Kiss of Midnight (Midnight Breed, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jun 01, 2010 Desperado rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, pnr-monthly-reads, reviews

My Thoughts:

This novel was remarkably unremarkable. Don't get me wrong, it didn't suck but I'm not exactly about to clean out the Lara Adrian section at the local bookstore. The set up is pretty generic, like Adrian got tips from "Vampire Romance 101". You've got the big baddies (Rogues) & the group of men fighting to annihilate the big baddies. There personalities are even generic(at least on the surface). There's the leader, the badass, the geek, the smartass, & the suicidal loner. The hero of My Thoughts:

This novel was remarkably unremarkable. Don't get me wrong, it didn't suck but I'm not exactly about to clean out the Lara Adrian section at the local bookstore. The set up is pretty generic, like Adrian got tips from "Vampire Romance 101". You've got the big baddies (Rogues) & the group of men fighting to annihilate the big baddies. There personalities are even generic(at least on the surface). There's the leader, the badass, the geek, the smartass, & the suicidal loner. The hero of the first novel is Lucan the Leader aka Emo Vampenis. Seriously, he's like Angel/Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer only not nearly as hot enough to get away with that shit. Apparently he's emo because of some tragic things that happened, oh, 500 years ago? Get the hell over it Emo Vamp!

The heroine Gabrielle is one of those women who claim to be unable to trust anyone yet practically gives her social security number to the first guy who bats his lashes at her (in this case, Emo Vampenis). Not to mention that she is super gullible. Only in fantasylandia do women trust guys who say "Hey baby, let me go bareback cause I can't impregnant you with my demon spawn". Unless your that stupid in real life. In which case, I'm sorry. Gabrielle professes to love Lucan with all of her slutty heart & soul which makes me think she has no backbone as all he does is boink her & snarl & act like a douche. When he's not being especially Emo anyway. This novel & many others will have men thinking the way to a woman's heart is through her coochie. And they would be right about some women (Gabrielle).

This novel didn't have much of a plot other than going after the big baddies. There was a big betrayal scene towards the end but it lasted like half a page before cutting back to Emo Vamp & his slutty breedmate. Oh, & they announce who King Big Baddie is, which I figured out like 200 pages ago. Other than that, nothing.

As for those who claim this novel is like BDB lite, I didn't really see it. I mean yeah there were similarities but those similarities run rampant in many PNR novels, lots which came out before BDB. IMHO, comparing this novel to BDB is like comparing Shiver to Blood & Chocolate because they both involve werewolves. I will say that my "copycat" meter went off when I read about the dermaglyphs. Larissa Ione's Demonica series has heroes with dermaglyphs & it's not exactly something you read about alot in romancelandia. Alas, I found out that this book came out before the first Demonica book so who knows?

Overall, this was an easy yet boring read but then again I'm sure urine goes down easy if you mix it in beer. I probably will read the 2nd novel,Kiss of Crimson because I do see a potential for kickassness in Adrian's writing.

On a side note, I love (& by love I mean laugh at in a snarky way) how one of the numerous sex scenes between Emo Vampenis & Slutty Breedmate had the hero "screaming out harsh words". You throw the f-bomb out every other page but you've gotta be all cryptic about what the hero is saying? Let me guess: "I'm *grunt grunt* ready to fill you with my vampy seed. *grunt grunt groan deflate*"? Was I close? ...more

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Jun 02, 2010 AH rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires, first-in-series, zzread-oct-2010

This was my first exposure to the Midnight Breeds series by Lara Adrian. I was delighted with Kiss of Midnight, the first book in the series. It was hot, it was steamy, and it was exciting. It was a little reminiscent of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but it held its own special type of originality.

Lara Adrian builds a world where vampires exist amongst humans. Set in Boston, Adrian creates a vampire lore complete with an original origin story, vampire rituals, and vampire laws. In Adrian’s world This was my first exposure to the Midnight Breeds series by Lara Adrian. I was delighted with Kiss of Midnight, the first book in the series. It was hot, it was steamy, and it was exciting. It was a little reminiscent of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but it held its own special type of originality.

Lara Adrian builds a world where vampires exist amongst humans. Set in Boston, Adrian creates a vampire lore complete with an original origin story, vampire rituals, and vampire laws. In Adrian’s world, the ancient vampires crash landed on earth from another world. The next generation of vampires – the Gen Ones are the royalty of the vampire world. The Midnight Breed vampires feed from humans, but do not necessarily kill them. Those that do kill succumb to the bloodlust and become Rogues. Her vampires mate with human breedmates, women who bond for life with a vampire and enjoy extended life as long as their mate lives. Vampires and their families live in Darkhavens, all over the world.

Kiss of Midnight introduces us to the vampire warriors – those vampires who protect the Breed from the Rogue threat. We are introduced to Lucan, Gideon, Nikolai, Conlan, Rio and Tegan. There are very few warriors fighting many bloodthirsty Rogues.

Gabrielle likes to take photographs, photographs without people. One evening, she is out with her friends and sees a group of vampires feeding in an alley. She photographs them and reports this incident to the police. Lucan goes to Gabrielle’s apartment posing as a police officer. He is instantly attracted to her, and so begins a very hot and steamy relationship.

I found that Gabrielle and Lucan’s relationship was a touch angsty. Lucan was conflicted about forming a blood bond. He also felt that it was inevitable that he succumb to the bloodlust like his brothers before him. Lucan also felt the strong urge to protect Gabrielle, and at times, he was possessive. I was rooting for them by the end of the novel.

Kiss of Midnight was an enjoyable read. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
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Apr 07, 2010 Gina rated it liked it · review of another edition

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Sep 01, 2010 Wenj rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2010

As a fan of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood I was intrigued after this was recommended to me by a friend. Though while it is similar in that it follows a warrior clan of vampires that's about all that is similar.

The story is original and well written, with a somewhat fresh twist to the origions of the vampire race. The pace is fast, mixed with action, suspense and romance to keep the readers interested. The characters are well developed and likable and the backstory between them is richly exp ...more

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Jun 17, 2010 Gus marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-paranormal, romance, vampire, couldn-t-finish-try-again

I couldn't get into this after 50 pages...and I have so many other good books to read, I'm going to have to put it on hold! ...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Amber rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires, series, paranormal, first-in-series, adult, romance

What a great read. Even with all the similarities to BDB I still really enjoyed it and still think it held it's own. Will continue to read on in this series. ...more

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