[Book Review] All Hallows Night By Marie Hall & Onyx Coffee Lab Sugar Skull Blend

Title: All Hallows Night
Series: Night Series: Book Two
Author: Marie Hall
Publisher: Marie Hall Publishing
Publication date: March 8th 2014
Page Count: 238 pages
Age Rating: Adult (semi-explicit sexual scenes, blood, gore, violence)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a copy to review
Publisher’s page: All Hallows Night

Secrets and truths, lies and deception… which is which? That’s what Pandora’s trying to figure out. Ever since the death of her best, and probably only friend by her own hands, she’s not sure who to trust anymore. The Priest is dead. The Gray Man is… she’s not even sure what. Luc, well, Luc is Luc.

The Order has sent her deep into the heart of Mexico to investigate a potential zombie uprising. She arrives at the start of the Dia de los Muertos festival—a celebration for the dead and immediately things don’t feel right to her. For one, bodies (the living kind) keep disappearing. They’re not being kidnapped, no, if only things were that simple. Literally there one second, gone the next, she’s not sure what to make of it. On top of that mum’s are floating all over the place. Is that merely symbolism associated with the festival, or is it a clue of something far more sinister?

In this explosive sequel to the USA Today Bestselling, Crimson Night, an old ally returns and a shocking truth is revealed. One that will turn her investigation into The Order’s duplicity on its head and make Pandora question everything she ever thought she knew…

My Review

All Hallow Night (Night Series Book Two) takes up right where the first book left off. In the wake of the devastating loss and betrayal Pandora experienced in Crimson Night, she and the Carnivale Diabolique are sent to Mexico during the Dia de los Muertos festival to check out a possible zombie infestation. In the course of the investigation, new friends are met, new enemies emerge, and even more twists and turns are introduced into an already tricky situation.

I would definitely recommend reading Crimson Night (See my review here: Crimson Night by Marie Hall & World Market Red Velvet Coffee) before diving into All Hallow Night. Although clues to events from the previous book are peppered in, new readers will probably still feel out of the loop as the plot progresses. This series involves a lot of twists and turns, so those who don’t start at the beginning may find themselves tangled up and lost along the way.

I still find the characters as interesting as I did in Crimson Night, even more so as they are fleshed out more and we get more insight into the half-demon inhabitants of Carnivale Diabolique. There’s less sex and more sensuality in this book than its predecessor and we see a shifting in relationship dynamics as new bonds are made, broken, or exposed.

All in all, I’m intrigued by the new dynamics and the plot twists that have been revealed and introduced and I can’t wait to continue on with these characters and this story in book three: Howler’s Night (due out in August 2014).

Some of my favorite parts in this book were the scenes set during Dia de los Muertos, or The Day of The Dead, the Mexican holiday where people celebrate and honor their family’s dead. One of the items used in observing this holiday that have always managed to catch my eye and imagination are the sugar skulls, which sound exactly like what they are, so of course Onyx Coffee Lab Sugar Skull Blend caught my eye as well. Tasting of orange zest, candied walnuts, and milk chocolate, this coffee is a little acidic, a little bitter, and a little sweet – which sounds exactly like Pandora to me – a half-demon with a heart of gold (sweet) and fierce temper (acidic) whose had some things thrown at her in the course of her existence that would make anybody just a little bitter.