Pleasure of a Dark Prince

By Kresley Cole

Can the beast seduce a beauty and make her love him. . . .?

A promise of pleasure . . . from a brutal warrior determined to protect her.

Never far from her bow, Lucia the Huntress is as mysterious as she is beautiful. But the secrets she harbors could destroy her-and those she loves-and every day brings more danger. It isn't safe for her to be with Garreth MacRieve, yet whenever she sees the fierce werewolf with his smoldering eyes, she finds herself surrendering to his kiss.

An uncontrollable need . . . that can only be sated with her touch.

From the shadows, Garreth, prince of the Lykae, has long watched over Lucia, the lovely little Valkyrie who alternately maddens him and inflames his lust. He aches to claim the seductive creature as his own and keep her safe from harm, but first he must convince her to accept him as her guardian. To do that he'll exploit Lucia's greatest weakness-her desire for him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: May 6, 2010
• ISBN: 9781849832724

Kresley Cole

Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Immortals After Dark paranormal series and the young adult Arcana Chronicles. Her books have been translated into over twenty foreign languages, garnered three RITA awards, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists in the US and abroad. Before becoming a writer, Cole was a world-ranked athlete, coach, and graduate student. She has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings. She lives in Florida with her family and “far too many animals,” and spends any free time traveling. You can learn more about her and her work at KresleyCole.com or Facebook.com/KresleyCole.

Reviews for Pleasure of a Dark Prince

[bethanymoore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I <3 Garreth!! Lucky Lucia... the bitch! ;)

Of course, I love the Lykaes, so this one is a fav. Plus it takes place while floating through the jungle... lots of intrigue and who-dunnit.

I've never wanted to attend a Rugby match more in my entire life!

[msralways · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this! I thought this one had a realness to it that some of the other books didn't. Lucia was probably one of my favorite heroines of the series thus far and the Dark Prince was this delicious alpha male who is this amazing guy and sex on a stick. And that ending was awesome!

[zeek319_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Almost from the moment he spies her on the sidelines of the bone crushing rugby match he's participating in, Garreth MacRieve- prince and soon to be King of the Lykae (that's werewolves to you and me)- knew the luscious, blond Lucia was meant for him. Lucia, Valkyrie and best dang archer the Lore has ever seen, is not so sure. Oh she feels the pull too, she just can't allow it.Garreth will not let her go, however, for he knows she's his destiny and though she escapes him this time, he knows he will find her again.Which he does ... after her sister Valks imprison him in their dungeon.But even then, Garreth cannot let their scorching attraction go, and he manages to continue wooing her from his cage. When Lucia discovers a secret he's been keeping from her from the outset- that she is in fact, his mate- she plans her escape once and for all.He will chase her around the world to get her back- down the heart of the Amazon river and to a source of power that Lucia hopes will aid her in getting rid of her own darkest secret. Little does she know, it's the love of a good werewolf that will actually set her free... if she can let her guard down long enough to let him in.Ninth in Kresley Cole's vastly popular paranormal romance series, Immortals after Dark - Pleasure of a Dark Prince delivers what many have come to expect from a IAD novel- action, adventure, witty dialogue, sizzling heat and crackling chemistry!Garreth is relentless in his pursuit of the skilled hunter he calls Lousha. And Lucia is dogged in remaining elusive- like any good little prey. This almost became a source of irritation for me. But I was saw enthralled by their sensual play- especially on the riverboat taking them down the treacherous Amazon- that I forgave the author for drawing it out so long. Garreth & Lucia are magic together and the heroes desire to win her is some of the most romantic stuff out there!A howling good read you won't want to put down!If you haven't started this series- what are you waiting for?

[myntop · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was fast paced and very fun! There was a lot of action and adventure in it. I loved the travel to the Amazon, hearing about legends as if they were real, and the struggle between what Lucia wanted and what she thought she couldn't have. Also, who doesn't love a Scottish werewolf, right? Each book in this series bring about another species or myth that I'm loving reading about. It never gets boring. Way to go Kresley Cole!

[mariahsidhe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was very good and drew me right in. The Huntress is proud, but he wants to protect her more than pride will allow. What ensues is an amazing mash of personalities.

[mitabird · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like this book more, but I didn't really care for Lucia. She was the epitome of stubborn and I wished she opened up to Garreth a little more. He proved to her continually how much he cared for her, but it was extremely difficult for her to trust him. Now, she did have her reasons and some of them were justified, however, a little more communication between them would have been nice. The chemistry between them was there and one of the reasons I kept on reading.

