Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dark-Hunter #13, St. Martin's Paperback, January 2006, Rating: A

My thing for troubled heroes made this book one of my favorites so far in the Dark-Hunter series. The other one I'd rank as my favorite is Zarek's story and like Wren, no one liked him, he was basically alone and people turned on him without giving him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't doing things wrong.

Wren Tigarian is a misfit. He doesn't fit in because he's a blend of two animals-snow leopard and white tiger. Orphaned at a young age, he was brought to Sanctuary by a man he didn't know and to this day doesn't know who killed his parents. He works as a busboy at Sanctuary despite being heir to a computer company second only to Microsoft. A loner, he surprises everyone including himself when Marguerite D'Aubert Goudeau gains his attentions. It's enjoyable to watch Wren try to push her away because to expose a human to his life is a no-no. He's unable to because she's the only thing in his life that he's ever wanted. He exposes her to everything as a last resort, hunted and having nowhere else to go.

Marguerite D'Aubert Goudeau is the daughter of a senator. She's forced to live the life of a socialite despite feeling like an outsider, in part because of her mother's Cajun roots. She meets Wren by getting her study group together at the place her friend (and another study partner) Nick who is dead. The others in her study group are pretty stuck up and end up taunting Wren, but she stays behind to apologize and he ends up walking her home. Their relationship blossoms from there, slowly, confusingly because Marguerite does not understand why he insists he can't be with her. Once she does find out his secret, she's willing to give up everything to help him. During this time she learns to stick up for herself, to realize that she needs to live her life not the life her father wants her to live. Yay!

Together, they use the were-hunter ability to travel through time in an attempt to figure out who killed his father and mother. This leads to some startling revelations and results. Unleash the Night was an exciting story, we experienced the Were-Hunter politics in action and were shown the lengths they'll go to to protect their secret from the humans. I really enjoyed Wren and Marguerite's story, they were a sweet couple. I rate this one an A.

©Susan Falk and phantomroses.com