Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters were influential in addicting me to romance novels. She is one of few (few actually means many) authors that I have bought every single book that she has ever written, including her Kinely MacGregor incarnation. But over the last, lets say 10 books with the exception of Acheron, I have actually been DREADING that she will come out with a new book. Her books, which started out so amazing, have been getting steadily worse. I have always felt a loyalty to her and her early writing, so my slightly obsessive personality convinces me that my library will not be complete without her next book. So I keep buying them, because I have a small section of my brain that remembers how I felt when I first read about Zarek and his star. But no matter how optimistic I was when I bought it, I think she may have hit rock bottom with Silent Truth.
The cliches. OMG the mind numbing amount of cliches in this first chapter/introduction. There were so many I couldn't even finish the first chapter/introduction. Let me list out the ones I found in the first 10 pages off the top of my head. Because I refuse to reread those pages, even for you.
1. Two secret ops military men.
2. Main character is dark/brooding. Guy 2 is kinda a sidekick who is funny and the only person who can make him laugh.
3. Not only are they partners they are bestest bestest friends. Forever. and ever. and ever.
4. They are having a lengthy conversation in the middle of a super secret military operation.
5. Main character's best friend/partner just eloped. To Vegas. In secret. Main character is now the only person who knows about marriage.
This is where I stopped reading, muttered something that sounds like "Are you Plucking kidding me" and predicted the following:
1. The mission would go horribly and unbelievably wrong
2. The best friend would die
3. The best friend would ask the main character to look after his new wife as his dying request
I skipped ahead 4 or so pages to see if my predictions would come true. Guess what? That is exactly what happened. Cause I'm awesome in my prescient abilities. Or maybe because this storyline has been repetitively, redundantly reused. (See what I did there? Goodness, I crack myself up) I didn't even stick around to find out if main character dates his dead best friend's secret widow. With the introduction that off putting, it is unfair of you to expect me to even attempt to finish the book.
