I couldn't wait to finish this book... but for all the wrong reasons. Even a 2 star rating seems generous. Back in 2002, when this book first came out, it was probably fresh and exciting. But from then on a lot has evolved in UF/PNR-land and I think I've been 'spoiled' with good quality writing. The writing was extremely simplistic, repetitive and annoying. The POV changing wasn't done well at all. The story was (I know: even for a PNR about a 2000 year old Spartan demi God) totally unrealistic. The characters as well as their actions were unbelievable. Take for instance our heroine: Grace. Despite the fact that she was a successful sex therapist, she seemed to have little to no sexual knowledge (she kept talking about feelings she never knew that existed, both mentally and physically). She also kept bringing up personal and vulnerable topics with the hero while in the presence of others. Privacy anyone? Oh and the cherry on the cake was that this supposed sex therapist had her own untreated sexual trauma, a fact that makes you project your own problems on your patients and therefore makes you a bad therapist. The big trauma was that she was deflowered (at 24?) by some guy who didn't care for her. And 5 years later she was still all shaken up about it. Booo fucking hoo! Argh, this book had me rolling my eyes constantly. The dialogues and inner monologues at times seemed to be competing for the prize of 'cheesiest lines ever'. If it wasn't for my compulsion to finish stuff I started and the fact that I wanted to know what the Kenyon-fuss was about, I would have thrown the book out. No, maybe ritually burnt it. I'm told that the Dark Hunter series is good so I'm actually willing to spend money on the second book. I hope I won't be sorry...

This is going to be a comprehensive review for my thoughts on the 13 books and novellas that I've read in the series up to this point, so this review could be on the long side. Since I spent the past couple of weeks plowing through several of these books, I wanted to get some of my thoughts down on the series as a whole (so far) instead of writing out long reviews for each book, especially since many of my thoughts overlap from book-to-book. I might get up some mini-reviews/notes on the other books soon, but I won't take the same amount of time on those to only repeat the same thoughts over and over, and will instead dump the lot of it here. Side note : I did read Night Pleasures (technically, the first official Dark Hunter book) years ago, and was so unimpressed that I didn't come back to this series until now. Okay, so...I don't like this overlapping series garbage. I tried to follow the (entire) Dark Hunterverse list, but I still feel like I'm missing something. Dark-Hunters, Dream-Hunters, Were-Hunters, other gods, etc. The only people I feel invested in are the Dark Hunters. Their world makes the most sense to me. The characters are the ones that should read as the driving force of the series, with Ash at the helm, but I keep getting pulled into these side stories that take me out of the Dark Hunter core world. Let's start with the book that this review sits on : Fantasy Lover. Julian is not a Dark Hunter. He just happens to know them. Julian's story doesn't even really tie in to the DH world as well as it could have. These early books in the series read sillier and fluffier than the some of the other books. I will probably chalk it up to the author still needing to find her footing with the world she created. You could tell that she was drawing on old school romance writing to start, when phrases like He could have raped her at any time crop up, as if someone NOT raping a person is a basis for what makes them good. It also doesn't help that some of the expressions and exclamations from the characters are painfully cheesy in these first few books (calling men Buster and describing them as bodacious), and that the music references feel extremely dated. The series flow was still too rocky for longer than it needed to be though. It took me a good 6 or so books before I really wanted to keep going. I almost quit out a few times but Ash and Simi kept me hanging on. The complexities of the character Ash made me curious to see where his story would go. As I continued on into the series (or multiverse), I kept thinking that the books books were never any better than 2 to 3 stars. It probably wasn't until I got to Tabby's book (6) that I found myself really starting to care about the characters and world as a whole (although I did really like some parts of the previous couple of books). I finally started to look forward to a future character's book......and then Wren's book pissed me off. I realized right there and then that the Were-Hunter side of the world was not crafted as well as the Dark Hunter side. From my notes on Dragonswan (the prequel novella) : Their (the Were-Hunter) story doesn't read all that cohesive with the Dark Hunter world. Dark Hunters have limitations on their powers and can't just do whatever they want, whenever they want, but weres get to bend and shape time and the world around them, even though they are not nearly as evolved as Dark Hunters are. Disappearing clothes? Really??? Teleporting with no real need (i.e. for their own wants and not because they could use it for fighting like the DH would) Time jumping all over the place with no huge Butterfly Effect? Yeah...I don't like it. That sums up how I felt about Wren's book (I wanted to love Wren's book so much and I just couldn't). Time travel solves everything and nothing at the same time. Weres can go into the past but can't rearrange too much or the Fates will get pissy at them. Well what a stupid ability. It's useless and overpowered all at the same time. I found myself continually getting frustrated with Kenyon's world. Minor tweaks and changes happen to the rules all of the time. Inconsistencies pop up from out of nowhere, making me wonder if the author even remembers her own rules at times. Immortality is thrown around like it's no big deal. I want to give this author credit for creating a world which has obviously been "borrowed" from by many other authors (many of the newer popular PNR series have characters and elements which mirror DH concepts). The woman had her creativity game in place when she came up with the Dark Hunterverse. I had no idea until now just how much her writing has influenced series like BDB and IAD (and others). It makes me sort of sad that I like both of those series so much better. Both J.R. Ward and Kresley Cole have a better handle on how to tie their characters and story lines together into one intertwining arc. In addition, Cole is one of the few authors I've found who has been able to incorporate multiple races and lore into one continuous story without messing up the flow. I have the feeling that the series will improve the further that I go. This was how the Midnight Breed series worked for me. MB had a very rocky start, and it took several books for the world to come together. But when it finally did, I ended up really liking the series. It just took me a longer than I wanted to get to that point. So I will keep going. I'm invested in Ash, Simi, and Nick. I want to know more about future Marissa. I want to see how the guy on the beach with Nick (ffs, I can't remember his name) is going to fit into the story. So the first few dates were awkward. It doesn't mean that this slow burn won't turn into love. I feel like I owe it to one of the OG PNR series to see where it takes me.