I thought the pacing was too slow. Things didn't get exciting until the very end and I found the first three quarters of the book boring. I am curious to find out about the kidnappings, so I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

[aliterarylion · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Garreth and Lucia. These are my favorite couple in the Immortals After Dark series, other than Lothaire and his bride.

[kindleromance · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

WOW!!! I love Cole & I love this series & this book was awesome!!! I loved both of the characters, and all of the story behind the main romance plot. The steamy scenes were hot & definitely turned up a notch in this book! I waited to read this book because I knew I would have to read it in one day and finish before I could sleep. It's very long and now I'm very tired:-) Worth missing sleep for!

[rosetyper9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

No one, and I mean no one can spin a sexy paranormal tale like Kresley Cole. I have absorbed and loved every single one of her "Immortals After Dark" books and "Pleasure of a Dark Prince" was no exception. I love the sexy Scottish Lycae the best of all the immortal creatures. I hope there are second cousins and uncles that need matched up too, because I want more of the wolves.

It was very cool to finally get these two's story since we have seen them "together" since the beginning of the series. I liked that of all the characters these two seemed to want to be together and had the most tangible "excuses" not to. This story is filled with monsters, mayhem, and sexy sexy Werewolf/Valkyrie time, this book measures as a 10.0 on the steam scale and still manages to have an awesome plot. Loved it! But...now we have to wait and see what's up with the cliff hanger Ms. Cole left us with

[krisrich85 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is Lucia and Garreth MacRieve's story, through the whole story people refer to him as MacRieve so I'm not sure why in the description he is called Garreth.. I guess it's just a quirk of mine. This whole series has grabbed me by the shirt collar and just dragged me along for the ride. And this book is no different. Once I started reading I knew I wasn't going to be able to put it down. I had to force myself to stop reading last night at 2:40am cause I knew I had to get up with my daughter and nephew this morning... but anyways, back to the review. It was nice to learn more about both MacRieve and Lucia. They both made appearances in past books, but their parts were never really big.. just a conversation here and there. Lucia is an archer who rarely misses but when she does feels great pain because of it. MacRieve is Lachlain's younger brother so never really had any responsibilities. They first met while MacRieve is playing Rugby (in the rain mind you :)) and he is suddenly distracted by a scent. He discovers the scent belongs to Lucia, he has found his mate. Lucia was tracking a creature that was hunting mortals. MacRieve watches Lucia shoot some arrows through the crowd and find her mark, against the odds and he is in awe. The story continues with her wanting nothing to do with him and of course him following her wherever she may go to try and win her over. I found the story well written, funny at times but also serious when needed. The whole storyline is awesome and I personally loved that Lucia is strong enough to take care of herself and that MacRieve eventually comes to understand this and attempt to live with it. They are a really good couple.

[mlsimmons-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book, as I have all the IAD books. I love reading the Scottish brogue that Garreth and the rest of the pack use. I think I like them best of the immortals in this series. I also enjoy the Valkyries. I love Nix and really want to see a book for her.

[ktleyed · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another rip-roaring roller coaster ride in the Immortals After Dark (IAD) series. Here we have Garreth McGrieve, Lykae who finds his mate - Lucia, a Valkyrie who is the greatest Archer and due to a promise she made eons ago, she must not have sex - at all - ever. Of course, this is anathema to Garreth who lives for sex - especially with his mate, but he finds ways to get around this with her. For the first half of book, Lucia is evading him, while he is chasing her around the world until they wind up in the Amazon together. This was one long adventure of ups and downs, often reading like an Indiana Jones movie - with lots of sex! Loved it!

[lcrabtree-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not my favourite of the Immortals After Dark series.

I didn't quite get her fierce reluctance to be anywhere near him, okay she thought she'd lose her archery skills but was it necessary to do all that stuff to him? But then again, he seemed determined to bed her so I suppose I can sympathise a little...

