Review: Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

aka Amy’s and Kristie’s Surprise Review – muahahaha!

INSATIABLE DESIRE. ENDLESS SEDUCTION. ONE TOUCH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

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

Here's the dealio - I've been feeling bad about not pulling my share around here lately (work has been kicking my ass since I got back from my trip) and I decided to do a super sneaky review (i.e. I didn't tell Nath - LOL) with Kristie, blogger and Crusader extraordinaire. Woot! So we chose Lara Adrian's Kiss of Midnight as we both had it in our TBR Pile. As we were reading, Kristie and I noticed something...so here it is - our review!

Spoilers ahead matey, ye've been warned!

Ames: I see so many similarities between JR Ward and Lara Adrian but I think Lara Adrian comes out on top. Her vampires aren't gangsta wannabes. *g*

Kristie: I see a lot of similarities to JR Ward too. But I also think Lara Adrian comes out on top too. We don't have that silly gangsta thing going, the names are much better and I think the world building is better done. The relationship between the vampires doesn't have the same kind of hokey dialogue as JR Wards books. As well, I don't think the heroine is as wimpy as JR Wards. There seems to be a more equal distribution of power between the hero and the heroine for the most part.

I also thought the fact that they were descended from aliens rather interesting.

Ames: I thought the fact that they were descended from aliens was interesting too, except I got the creepiest visual to go with that thought. LOL You ever see that Stargate movie with James Spade? That's the alien image I'm channeling right now. *shudder*

And I agree 100% about the heroine - she was strong. You know what else I liked? The fact that both Lucan and Gabby were afraid of turning out like their parents. Lucan was afraid of turning Rogue and Gabrielle was afraid of going crazy like her mom.

AND the fact that there were some couples already in the picture. Like Gabby wasn't the first woman in the compound like Beth is for Ward's vhampires. hehe

What I didn't like - was how long Lucan fought his feelings for Gabby. It's understandable up to a point - I would have liked to see them together as a bonded couple for a few more pages. :P

Kristie: I agree. It was fairly obvious to me that he was so on the edge because that's what he needed - to find his mate. He never really seemed to clue into that.

Another thing that annoyed me slightly was how long he waited before telling her who she was and the way the Breedmates (and she could have come with a different term there I think - too similar to brood mares for me *g*) fit into their world.

"AND the fact that there were some couples already in the picture. "

I liked that too. It's a good way to explain the bond between vampires and their mates. I hope she doesn't plan on getting rid of any of the 'wives' in this series the way Ward got rid of Wellsie - that's one of the big reasons I haven't read further in the Brotherhood series. There's nothing wrong with keeping some happy couples around.
Yet at the same time we got to see what happened when a wife did go against the Breeds. Hopefully that will be the only incident.

I wasn't sure when I first started reading it though if I'd end up liking this one. The jury was out for a while. I didn't like the way Lucan used his mind control over Gabrielle. And he was pretty cold. Until I got used to that, it was touch and go. But once Gabrielle realized what he was doing and started fighting his control, the book started getting better for me. I ended up liking it quite a bit and I'm glad I already have the next one in the series - Kiss of Crimson. I've seen these compared more favourably and less favourably to the Brotherhood series. I like them better (sorry to all those JR Ward fans)

I'm still squicked out though by the fact that they need to drink blood in order to survive, but the fact that they aren't really dead and can be killed helps somewhat.

Ames: Yeah, Breedmates does sound like broodmare. LOL

Ok, I liked this book right from the get go. Yeah Lucan annoyed me a little, but he was yummy enough that I didn't stay annoyed for long. And his mind control didn't really bother me because I felt like it wasn't overt. Like I said before, Gabby is strong, and that includes mentally (i.e. her mental shields).

I have the next book in the series too. And I know the third book got favourable reviews in blogland. So woot for me for having it in my pile already. :P I might even "allow" myself to get the 4th book. Haha (side note: I had pre-ordered Midnight Rising before the list, so I got it as a surprise in the mail the other day. end side note)

Oooh, what did you think of the twist at the end, who the Master Rogue guy was? I see major angst in the future. LOL

Kristie: Well *gulp* I, ah, kind of looked at the end before I got there so it wasn't a surprise at the end. But it was a surprise when I did read it. I can see much angst happening over the next few books. But having brought up the bad guys - I think Lara Adrian's bad guys are way better written than Wards. I've read that quite a few readers just skip over the Lesser parts, but the Rogues and Minions in this series are pretty well written.
How did you think they compared to the Lessers?

What did you think of Lucan being afraid of being so close to the edge - so close to turning rogue himself. I liked the scene where he locked himself away in the dark and Gabrielle came looking for him and took care of him.

Ames: *gasp* How could you?! LOL Just kidding.

But yes, the Rogues were a whole lot better than the Lessers. I mean, I was one of those readers that skipped the Lesser parts. But I read about the Rogues. And it's interesting, with Marek - what Lucan believed about him, but he came back. And I think that's interesting. Like they could create a Rogue Rehabilitation. haha!

When Lucan savaged the Minion that tried to shoot Gabby - I knew he was 2/3 of the way over the edge into becoming a Rogue. I was like "Ok woah, dude has had waaay too much blood." But Gabby was so brave for sticking with him while he was going through a really terrible hunger pang. I also felt that was kind of dumb of her, following him in the dark. But I guess that just shows her trust in Lucan, she knew no matter how bad he got, he wouldn't hurt her. And I think he needed to see that belief she had in him, because of what happened to his parents. He loved her that much, although he didn't realize it at the time.

And a big bonus, it was nice and steamy. :P You know me. hehe

Kristie: That part was pretty gruesome wasn’t it? I thought she was pretty brave too – and she did see the difference between him and the Rogues.

One other thing I liked was that the women could leave the compound – they chose not to very often – but they seemed to do so if they wanted to.

And to answer your earlier question – no I never did see the movie Stargate – only a few episodes of the series with Richard Dean Anderson. He’s aged well *g*

Ames: So final grade? It would be a good solid B for me. I’m definitely going to keep reading this series. You?

Kristie: As for how I rated it – I grade my books on a 1 to 5 scale. I gave it a 4. I thought it was going to be lower – a lot lower – but once I got past the parts that were giving me issues, it really took off for me. And steamy is always good isn’t it? I like steamy. OK – I don’t watch Grey’s so I don’t care about Dr. McSteamy – but in books I like steamy.
And since like you, I already have Kiss of Crimson TBR – yep *g* I’ll be reading at least one more. And I’ve read a few places that the later ones get even better!