KISS OF MIDNIGHT

Author: Lara Adrian ISBN: 0553589377 5/2007 PARANORMAL Publisher: DELL

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. . . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

How I wish she wouldn't have done it! Jumped onto the vampire bandwagon, that is. Writing as Tina St. John, Lara Adrian wrote some outstanding medieval paranormals that put her in a class all by herself. We are talking magnificent everything. Unfortunately, she has climbed aboard the vampire trail with everyone else, only to find the road is just too littered with the same cliches and pot-holes for her to win the race.

With all the vampire books out there, I'm sure it's tough to make one stand out. Authors seem to keep using each other's ideas, while putting a small twist on them that honestly doesn't change the story enough to make me even remember just whose book I am reading. Seriously, I get confused sometimes, because I know I have read the same plot somewhere else. This is the case with KISS OF MIDNIGHT. The plot is nearly the same as Feehan's Dark series, featuring good vamps (with a little alien mixed in to make them different) trying to keep a reign on the bad vamps. They find their Breedmates (aka Lifemates) and call it a day.

Honestly, Adrian creates some memorable characters and I know (at least as Tina St. John) she can write fabulous stories. I just hope she gets back to doing that soon.

Shannon Johnson