[ladyisis_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once again I am glad that I don't have to wait for a year for the next book to come out and I have to add that there better be a solution to the ending of what happen in this book in the next one. I hate cliff hangers, HATE THEM!!! Also I want to point out that it took me longer to read this book that it normally would because of a number of distractions like jury duty and doctor’s appointment. There was also some spring planting to distract me. What to say about this book? It was a different werewolf/Valkyrie story. I really felt sorry for Garrett. He had waited so long to find his mate and she happens to be Lucia (the ice queen). I understand why Lucia is the way she is but she makes Garrett miserable from the very beginning. She and Regin do all in their power to make him go away and I mean all in their power. I am surprised the Garrett didn't just give up on her. Garrett is a Lykea though and there is nothing that will make him give up claiming his mate. I love that he is patient and caring trying to make sure that she is taken care of even when she doesn't want his attention. I loved the butterfly gift while they are on the Amazon River. I also loved all the descriptions of the rain forest and the mythical creatures that they find on their journey. I could almost feel the mosquitoes closing in for the feast. This is a vicious story filled with lots of gore and fighting. The Bloody Broken One would give any sane person nightmares and the description of his lair will be with me for a long time. This book has more carnage than any of the previous stories, especially the last 10 chapters.Lucia is intelligent and reasonable most of the time; however with the Ascension starting she knows that she will once again have to trap her disgusting husband in his lair for another 500 years. She and Regin having been looking for a way to kill the monster once and for all and they are close to finding what they need. She is tired of having to fight this battle over and over. She never expects to find the one man that will make her want sex and companionship. She also never thought that the man that would attract her would be a Lykea. It takes a while but she begins to soften toward Garrett. After week on the Amazon she sees that he is really a considerate man that cares for her. I think that she should have trusted Garrett with her secret much earlier than she did. I think that they could have been better prepared for the problems they could have and did face in the Lair of the Bloody Broken One. I also think that they should have been better prepared for Lothaire, Garrett especially. This book ends with a mystery. There are individuals being kidnapped from all over the Lore. No one knows what has happen to all of them. Regin is one of the missing and Lucia is determined to find her. I am hoping that the next book has some answers.There is a lot going on in this book and it shows that the Ascension is getting closer all the time. While I like the relationship between Lucia and Garrett there were times that I would have liked to shake both of them. They are both stubborn and unyielding at times. Ms. Cole does write some very hot love scenes and they never seem to overwhelm the plot of the story. Most of these characters are likable and make you want to know more about them, even the mortals in the group. This is a good addition to the series and I definitely look forward to the next book.

[msromanticreads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved the plot and characters. It was a nice change to read about different mythical beings such as the Werewolf and the Valkyrie. Garrett was a superb character. Cheeky and caring, fierce and loving. His accent and his wit were so endearing.in fact, most of the laugh out loud moments all came from something he did or said. I liked Lucia's strength in the beginning, but as the story began to reach it's climax, I didn't care for her as much. I understood her fears and insecurities, but felt she could have told him about the consequences of consummating the mating ritual without divulging the dark secret about her ties with Cruach. Garrett kept giving, but Lucia's reluctance to give back until the very end made me unsympathetic to her. I did feel she redeemed herself in the end, but it was a little too late. Regin aggravated me to no end, especially her texts. I would still recommend this to anyone because of the nail-biting action, a great hero and the sexual tension was sizzling.

[lauren2013_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pleasure of a Dark Prince
3 Stars

The Immortals After Dark is an excellent series and I had been eagerly awaiting Lucia and Garrett’s book ever since they were introduced in A Hunger Like No Other. Unfortunately, the book and their romance fell flat.

The first 1/3 rehashes the plots from the first two Lykae books. While the parallel storylines in the series are nothing new and usually mesh well, this recurring element is becoming tiresome and contributes little to Garrett and Lucia’s story. In fact, the narrative jumps forward one whole year after this section, which emphasizes its redundancy.

The romance is lackluster despite the excellent sexcapades. Lucia is quite bland as far as IAD heroines go. Yes, she suffers from a traumatic past but this is glossed over in the book and she seems to get over her fears of sex and vows of chastity very easily. Moreover, she comes across as childish and self-centered, and her constant “woe is me because sex will make me lose my archery skills” (which were never really hers to begin with) becomes annoying. She also has a tendency to keep secrets, which is a trope that I dislike intensely in contemporary romance and is out of place in PNR. Rather than confide in Garrett and work with him to defeat Cruach, she evades, prevaricates and lies, which ultimately gets them both into trouble.

Garrett, on the other hand, is far more likeable. He is sexy, strong and determined and his passion for Lucia is tangible despite the fact that it is impossible to see why his infatuation with her turns into love even with the dictates of Lykae mating. That said, the ultimate resolution to their relationship is satisfying.

The villain, while evil and disgusting, never seems to pose a substantial threat and the final encounter with him is predictable and anti-climactic.

Lothaire is the most compelling character in the book. The section in the Necropolis with him along with the epilogue are particularly intriguing and have definitely whet my appetite for the next three books.

[becky_jean_12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Love the MacRieves, though I do start to get them confused after awhile. They're more or less the same character with different names but hey, fun read anyway. Plus, Lucia was awesome.

