Pearl's World of Romance - Reviews with a Passion: Kiss of Midnight

May 26, 2007

Kiss of Midnight - Lara Adrian

5:13 PM |

He watches her from across the crowded dance club, a sensual black-haired stranger who stirs Gabrielle Maxwell’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. . . .

This is the first book in the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian, debuting in paranormal romance. As Tina St. John she wrote medieval historical romances.

Lucan Thorne is the leader of a group of vampire (Breed) warriors, the Order fighting the Rogues, who are vampires lost to Bloodlust, becoming addicted to blood. The warriors from the Order, especially Lucan are treading the fine line of turning Rogue as well but they fight it with everything they’ve got.

Gabrielle Maxwell is a human destined to become a vampire’s Breedmate. She’s a very talented photographer but always the loner. Feeling different compared to the rest of the world.

I really had trouble getting into the story, into this world Lara Adrian created and I can’t exactly say why that was.
Maybe it was the lack of wit, which is something I appreciate so much.
Maybe it was because of the very descriptive writing style which left little to nothing to my own imagination.
There was something preventing me from getting pulled into this dark and intense world of Breeds, Breedmates, Rogues, Bloodlust, a brooding full-on War between vampires, betrayal and intrigue.

But luckily and thankfully the trouble I had getting into it completely disappeared when I was about the get to the midsection of it.
Maybe it was Gabrielle discovering what Lucan really was.
Maybe it was because the writing style got less descriptive and more fast-paced.
I was glad no matter what the reason because it proved to be well worth the struggle of the first 10 chapters.
Because Lara Adrian has created an unique and original world of warrior vampires. This concept of course isn’t new, think of Ward’s Brotherhood and Feehan’s Carpathians, but it really has a different twist. For example the Breedmate concept or the otherworldly origin of the vampires. These are new and refreshing approaches to well known concepts and Miss Adrian does a really got job on it.

I closed this book with very mixed feelings. As struggling as I was in the in the beginning, after being half through the book the struggling ended and now I can’t wait for the next one to know what will happen between the Order and the Rogues, and hopefully will catch another glimpse of Lucan and Gabrielle.
And of course I’m dying to know the stories of the other Breed Warriors, especially Dante and Nikolai.
Luckily I don’t have to wait long for Dante, because he’s coming next!
And for the ladies who love “bad boys with an attitude”: be on the look-out for Tegan!

So, in conclusion, after a wobbly start Ms Adrian delivered a nice piece of paranormal work.

Quotes

He shot a cold smile at the Rogues, his fangs stretched long in anticipation of the fight to come. “Evening, ladies.”

Maybe he hadn’t called to apologize or to explain his absence beacuse he physically couldn’t.
Right. And maybe she had checked her brain into her panties from the second she first laid eyes on him.

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