The two stories contained within this volume are part of each author's larger series. 'Untouchable' by Kresley Cole is part of her Immortals After Dark book series and 'Tempt Me Eternally' by Gena Showalter is part of her Alien Huntress book series. I've read neither series for the record.

Initially when I heard about this book I was excited because I really enjoy Showalter's books. Playing With Fire is my favorite, but I enjoy her Atlantis books as well. For some reason I've never read her Alien Huntress books. Kresley Cole is one of those authors that I know I should read, since I enjoy paranormal romances so much, but haven't had any interest in. That said, I have to admit I loved Cole's Danii a lot. Valkayrie coolness aside, I liked that because of who she is she's been untouchable. Not because of a past guy who did her wrong, or father issues or anything like that. She's straddling two worlds and neither world wants much to do with her (talk about paying for the sins of the parents).

Murdoch was kind of awesome, but also rather vexing. He's a self-proclaimed manwhore and feels he has good reason to fear being bonded, but he's a little short-sighted. Or else he's hanging with the wrong crowds. Either way he ignored the good that came with the potential bad. This is a romance, so it is inevitable, but there was a merry chase involved.

Showalter's story fared a little less well for me, but I can't tell if its because I didn't enjoy it or because I have no idea about the world she was writing in. The premise is pretty cool--we can all be like Mystique from X-Men!--but I suppose since I was familiar with the world a lot of it fell flat. I did like Breean though and was mostly envious of Aleaha.

Minor pet peeve, I can't remember how to spell any of the four romantic leads names without looking it up.

This is a good book for a winter's evening however, the romance will take the chill off your skin and should be a treat for fans of either series. ( )

Deep Kiss of Winter
4 Stars
Review of Untouchable only

Synopsis
Vampire Murdoch Wroth never wanted to be blooded but when his heart starts beating again at the sight of Daniella the Ice Maiden he will stop at nothing to have her. Unfortunately, Daniella suffers intense agony when touched. Can these two unlikely lovers overcome the obstacles?

Review
The timeline is concurrent with the first 5 IAD books and the recaps of the various stories are enjoyable. It is also great seeing the details from Murdoch's perspective.

The introduction to the Icere (Ice Fey) is interesting and some of the aspects of the Valkyrie are clearer to me now.

The romance, however, it not the best. Danii and Murdoch's on/off relationship is too angsty and their emotional distance for most of the book is frustrating. Nevertheless, the resolution to the obstacle of Murdoch being unable to touch Danii is brilliant and the lengths he goes to in order to be with her more than compensate for his lack of finesse and "bachelor panic" in the first 3/4s. The epilogue with the four Wroth brothers and their Brides is very endearing.

The ice motif, while unique and beautiful, is not conducive to creating a sense of intimacy and closeness for Danii and Murdoch. Unlike Neomi and Conrad, whose relationship was intense and steamy despite their inability to touch, Danii and Murdoch lack the emotional attachment of the other relationships in the series.

Overall, an entertaining novella and it was nice to have closure to the Wroth brothers. ( )

4.75 Stars for [b:Untouchable|16145662|Untouchable (Immortals After Dark, #7)|Kresley Cole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1376475432l/16145662._SX50_.jpg|41496733]
Loved the story 'Untouchable'.

Untouchable is about Murdoch Wroth the vampire & Daniela who is a Valkyrie & part ice fey.
I really loved it.

The flow and pace is wonderful. The steamy parts are Hot! and Very Adult.

All the books in this series have been amazing. So far my least favorite was the first one.

I didn't read the Gena Showalter book, since I haven't read the other books in that series before. so my rating is strictly for the [a:Kresley Cole|4428|Kresley Cole|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1328377628p2/4428.jpg] book. ( )

Two great series!!!!!!! ( )

Daniela is part Valkyrie and part Icere. The Icere are Fey who need to keep cold so they live in a place called Iceguard where there is plenty of ice and snow to go around. For two thousand years, King Sigmund has been sending out assassins to kill Danii because she is the rightful heir to the kingdom. He stole the crown from her mother.

Murdoch Wroth is a Forbearer Vampire which means he does not drink blood from the source ever. Previous books in the series have featured all three of his brothers but we have only had brief glimpses of Murdoch. We know he is in the Forbearer army under Kristoff who wars with the Horde Vampires, born vampires who drink from the flesh and usually kill their victims which makes them mad because they get the memories of each victim. Too many memories in their heads make them crazy.

Murdoch comes upon Danii when she is running from Icere assassins in the French Quarter in New Orleans. He helps her fight them off and during the fight, he becomes blooded. Blooding is when a Vampire meets his Bride, the one female who makes their heart beats and brings back their sexual desires. Vampires are impotent and have no sexual desires until the meet their Bride.

Danii was shot full of arrows laced with a poison that heats her body to the point where she could die so Murdoch quickly traces her to a mill outside New Orleans where he sometimes stays and puts her into a bath. He traces to a gas station and steals ice to put over her to cool her down. He put on gloves and pulled out all of the arrows.

Unlike his brothers or any other Vampire who meets their Bride, he is not happy. He does not think he has to be a slave to his desires or to a female just because fate says so. He watched his father slowly wither after the death of his mother and never wants to be like that. Plus, he can never even touch Daniela. This is a nightmare to him.

Danii secretly wants romance and to be touched but only one of her kind could touch her and that is not an option. Murdoch gave her hope when he and she shared a sexual moment but then he doused those hopes by telling her that all he could do with his Bride is freeze and he told her to go.
Even though he had spurned her, she agrees to help him when he asks her to help him find and evil Vampire named Ivo. When she overheats, he traces her to his hunting lodge in Siberia which is perfect for Danii. He lets her stay there to hide from the Icere while he goes back to find Ivo and to serve under Kristoff.

Murdoch is hot and cold throughout this book. He wants Danii but he is afraid of being like his father and he gets frustrated that he can only touch her with gloves and never make love to her. They decide to give their relationship a try but Murdoch made it difficult with his fears and frustrations.

The cold in Siberia is transforming Danii into a stronger person and it changes her visage. Her hair has turned white and she is turning icier. She has decorated the entire lodge in ice and has begun to carve strange symbols into the ice. She is compelled more and more to carve and it worries Murdoch but as long as it makes her happy, he won’t interfere.

I have to say that there were some weird sexual moments in this book. I had a hard time thinking sexy thoughts because everything was so cold. Brrrrr!

As always, Nix the Ever Knowing is manipulating things from behind the scenes. I can’t say what without spoiling the story but she was definitely manipulating things to go her way for the Accession which is a war that happens every 500 or so years in the Lore where factions go against each other and one faction will come out on top to be more powerful than the rest…or something like that.

There were also background stories and hints for things to come. There was a mention that Kristoff dispatched some of his soldiers to look for the Dacia, a hidden group of vampires. I missed that the first time I read this series, not knowing that it was important. There was also mention of Lothaire the Enemy of Old but it was brief. We have heard of him a few times so far in this series and know that he is dangerous or powerful but we know nothing else about him.

I’ve already started reading the next book in the series.

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