In the Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton

Book:  In the Forests of the Night

Author:  Kersten Hamilton

Publisher:  Clarion

Date:  November 22, 2011

My grade:  A+

Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have made it out of Mag Mell alive, but the Dark Man's forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Tea’s goblin cousins show up at her school, sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive once awoken. Soon she will belong to Fear Doirich and join them. In the meantime, they are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Tea’s family and friends.
Teagan knows she doesn’t have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her. But as long as she can hold on, she’s still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that’s destroying her—that’s destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich.
And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.

My Review

God bless Kersten Hamilton.  First of all, she contacted me this summer after noticing that this book was one of my “impatiently waiting for” books on my blog.  She offered to send me an ARC if I wanted it.  Of course I wanted it!!!  So, with wee bit of Irish luck, I got my fix of Finn (sigh!) about 2 months early!

Second, she has written a killer second book in this series!  Of course, now it just means that I’m impatiently waiting for Book 3!  Still, Kersten, I thank you from the bottom of my Irish heart for sending me this book!

What a glorious book it was.  It has lots of Finn, of course.  One of the best things is that it jumps right back into the story.  I hate it when books give me a lot of background from the previous book.  If you’re dumb enough to pick up a book in the middle of the series, you don’t deserve to understand what’s going on.  Harsh, but true. : )

We really got to know some of the secondary characters a little better in this book also.  I am interested in Thomas and Raynor and their past.  Also, Joe, the new character is very intriguing.  Abby and her mafia wannabe family were great for a bit of comic relief.  Aiden was not as prominent, but we really got a good look at Teagan in this book.  I really like her.  She is a nice, strong female lead.  I mean, here she has a sexy beast Irish warrior at her beck and call, but she wants to just see what happens and plan on following her own plans.  Alright, maybe she’s crazy also, but seriously, it’s a breath of fresh air to not see the lead girl fawning all over the hot boy just because he’s hot and has a great accent.

Finn, of course, is still swoon-worthy and the lines that come out of that boy’s mouth will turn you into a big puddle of goo.  In fact, if Teagan wants to go off to school, I’ll be glad to keep him entertained while she’s gone. : )

Like all good second books, it’s a bit of a cliffhanger.  I enjoyed another look at Mag Mell and the surprises there and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this whole thing plays out.

My grade for this book is an A+.  This book was just as engaging as the first book, the characters continued to grow and build and the story had plenty of interesting twists and turns.  And there’s also the hot Irish guy with the accent that launched a thousand ships.  If you haven’t read “Tyger, Tyger” yet, run get that one so that you’ll be ready to read “In the Forests of the Night” when it releases in November.  You can read my review of that book here.