Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian
It was great! I was entertained by the story as well as the characters. As a first book in a series, it offered the kind of story that had me curious and made me follow through the next book of the series.
Gabrielle didn't really live up when she just gave up her passion with hardly any struggle. It was kind of disappointing.
This is the first book in the Midnight series by paranormal romance author Lara Adrian.
Lucan Thorne, a Breed warrior, would do what is necessary to protect the Breed, its people and their secrets. The world has no idea they exist and he wants to keep it that way. Even though his warriors had Breedmates of their own, he has no plans of finding one for himself. He was already hanging on the edge and wouldn’t want to take someone else down with him. Fighting a battle on the outside with the Rogues as well as inside himself, it was all about keeping things together. Another day of feeling his body slipping further and further into Bloodlust, he had no hope of redemption. So when an unknown woman sees a Rogue attack in an alley, he felt it was his duty to take any evidence of their existence and scrub her mind of memories. Even if she intrigued in as no one had in the nine hundred years of his existence.
Gabrielle was tired. The latest viewing of her photographs was finally over. She just wanted to go home and relax, but her friends brought her to a club La Notte instead. As she was waiting for her taxi, there was trouble between a group of guys and one male. Instead of getting into the taxi, the driver got spooked and drove off. Left to her own devices, she stumbles upon a murder. Her quick survival instincts kick in and she manages to get away from the murderers. She couldn’t believe what she saw, it was utterly impossible. As she reported the events to the police, no one believed her and worse, there were no dead bodies or murderers to be seen. Going home was her only option, when a visit from a detective came; she was more than willing to help him out – in more ways than one.
Kiss of Crimson was a great way to start a series. There was a lot of intrigue in this one, as well as secrecy. The story of Lucan and Gabrielle stood out. Lucan was a complex character, very male and protective. Gabrielle was independent, artistic and understanding. From what I read, all Breedmates have to be understanding, to the extreme. The love story between the two characters stems from attraction and there is no lack of intimate moments in the book. The added twist to the usual vampire character was also pretty good. The plot was great and not predictable, which made it a treasure. The revelation of an unknown enemy made this book very interesting. It was the main reason I read through the series, to see where it goes and what they’ll do to defeat the enemy.
The odd part I found in this book is the apparent lack of attachment of Gabrielle to her passion. If taking pictures was really her passion, she kind of gave it up too easy. It was really disappointing since if the author exploited her abilities more they could have gotten a lot more out of her.
Overall, I actually liked this book. It was a great introduction to the Breed world. The twist at the end left me hanging and actually convinced me to buy the next book out of curiosity. Despite my disappointment with the character’s portrayal, the story in entirety was great from my perspective. To anyone new to the paranormal romance hype, this would be a good series to start. I would recommend it as an awesome book to read. For those who have read the book, what do you guys think?