[deserie4comfort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this series and am looking forward to future book releases from Kresley Cole. Pleasure of a Dark Prince, the ninth release in the series. This book focuses on the romance between Garreth and Lucia. Garreth is the brother to the king of Lykae, Lachlain, and this book takes picks up the time frame surrounding Lachlain's return, as we saw in the first book. Lucia is known only as the Archer among the Valkyrie. This book contains a lot of action, from the misty swamps of New Orleans to the exotic hell of Amazonian Jungle and frozen peaks of northern mountains. The love story is fairly typical, considering that the male is dominating werewolf, who is driven by desire to protect his mate. A mate who would rather prefer to handle her own problems, than relinquish her career for an insanely hot piece of man candy. Add to that vows of chastity that the heroine made a long time ago.....and the sexual tension ensues. It was nice watching these two fall in love and defeat evil and darkness together while learning that they can in fact trust and rely on one another. Another great book and anxiously awaiting the next release in the Fall!!!

[niinac_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Garreth MacRieve is sick of easy women, sure the Lykae are the best built and most ruggedly handsome Lore creatures around but Garreth, the "king" until his brother Lachlain is found, is done with easy. Just as this crosses his mind in the middle of a Lykae vs. Demons rugby game he catches a whiff of his destined mate, the one woman who he now simply cannot live without, and when he catches the sight of her he's surprised to see a bow wielding Valkyrie. This bodes ill as the two Lore fractions don't... get along, to put it nicely.Lucia the Archer, came by her ability as she laid broken and raped on the floor of temple of the Goddess Skathi who bestows on her her talent for archery and a mission to keep The Bloody Broken One, her attacker from leaving his ghastly residence every 500 years. Lucia swears an oath of purity, swearing celibacy for her healed body and unmatched archery, if she is to sleep with a man her gift would be gone. Another term is that if she misses she will experience unimaginable pain.Now a wolf is watching her like she was made for him, and he doesn't take half-hearted no - after all he is gorgeous - for an answer. Finding out MacRieve's secret she tricks him and escapes to find the diemont, the god killer, which she can use to actually kill the god, The Bloody Broken One. But Garreth follows her whereever she goes, hunting her, always one step behind her. But she can't be distracted there is an apocalypse to stop.I absolutely loved this book! The story is fairly simple but Garreth and Lucia make it so spicy!Lucia desperately wants the werewolf even though she cannot admit it, and Garreth can't think of anything except having her for forever even if this means chasing her all over the globe. It's such a yummy combination that it's impossible not to get a little giddy!I'm a fan of Kresley Cole, and this was very similar to A Hunger Like No Other ( IAF#1 ) in its mood, and I absolutely loved it. Loved the world, loved the nasty dangerous Amazon and the Indiana Jones-esque story with hot enough romance to melt one's panties!

[aula_6 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read these books for the sex scenes, as I find the gendering of the characters atrocious (dominant men who don't respect women or their wishes and women who want dominant men who don't respect them or their wishes). The phrase 'she says no but her body means yes' would be a great tag-line for this series - how many times was that used as a defence in rape cases? I don't find any romance in these books as it's all solely focused on sex (which is fine, in and of itself) but the attempt to equate dominance and sex with a real emotional connection is trite.That aside, I've enjoyed - to a lesser or greater extent - most of Cole's books in this series. This one I didn't - the characters were annoying and under-deveoloped and the ending just irritating in its blatant setup for a few more books to come.My least favourite of them all.

[bluedragonfly81 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I LOVE the IAD series! [SPOILERS] I love Garreth and Lucia as a couple. Cole knows what each of her couples needs in terms of a mate and it definitely comes through on the page. Their adventure takes them to the Amazon. Regin is missing, and as usual Nix knows more than she is letting on. Their journey to the steamy Amazon is reflected in the relationship that develops between Garreth and Lucia. Lucia fears losing her archery abilities by having a physical relationship with Garreth, but of course her feelings for him are too strong and she succumbs to passion. Lucia has to battle an old enemy who likes to play with peoples minds, so of course he uses the couple against each other and Garreth is made to believe that he killed Lucia... I loved this story and this series is AMAZING!!!

[fantasydreamer_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After reading Pleasure of a Dark Prince, I'm going to say it's my favorite book in the Immortals After Dark series. I can't think of a better fit as a paranormal couple then Garreth and Lucia. Lucia is a beautiful and confident female whose not afraid to toot her own horn, which she does in a hearty but succinctly way. Now, the main interest for me in this story was the so very sexy, Garreth MacRieve. Garreth was my ideal fantasy man throughout this entire story, so full of raw animal magnetism, it oozed off the pages. I loved his devil-may-care attitude towards the world but loving and solicitous demeanor towards Lucia. I swear he had my heart pounding too many times to count, you couldn't ask for a better alpha male.The entire story was action packed full of heart-pounding scenes and intrigue, there wasn't a dull moment for me. There were spot appearances from previous main characters but not enough to feel like it overwhelmed Garreth and Lucia story in anyway.The Immortals After Dark series is a must read for paranormal romance readers and current readers of this series should not, I repeat, should not miss this book.

