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A Taste For Passion

Patrice Michelle

Published 2003           204 pages

Reviewed by Katherine Petersen

Summary (from the book jacket)

Rana Sterling finally finds the man of her dreams and BOY does he know how to push all the right buttons. Only, Mr. Tall, Dark and Too-Good-To-Be-True turns out to be just that; he’s a real live, fanged vampire!

Lucian Trevane has a duty to fulfill. He’s expected to take the role of Vité, leader of the vampires in three days. But he knows he won’t take the position without his wife by his side. Now, after seventy years of searching for his reincarnated fiancée, he finally finds the woman of his dreams in Rana Sterling. Rana may respond to his lovemaking, but she refuses to become his vampire wife. As if their lives aren’t complicated enough, throw in a vengeful vampire, a surprise twist, and the fact Rana and Lucian can’t deny their strong attraction that exists between them and you’ve just stepped into A TASTE FOR PASSION.

The Review

A Taste for Passion is the first book in Patrice Michelle’s Kendrians series, published by Ellora’s Cave. In this series, the Kendrians (vampire) race is comprised of multiple clans with one leader over all, called the Vite. Patrice Michelle has packed this story full of action, tension, passion and just enough humor to keep this reader turning pages.

I love the characters in this novel: Rana with her stubborn self-possession and with and Lucian with his unwillingness to give up. Rana’s obstinacy is but one of the elements that keeps the romantic tension alive. Michelle does a wonderful job of brining her characters to life, and her dialogue for the most part is spot on. I particularly liked the conversations between Rana and her grandfather in her head.

Michelle’s background characters including Lucian’s best friend and sister come into the action although there are a couple scenes in the book that I’m not sure why they are there. Perhaps they are explained in future books.

The sex scenes in this novel are quite sensual although I think she could have made the point of the attraction between Rana and Lucian with a few less. Michelle has a simple flow to her writing that works well with the fast-changing action of her plot.

Much of the vampire lore in this book is traditional, letting a vampire feed off of you three times close together will turn a human into a vampire, extraordinary strength, and shapeshifting into a raven and mist. But Michelle has her own style and writes a fast-paced adventure where you’re not quite sure how it will end until the end. I look forward to reading the other two books in this series: A Taste for Revenge and A Taste for Control.

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