• Kade's Dark Embrace

  • Immortals of New Orleans, Book 1
  • By: Kym Grosso
  • Narrated by: Ryan West
  • Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (2,648 ratings)

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Kade's Dark Embrace  By  cover art

Kade's Dark Embrace

By: Kym Grosso
Narrated by: Ryan West
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Publisher's summary

*A captivating paranormal romance from NYT & USA Today best-selling author Kym Grosso. Experience the mysterious and alluring world of The Immortals of New Orleans.*

After a series of girls are ritualistically murdered on the cold streets of Philadelphia, seasoned detective Sydney Willows is forced to work with sexy, alpha vampire, Kade Issacson. As the case develops, so does Sydney's attraction to her new partner—no matter how hard she tries to fight it.

Kade, determined to solve the case and mete out justice, is captivated by the independent, fiery detective. While he attempts to protect her from a very real murderer, his concern for the beautiful, but very human detective, grows. She could easily end up dead should she tangle with supernatural forces that are beyond her control.

The investigation leads them into the dark and dangerous underbelly of New Orleans, where together, they search for the perpetrators of the Voodoo killings. When Sydney becomes the target of the killer, she ends up fighting for her life and love in the Big Easy. If she makes it out alive, will she give into the intoxicating desire she feels for Kade?

Kade’s Dark Embrace is the first book in The Immortals of New Orleans series. Although many of my fans prefer the series in order, each book is written to be listened to standalone.

THE IMMORTALS OF NEW ORLEANS:

Kade's Dark Embrace

Luca's Magic Embrace

Tristan's Lyceum Wolves

Logan’s Acadian Wolves

Léopold’s Wicked Embrace

Dimitri

Lost Embrace

Jax

Jake

Quintus

Hunter

Christmas Embrace

Viktor

Julian

CLUB ALTURA ROMANCE:

Carnal Risk

Wicked Rush

Solstice Burn

Hard Asset

Riptide

WITCHES OF WILLISTOWN

Second Chance Hex

©2012 Kym Grosso (P)2014 Kym Grosso

Critic reviews

"This is a fast paced read that had me hooked from the beginning. Ms. Grosso grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Sex scenes are steamy and well written.... If you are looking for a great new series I hope you will consider Kade’s Dark Embrace, you will not be disappointed!” (Night Owl Reviews)

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What listeners say about Kade's Dark Embrace

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

HATE the heroine

Rest of the storyline and story telling was good the lead female was supposed to be tough and independent just came off as bitchy and stupid. He says don't go out alone you have no idea how dangerous this black magic is. She says oh yeah? Don't tell me what to do I'm a bad ass cop. She sneaks off alone and of course gets caught and hurt. Rinse repeat. And he falls madly in love with her. Why exactly? She is arrogant judge mental and rude and mostly irresponsible and rude.

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59 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Hours I can never get back!

So...I’m not sure how this has a 4 star rating. The story was terrible. I skipped through a quarter of it and still knew exactly what was going on. The characters are poorly written and developed. Kade is supposed to be this super old vampire, but has an extremely limited vocabulary/range. Sydney is supposed to be a modern feminist but instantly goes from independent woman to bending to the dominant rule of an overly controlling borderline misogynist.
I get that this is a vampire book, so realism is obviously not entirely expected, but a little bit of realism is nice. The whole thing was so unbelievably far fetched.
My last thing is that the narrator sounded exactly like the voice of the dude who narrates movie trailers. I kept waiting for him to say “coming this fall” or “critics are calling it the film of the year”...
Okay one more thing. The love scenes. Oh. My. God! That’s not a positive exclamation. Every. Single. One. Was exactly the same, with the exception that BJs and fingers were interchangeable. Sometimes it was both, but it was the same thing over and over with the WORST dialogue...the whole book had terrible dialogue, but it was especially bed during the love scenes.
I don’t know, maybe I missed something in the overall tone, but I thought it was through and through terrible.

