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Kiss of Midnight

Lara Adrian

Published 2007        416 pages

Synopsis

When Gabrielle Maxwell agrees to go for drinks with her friends at Boston’s newest nightclub ‘La Notte’ she has no idea how profoundly this decision will change her life.  Uncomfortable with the creepy atmosphere in the club she leaves early, only to witness a man being murdered outside the club.  

Even though she snaps a picture of the murderers and the victim, no one will believe her story.  Nobody seems to be able to see what she sees in the photo - a gang of men with strange shining eyes and mouths dripping with the blood of their victim.  With no dead body or signs of violence to be found the police seem to think that she is some kind lunatic, so it was just as well she didn’t even try to tell them that she thought she the murderers were vampires.

There was another witness to the killing.  Lucan Thorne was watching the vampires and waiting for his chance to kill them.  Lucan, a vampire himself, is the leader of a select group of Breed warriors sworn to protect his race and humans from the violence of the blood-addicted Rogue vampires. 

Lucan recognises that Gabrielle is a Breedmate, a rare human who has DNA that is compatible with vampire DNA.  He cannot risk binding himself to a human woman but he has to bring Gabrielle into his vampire world in order to protect her from the Rogue vampires. 

However, his overwhelming desire for Gabrielle means that he may pose the greatest danger to her.  For although Lucan is the oldest and strongest of his kind, he has been on the knife edge of blood-addiction for a long time and his desperate desire for Gabrielle, both her body and her blood, may be enough to tip him over the edge.

The Review

I loved this book!  As usual when I have read a book that I really loved my ability to write a coherent review takes a nose dive as my enthusiasm takes over but I realise that I can’t just say it’s really, really good and leave it at that, so here goes…

Kiss of Midnight is the first of three books in the Midnight Breed series by debut paranormal romance author Lara Adrian.  It tells the story of Lucan, the leader of a group of warrior vampires, and Gabrielle a human woman destined to be a vampire’s Breedmate. 

The vampires in the Midnight Breed world are not undead creatures of the night, lurking in cemeteries and cowering at the sight of crucifixes.  These vampires are vibrant, living beings of a completely separate race to humans.  They are descended from eight alien vampires who bred with compatible human women after they crash landed on Earth thousands of years ago.  The original aliens, powerful yet violent creatures ruled by their bloodlust, have long since been slain by their vampire offspring. 

While each generation of vampires born is further apart from the original alien vampires, all vampires are still blighted by their potential to become addicted to blood.  If this happens the vampire becomes Rogue, ruled by its lust for blood and violence.  Warrior Breed vampires are sworn to protect both their own race and humans from the threat of the Rogues. 

Why did I love Kiss of Midnight?  The characters are well written and seem almost real, the romance is hot and the vampire slaying action is fast paced and exciting.  Kiss of Midnight is a fantastic start to the Midnight Breed series.  It is in a similar vein to J. R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood books, yet has enough differences to make it an original addition to the paranormal romance pantheon.

Highly recommended reading - if you are a vampire romance fan you really don’t want to miss this!

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