Lara Adrian: Kiss Of Midnight

INSATIABLE DESIRE. ENDLESS SEDUCTION. ONE TOUCH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

He watches her from across the crowded dance club, a sensual black-haired stranger who stirs Gabrielle’s deepest fantasies. But nothing about this night–or this man–is what it seems. For when Gabrielle witnesses a murder outside the club, reality shifts into something dark and deadly. In that shattering instant she is thrust into a realm she never knew existed–a realm where vampires stalk the shadows and a blood war is set to ignite.

Lucan Thorne despises the violence carried out by his lawless brethren. A vampire himself, Lucan is a Breed warrior, sworn to protect his kind–and the unwitting humans existing alongside them–from the mounting threat of the Rogues. Lucan cannot risk binding himself to a mortal woman, but when Gabrielle is targeted by his enemies, he has no choice but to bring her into the dark underworld he commands.

Here, in the arms of the Breed’s formidable leader, Gabrielle will confront an extraordinary destiny of danger, seduction, and the darkest pleasures of all . . . .

I first read this on my laptop, and then in print, as Lara was kind enough to send me a print ARC as well. Interesting to note that I enjoyed reading it in print more.

This is a more suspensey type of paranormal, as opposed to a more fantasy type of paranormal. I tend to prefer the latter, but Kiss of Midnight hit all the right buttons for me.

I very much appreciated the characterization of Lucan (yes, I survived the name) and Gabrielle. It’s all show, not tell.

I found that there were what appeared to be unneccessary subplots. Perhaps they will be continued in later books, though I can’t see how and in my humble opinion, they could have been cut and the book tightened just that teeny bit more.

Now, there are likenesses to various popular vampire romance series out there (believe me, I’ve read them all). Some might argue that there isn’t anything terribly original about the Breed. I do agree with this, to some extent, but for a number of reasons, I personally still prefer the Breed over many of them, and if you want to discuss them, that’s what the comments are for.

But execution matters most of all, and in this I think Kiss of Midnight surpasses many of the vampire romances on the market.

This rates 4 out of 5.