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

DO NOT MISS THIS FAST-PACED PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Wow, what a brilliant start to a brand new series as this has everything a PNR lover should want..... a sexy gorgeous Alpha Vampire Hero and a strong sassy independent Heroine whose instant sexual attraction nicely developed into a tender romance that had some sexy love scenes that were just right. There's a tense plot involving Werewolves, Witches, Mages, revenge, greed, magic and ritualistic murders and a host of interesting secondary characters.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, Ryan West easily tackled every accent needed and brought each character to life so, at all times, you knew exactly who was talking out of the multitude of characters.

Worth a credit? It's well-written, flowed nicely from various POV's, was an addictive 'action in every chapter' listen and the romance was oh so good..... so ABSOLUTELY worth a credit and I can't wait for the next instalment which will be an auto download for me.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Women Can't Do Everything

Women Can't do everything. Neither can men. Or vampires.

This heroine gives feminists a bad name... it was painful to watch her go headlong into problem after problem. Why? Because she's a woman and a cop and she just HAS to prove herself. Even when faced with beings more powerful than her both physically and magically, she just plows right into trouble then yells at the man who has to bail her out.

Sigh. I'm too tired to write a review of this. It's just... not credit worthy. Sorry. She's just too annoying.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved It!

Sydney is a sassy spitfired detective from Philadelphia who has a mouth on her that would make any sailor proud! Kade is a sexy Alpha vampire from New Orleans who has made the trip to Philly to help investigate the murders.
When it becomes obvious that hints of magic are involved in the deaths, Kade soon realizes it is someone from his past. When Sydney gets attacked at her home, Kade takes her to his home in NOLA to keep her safe. Kade must enlist all of his allies to find Simone before too many more people have to die.

I absolutely loved hearing this on audio! It reminded me why I fell in love with The Immortals of New Orleans and Kym Grosso!

Ryan West did an amazing job narrating this! I am starting on Logan's book next and cannot wait to hear him on it!


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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Did I read a different book?

Dull, flat, one dimensional characters, laughable dialogue, and a very unpleasant female protagonist made this a dull, flat, one dimensional read.

The hyper melodramatic narration didn't help either.

Although others are buying into this, I couldn't get past the first seven chapters.

Sydney is a tough female cop. We know this because she says it over and over again. Kade is a vampire called in on a supernatural serial murder case where another vampire is suspected. They meet at a vicious crime scene where a young woman, who has been tortured and drained, has been tossed into the river. Sydney simultaneously falls into insta-lust and insta-hate with Kade.

Sydney is incredibly rude and unpleasant to Kade and gets in the vampire investigators face, telling him he isn't going to take her case -- even though he has automatic jurisdiction. (I'm thinking, ok, she has a problem with vampires, or supernaturals. That could be triggering her reaction.)

Sydney leaves the crime scene and decides she NEEDS sex with her werewolf boyfriend- with-benefits, and needs it NOW, to feel better. (What? Why was she such a bitch to the vamp she just met if she's cool with supernaturals? That doesn't make sense. And what's her psychological damage that she uses sex to feel better?)

Just when they were starting to get busy on the dance floor, Sydney and her were-toy are interrupted by Kade (who gets jealous -- really? They just met and she was a stone cold bitch to him!) Then we hear his thoughts where he 'feels' she is meant to be his. (Huh.)

After Kade puts a damper on the sexcapades, he and Sydney decide maybe they should just go do some investigating of the murders. They go to the morgue, check out the vic's tatoos, go to a tatoo parlor and get a tip from the owner that not only did the guy who did the tatoo used to work for her, but she has his name and address!!! Got it in one!

Kade and Sydney go to the guy's house, but when they get there, she tells Kade this is her case and she's a cop, and she's going in alone. Kade reminds her that the killer is a vampire and she's no match for him, but despite this sage advice, and his vow to protect her with his life, she of course, is determined that he isn't going to take her case away from her because -- wait for it -- she's a cop.

He caves to her stupidity with little resistance, I guess because he's blinded by his attraction to her. She goes in the front door, while he goes around the back. But just in case anything goes wrong, he tells her to scream if anything bad happens and he'll come in.

Of course she's immediately attacked in the house, and falls into a big puddle of blood, but being too stupid to live, she doesn't scream. She has time to talk to the guy after he hits her on the back with a club and pulls out the duct tape, but being a tough cop, she still doesn't scream for help.

