Book Review of Night Walker by Lisa Kessler

Title:  Night Walker

Author:  Lisa Kessler

Release Date:  August 2nd, 2011

Genre:  Adult Paranormal Romance

He gave up his soul for a second chance to love her…

Two and a half centuries ago, Calisto Terana lost everything when a zealous priest murdered the woman he loved. Now, desperate for another chance to love her, he wants redemption for the mistake that cost her life.

She’s haunted by dreams of her own death…

After catching her fiance with another woman, Kate Bradley returns to San Diego to clear her head. The last thing she needs is romance, but after meeting Calisto she’s drawn to him in ways she doesn’t understand.

They’ve waited in the shadows for centuries…

Calisto has no doubt Kate is the reincarnation of his lost love, but the Fraternidad Del Fuego Santo has a new watcher with dark ambitions of his own. As old enemies reemerge and a new threat arises, the betrayal that enslaved Calisto to the night might destroy the only woman he’s ever loved again.

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review:  Night Walker is the first book of a new series from Lisa Kessler.  The story is about a man, Calisto, who lost the love of his life when she was murdered and gave up his soul for another chance with her.  He has waited centuries for her to return and he believes her soul is now in the body of Kate Bradley.  Kate has recently had her heart broken and not really looking for a new relationship, but is drawn to Calisto and has a hard time resisting his charm.

This book does tell a story about Night Walkers and what being one entails, but the romance was by far the focus.  I usually like my action and romance to have an equal balance in books, but I did not miss the action so much while reading.  The relationship really is the crux of the story and without building the foundation between Calisto and Kate, the book would have been left lacking.  While we are in present day learning about how Calisto and Kate meet, we also get glimpses into their past life when Calisto was still Father Gregorio and Kate was Tala.  When there is a backstory to be told it can often times be put in the prologue and then we shift to modern day.  With Night Walker, we get the story of their past in small doses through the novel and I found it weaved into the overall story better this way.

There were a couple of things that did bother me while reading this book.  The biggest one was Kate herself.  I understand that she feels this magnetic pull towards Calisto because they shared a past life together, but she does not know that.  She goes through his house at one point to find that he has no clothes, no food and no other everyday items that a person would need to live.  She does find this strange, but does not really press Calisto about it and instead she moves in with him.  They had been together a couple of days at this point and Calisto did this because Kate was in danger, so it makes perfect sense to try and keep her close, but again, Kate did not know this.  Maybe I am being a little too cynical, but I would find all this very suspicious and would have to learn more about someone before I moved in with them.  Especially if his behavior was strange like Calisto’s is and because of his lack of basic things needed to live.  Her gut was telling her something was off and I just wanted her to investigate that a little more before falling into Calisto’s arms.

While the book did have a couple of flaws, overall I still enjoyed the story.  There were some ups and downs, but I was invested in Calisto and Kate’s lives because I really connected with them as a couple. This is the first in a series and I am very intrigued to see where Lisa will take this next, especially after that very last paragraph.  I thought Lisa might have a twist in there somewhere, but I did not predict what would happen there on that last page.  I will be very interested to see where that goes and what the future now holds for Calisto and Kate.

FTC:  I received this ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.  (Thank you!)