Shadow's Claim

Kresley Cole has done it again! She mesmerized me with Lothaire and she has ensnared me again with Trehan of the House of Shadows, the hero of Shadow's Claim.

If you read Lothaire, then you know Trehan is one of his cousins and a contender for the throne of the Dacian kingdom (a vampire kingdom). However, in the beginning of the book, Trehan, the "sword" of the Realm of Blood and Mist with an ice-cold gaze has more pressing matters: He has to hunt down an escapee. 

While people may visit the Realm of Blood and Mist, they do so knowing that they are not allowed to leave the constant moving realm because the Dacians fear people will be able to discern their location. Yet, Caspian from the realm of Abaddon, escaped the realm and is up to Trehan to hunt him down and kill him.

Enter our heroine, Bettina, future Queen of Abaddon and hopelessly in love with Caspian. She has just healed from a traumatic experience and to protect her, her uncle has announced a tournament where the winner gains her hand in marriage. Desperate to not end up with a disgusting stranger, Bettina plans to seduce Caspian and lose her virginity so that she won't have to marry a stranger. 

Caspian is a manwhore, which Trehan finds out while tracking him in Abaddon. He gets distracted by a light coming from a room and decides to investigate. He enters and sees a drunk Bettina. His heart comes alive and starts to beat, signaling that he has found his Bride after centuries of living a lonely existence. 

Bettina rejects him in favor of Caspian and desperately, Trehan decides to leave his home behind and expose himself to others by competing in the tournament to gain Bettina's hand in marriage.

Can I say romantic? 

Strangely, it wasn't the romance that made me so exited about this book after being obsessed with Korean dramas for so long. It was the action. While the scenes were short, they were vivid and colorful and most of all made me want to pump my fist in triumph. 

It was like that scene in Troy when Brad Pitt jumps up in the air to impale the giant with his sword. It was powerful and vicious but at the same time strangely beautiful. 

I am completely in love with Trehan. He's different because he's not insane like Lothaire or particularly vicious. He doesn't try to deny that Bettina is his mate and he immediately cares for her and works very hard to get her. Other heroes are always assholes and overly suffocating but then at the end apologize and beg. Trehan was begging the whole way through and I loved it. I loved the desperation and the anger that he felt at giving up everything for her and knowing that there was a possibility that he would not get anything in return.

I was crying with him the whole time. Love him Bettina! LOVE.HIM!

One question for Ms. Cole: WHERE IS NIX'S STORY?! *taps foot impatiently*