Review: Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Title: Kiss of Midnight 

Author: Lara Adrian 

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

I'll admit that I was more than a little skeptical about reading Kiss of Midnight. After having just finished Dark Lover by J.R. Ward and not liking it, I was wary of the hype surrounding this novel as well. In addition, the more I read of it, the more similar it seemed to be to Dark Lover. However, although these two series share a lot of similarities, I found myself liking Kiss of Midnight infinitely more than I liked Ward's introduction into the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series and I'm glad I gave this a try.

When Gabrielle Maxwell witnesses a brutal murder outside a club one night, no one will believe what she saw. Her cell phone pictures are grainy, there mysteriously seems to be no evidence left of the crime, and the police are under the impression that Gabrielle is crazy, drunk, or a lunatic - but Lucan Thorne knows better. Lucan is a Breed warrior, a vampire who is sworn to protect other vampires like him and humans from the dangerous Rogue vampires. Upon finding Gabrielle involved at the scene of crime, he has no choice but to pose as Detective Thorne and use her pictures to track down the Rogues responsible for the murder. Yet, Lucan doesn't expect to be attracted to Gabrielle, a female who also happens to be a Breedmate - one who can give birth to a new generation of vampires - and for Lucan, whose tortured past haunts him, she is not only the only one he has ever wanted, but also the last person he can ever be with.

Kiss of Midnight was far more engaging than Dark Lover ever was. First and foremost, we are thrown into this dangerous world and adventure from the first chapter itself and the heart-pounding action never ends. I found the twist on vampire lore to be far more interesting and realistic than Ward's portrayal of them and I absolutely loved the romance between Gabrielle and Lucan. Although I have to admit that these two also ended up having sex ridiculously fast for two people who had just met, I think their love story played out more realistically. Furthermore, Lucan had a legitimate reason for not being able to be with Gabrielle and I loved seeing how these two were able to overcome that hurdle and manage to be together despite it. Gabrielle too was an intelligent, kick-ass, and refreshing heroine who reacted realistically to the crazy situations she was thrown in. In addition, I loved getting to know the other Breed Warriors. I was able to form a relationship with them - something I never felt towards the other vampires in the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Nevertheless, this book was far from perfect. I found Gabrielle's history of cutting herself to be strange and quite unnecessary and I also felt as if the plot was redundant from that of Dark Lover. In both, a vampire leader falls in love with a woman who is different - and rightly so - for she is connected to a coven of vampires in some way or the other. Furthermore, I felt as if the ending of this novel was slightly rushed and wished we could have had just a tad bit longer epilogue. That being said, I think I enjoyed everything else about this book and especially Gabrielle's mixed feelings for Lucan and her slow understanding of what it meant to be someone like him. I think the relationship between these two was truly very sweet, sizzling, and made this novel that much more engaging than Dark Lover ever was.

Although I can't see myself continuing this series simply because the plots of its sequels seem to be formulaic and similar to that of J.R. Ward's, I would definitely recommend this one opposed to Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood. I think both of these novels have the tendency to be confused because of their similarities and their series offer nothing new or interesting to the genre of paranormal/urban fantasy fiction, but they do provide mindless entertainment and make for excellent light reading.