Fantasy Lover is the 1st book in The Entire Dark-Hunterverse Series and whilst it was not one of my favorites, I did enjoy reading it. One of the things I liked about it was the main character, Julian son of a legendary Spartan general becoming commander of the Macedonian army.Betrayed and angering the Greek gods, he was cursed for all eternity, trapped inside a book and released once a month to be used as a sex slave by whoever opened the said book.Now, that doesnt sound too bad!!!! To be used as a sex toy and you dont even get to choose if you want to or not!!!! Hell, that does not sound good to me!!!! The poor guy is about to give up whensomething or someone good comes along into his life!!!! That someone is sex therapist, Grace Alexander,who has gone off men forever!!!!! After giving men a miss for a while, she is given the most outlandish present ever by her best friendswho has been worrying about Graces manless situation!!!! A Greek sex slavewho is known to be good at what he doeswink wink!!!!! How could any sane woman refuse such a present!!!!!!So, is Grace the one who will break Julians curse? Will she accept the world he lives?I enjoyed the flashbacks to Julians history in ancient Greece and Rome. This being the first book, theres very little world building some interesting secondary characters that will have their own books in the future.There were some funny moments Um, Dr. Alexander, theres a couple out here who say theyre related to you. Theyumtheyre biker people. (Nurse)Hey, Julian. Tell Attila the Hun here that were okay so we can come and ooh and aah over the babies. (Eros) You have the optimism of a child. (Julian)Peter Pan all the way. (Grace) Cupid, you worthless bastard, I summon you to human form! (Julian)Gee, I can't imagine why he wouldn't respond to that. (Grace) Im happy that I read this book.how the Dark Hunters world begins!!!!!

4 STARS Julian de Macedônia, Julian de Macedonia, Julian de Macedonia NADA, no aparece mi esclavo sexual.Ya poniéndome seria, me gustó mucho este libro y es que todo lo que tenga que ver con mitología griega me encanta sacan mi friki interior.Es una historia muy romántica, en muchas partes me conmovió sobre todo Julian por todas las cosas que tuvo que pasar y también tiene partes divertidas y otras sexys. Julian y Grace eran muy monos hace tiempo que quería usar esa palabra hahaha me encantaban la ternura que transmitían.Para ser el primer libro o ya no sé si es el primero, estuvo muy bien aunque tuvo sus fallos como la personalidad de Grace que no coincidía con su profesión se supone que ella es una sexóloga/terapeuta y más que nadie ella necesitaba uno y nunca recibió ayuda. Pero dejando de eso a lado debo reconocer que es adictivo y luego luego me enganchó ya quiero conocer a los dark hunters porque en este libro no me enteré de nada.

The best part of this book? Grace's dinner: Four pieces of pizza, two Hostess cupcakes, and four glasses of wine. Now, that's something I can relate to. Conjuring a Greek-god sex slave that finds the normal, slightly chubby Grace irresistible? Not so much.Considering how much this guy has been around....Anything Greek mythology related and I usually love it. There was a little bit of mythology, along with some Roman and Greek history. *But*, there was mostly a romance that included a lot of "heat swirling stomachs", "deep moans", and "hot looks". And, the main point of the story was for them to avoid having sex so that they could break his curse. So much longing...Aaannnd, he's been with thousands of women and is angsty while she is pretty much a virgin.soooo original!But, I thought this was a prequel to the Dark Hunter series, so that's why I read it. Apparently, I was wrong. I know!?! Me, wrong? I guess it could happen. So, on to the first Dark Hunter book. There is someone who has been trying to get me to read this series for years. Happy now, Jen?