[risadabomb_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really love Kresley Coles historical romances; If You Dare is one of my all time favorite books. I am not so hot about her paranormal romances. This one I loved Garreth (I have a thing for Scots) but Lucia was a bit annoying. All in all I liked the build up and anticipation of their romance but I guess Ms. Cole has set such high standards from her previous work and these novels have been falling a bit short.

[zosiacanberra · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I fully intended to read this whole series in order, and read the first three, but the fourth book didn’t capture me and this is the only other one I had in paperback. Firstly, I’d like to say Kresley Cole is a very talented writer. She’s one of those people who can write extremely readable prose, and she has some great ideas. But the problem is she’s so caught up in her ‘great ideas’ that the story suffers greatly for it. This series is very heavy on the sex, so be warned. For me, it is a much more erotic series than, say, the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And - as always - we have the ‘almost sex’ scenes for most of the book and the characters always have some excuse as to why they cannot sleep together. Right from the first paragraph I encountered the main problem I have with this series: too much made up stuff. Too many strange names and made up creatures. In most paranormal series we have to learn the world rules for one or two species. In this one there are two trillion and counting. It’s so overwhelming there’s a great long glossary to study up on at the beginning of the book - and even then it doesn’t make much sense. You should NEVER have to study before reading a book, and an author should be able to get their story across without gigantic information dumps. Kresley Cole breaks these two rules, and the story loses its impact. This one follows a Lykae, Garreth (think super cool werewolf), and Lucia, a Valkyrie (uh, an immortal warrior woman who texts like a teenager and speaks like a sixth grader). I enjoy reading about the Lykae in this series, but the Valkyrie are annoying and always spend the entire book pushing the hero away. This story has been a long time coming. It happens parallel to the first few books in the series, and we’ve seen it unfolding in the background of other books. The concept of telling a story from so many perspectives is interesting and fun to a certain extent, but perhaps now - so many books into the series - it’s time to move forward. Is it not a little strange that after thousands of years all the characters find their mates in the same few weeks? There is so much careless, calculated violence in these books. The leading characters are always being badly hurt and hurting each other. There’s little appeal in a heroine who has no qualms about firing arrows through her mate. I don’t care if these characters are immortal - pain and violence are still revolting when unnecessary. Kresley Cole information dumps like nobody’s business. It gets to the point where I just don’t care if I understand everything or not and start skipping pages. For example, ALL of chapter seven was an information dump. We learnt about six new characters, found out about a whole lot of convoluted mythology, and the storyline was not furthered AT ALL. Cole writes incredibly well when she’s writing action or love scenes, but then her books grind to a halt while we get a fed endless clever facts about ‘the Lore’. It’s frustrating. I don’t like the Valkyrie and all the ‘feisty cuteness’ the author has given them. I don’t like silly yet cold-hearted ancient warrior women who act like teenage bimbos and treat their men like garbage. I don’t like heroines who are ‘romance cute’. I could not believe the ending - or non-ending, as it is - which failed to wrap up the story and instead smacked of ‘buy my next book!!’. There were four cliffhangers, presented one after the other in a terribly disjointed fashion, shamelessly dragging us into the next story for answers. Any book in any series should be able to be read as a standalone, and we should reach the end and feel the story has a resolution that’s satisfying. There’s a good story in there, with an interesting plot and some very clever ideas. However, it’s so buried in ‘the Lore’, and so constantly interrupted with annoying bits and pieces, that I had a hard time appreciating it. Kresley Cole is a very talented author, but her fantastic prose is ruined by her determination to write every ‘clever’ fantasy idea she can include in the series.

[thebooknerd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this book much, which greatly disappoints me because I was hoping this would be a great, new series for me. Yummy cover art aside, I found Garreth annoying -- and Lucia not much better. The plot was an interesting concept that wasn't played out to my satisfaction. Worst of all, though, were the skips in time that made the story disjointed. One minute you're here, next minute you're there. With no or poorly executed transitions between some scenes, there was a lot of "wait, what?" As part of a series, this book definitely does not stand alone. In fact, I think one would need to read several books from this series simultaneously in order to get a smooth reading experience.

[flemmily · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy this series, and this book was no exception. It wasn't my favorite (which is funny because I've been waiting for the Lucia book since the first novel), but I still found it captivating by the end. I like the development of the overall series plot as well.

[camxso_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kresley Cole does it again. Another wonderful book for the powerful series.