Favorite Line: “The room would have been elegant if it hadn’t been for all the blood.” (p. 92)

Ms. Chance brings us book three in the Casandra Palmer series, which will be available for purchase April 1, 2008. Embrace the Night picks up where Claimed by Shadow ends. (Cassandra had just returned from the past and found out that she doubled the gies that was drawing her and Mircea together.) In book three, the geis, a magical warning system that scares off potential suitors, is making Mircea crazy and Cassandra is searching for a spell book, Codex Merlini, to break the geis.

The grimoire is hidden though, and to find it she must travel back in time. The book contains many powerful spells and in the wrong hands is deadly. This doesn’t deter Cassandra, but encourages her to work closely with Pritkin. She thinks she knows about Pritkin, but quickly learns that there is much more to him.

Ms. Chance clears up a ton of issues in Embrace the Night. We get to see the aftereffects of Claimed by Shadow. We learn a crap load about Pritkin. I was surprised by many of the revelations, as I never would have considered them possibilities. However, later when I thought about them, they made perfect sense.

Pritkin is more of an enigma for parts of this book than in the past. He tried to kill Cassandra for a large part of this series and seemed pretty straight forward. Well, until his past and family came to light. I always thought of him as ugly and unapproachable. This could be because of his crappy attitude in the past, or my general dislike for him.

My feelings changed in Embrace the Night, I found him to be attractive and mysterious. I began to wonder where Ms. Chance was taking me as a reader. Questions such as, “Is Cassandra going to get with Pritkin?” and “What does Pritkin really think/feel about Cassandra?”, kept popping up in my mind. My questions were answered and I focused on other things, such as Mircea.

I was pleased with the Mircea and Cassandra situation. Their story has been unfolding since book one and finally many of the issues between them are addressed and solved. Mircea is definitely an attractive hero for me. He’s powerful and dangerous, yet possesses a strong attachment to Cassandra. He is a master vampire on the brink of insanity but kind of a side note in this book. We see him, but not as much as Pritkin. In the end I was okay with this.

The entire story depends on Cassandra making the right choices. If she chooses wrong, the entire future can be changed and it puts a ton of pressure on her. All the characters are interesting and play a part in this story. There are no petty or insignificant characters. Just when I was ready to write a character off, he/she would reappear with an important role to play.

I enjoyed this book. I don’t know if there will be a fourth book in the series or if it will end here. I hope to read more about Cassandra Palmer’s world, but if the series ends here I wouldn’t be left wondering about specific plot lines. If you want to read the first chapter in this book click here. If you’d like to see the first chapter in the graphic novel click here.