Instead, she shoots wildly into the dark and ends up killing the guy, their one and only lead.

But nobody thinks this is a problem. There isn't a moment of self reflection on her part that maybe, just maybe, her pride cost them a witness. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. (This is the point where I'm thinking maybe the reviews were wrong.)

The worst part is, she then leaves the grisly, blood-coated crime scene, where young women have been ritually murdered, and offers Kade "coffee" in her apartment. It's made clear that both of them know this is a euphemism for sex. He declines, deciding to continue the investigation. There's no explanation given as to why she doesn't feel the need to investigate as well. All we're told is she needs sex, NOW. To feel better.

She stops long enough to shower the young women's blood off, and hurries back to the supe club, for a second time, to have sex with the werewolf. He feels her need, he knows what she needs, yada, yada. But the much talked about hot and heavy sex scene that we've been told repeatedly is something she desperately needs in order to feel better amounts to a quickie hand job (on her) and a blow job on him. It's furtive and silly and takes place in his room which is described as being "painted royal blue with a cherry desk and a black leather sofa." That's it. That's all the description we get. No wait. We know there is a rug on the floor because that's where they have "sex." After she tells him that that was what she needed -- (Really?) -- they go back downstairs to the club where she sees Kade and is immediately drawn to his side. He smells the were on her and goes ballistic.

Really? This all happens in one or two chapters, but the other five are just like this.

I don't get it. Admittedly, I'm also reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is a classic, so perhaps my standards are a bit on the high side. Still, there are things one expects in any kind of good book, such as a plot that makes sense, characters whose actions are plausible and driven by understandable motivations -- not just random words strung together where we are TOLD who a character is simply by declarative statement, but shown, through action, who they are, what they feel and why they do the things they do.

In this regard, this book is an absolute failure. Five star reviews notwithstanding.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Holy Hotness Batman!!!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Not only would I recommend this audiobook I already have!! This book has everything a Paranorm reader is looking for. Vamps, Wolves, Witches an OMG hot sex.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Kade's Dark Embrace?

Id have to say my favorite part of this story is the first bar scene....I loved the way Sydney was able to blend right in an fight of an attacker and then the scene on the dance floor was very very hot.

Have you listened to any of Ryan West’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes...I really really liked his character voice's in this book compared to the last one of his audibles I listened to. He really did an amazing job with the different accents. His Luca accent is amazing!!!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Oh yes!! and I would have if I didn't have to sleep. This is my favorite thing about audiobooks I can still cook, clean, do laundry & walk the dogs all while enjoying the story.

Any additional comments?

Kym Grosso has done a very good thing for her readers by putting The Immortals of New Orleans on audio.....it doesnt get any hotter then having these stories read to you by a man with a very sexy voice. Well done Kym...very well done.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

What is up with the narrator?

I get it it’s a “spy” book.... but he’s like a movie trailer voice and it’s okay for a 30 second spot. A whole book is too much. I guess my review doesn’t mean much because I stopped listening.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Stubborn women

I am all for strong women and for a women to know what she wants and is willing to get it. but in this story Sydney is probably the most stubborn female lead character I have ever read/listened to. Instead of accepting that she is human and that is is no match for the supernaturals she insists that she be kept in the know with the investigation. And when hard evidence of just how fragile she is, is thrown in her face she refuses to acknowledge that she may be out of her element.

Apart from a female lead who makes me want to shoot her, the story was mediocre at best. At times I could not tell if it was the story that was just bad or the narrator. It is a tough and dragging read/listen. It is a good story if you have nothing better to do and are willing to stop and restart when you have the time but, not for one that you listen to in one straight shot.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Kade's Dark Embrace ~ Rocks!

This story rocked! It's a well-developed, faced paced, full of suspense, and had lots of smokin hot sex scenes that had me craving more.

The characters, a sexy mix of vampires, wolfs, and witches, were well developed and the attraction between Kade and Sydney was electrifying. Even though this story was about Kade and Sydney, we are introduced to other sexy immortals, and I can't wait to listen to their stories. No cliffhangers; however, it does set the stage for Luca's story.

Ryan West did an awesome job narrating and made the story even more enjoyable!

Kim Grosso is now in my top ten favorite authors!

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