write anymore scenes like that one. It just frustrates me. And I'm also frustrated that all the DHs get pissed when Ash doesn't show up the instant they need him. Most of those DHs have been that way for hundreds of years, and then you need Ash for 5 minutes and get pissed off when he doesn't show up.

Ash and Nick: I was surprised with the ending in the last book, Unlease the Night, and I'm curious to see where this goes, but I'm already annoyed with this storyline. I love how Nick swears he knows Ash better than anyone else, yet he still doesn't realize that Ash isn't completely responsible for what happened to him. And why are we blaming Ash for the Hurricane Katrina incident? That has nothing to do with you shooting your brains out or your mother's death. Arrrrghhh!

Overall I'd say this was a great book for discussion purposes. But I wasn't that impressed with it and I don't see myself rereading it other than for informational purposes. I'm giving this one a C.