Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #921 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 416 pages

Customer Reviews

Gripping easy read
Having read the first in the series, Kiss of Midnight, I really wanted to follow what happened to the characters that I had been introduced to. In Kiss of Crimson, I was not disappointed.

Dante's character is explored, along with his fears, hopes and desires. He meets a breedmate, Tess, and the story hurtles along from there. Its a fast moving, well written, easy read. Its not deep and meaningful, it won't change your life, but Ms Adrian has created a world that is highly believable and engrossing. These are basically romance novels set against the backdrop of vampirism (tackled very differently to some authors). If you like romance, fantasy, vampire stories and nothing too taxing on the old brain cells, this is the book for you.

I have enjoyed both of Ms Adrian's books as light, entertaining reads and would recommend them to anyone in need of a bit of escapism for a few hours.

Excellent follow up
"Kiss Of Crimson" is the follow up to "Kiss Of Midnight", a series very much in the Black Dagger Brotherhood mode, with vampires fighting foes, in this case renegade vampires, and trying to protect the humans amongst whom they live. The first book's similarities to J R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood seemed rather over the top but this book was different, less like the BDB and more of its own story.

Dante, the hero of this book, is one of the vampire warriors who fights against the Rogues. When he finds himself injured he has to take the blood of a young vet that he finds in her clinic - but after he's done this he realises she's one of the Breedmates and consequently he has, in some ways, bound himself to her. Things get more complicated when Tess Culver and Dante meet again and he realises that her ex-boyfriend is involved in the production of a new drug, Crimson, which seems to be having serious effects on the young male vampires of the Darkhavens. In fact it appears that Crimson is causing some of these young males to turn into Rogues.

Dante and the other brothers are searching for the cause of the Crimson, along with Sterling Chase, a male member of the Darkhavens, but Dante finds his path tangled up with Tess Culver. However she's already had a frightening experience with a vampire and he's afraid of causing her more problems, especially as he knows she won't want him. But there's more to Tess than meets the eyes and her skills as a vet may have more behind them than just study and training.

This book, although focusing on Dante and Tess, also gives us insights into Sterling Chase and his long-term love for his brother's widow, Elise. Elise is apparently the heroine of the next book in the series, "Midnight Awakening", and I hope that Chase will also appear in that book as he was an interesting new character.

The writing style in this book was always enjoyable with great pacing, interesting locations and events and a rather touching romance between Dante and Tess. There were less scenes from the viewpoints of the Rogues or Minions, most of what we learned was either from Tess or Dante.

This is a very enjoyable series, especially now that it appears to be parting ways from its rather close relationship to the Black Dagger Brotherhood and finding more of its own voice. Lara Adrian's writing is good and her characters are varied and interesting. Originality isn't necessarily her strong point but there aren't that many truly original stories in this genre. Fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood should love this series too!

Second in the Midnight Breed Series
Carrying on from where Kiss of Midnight left off. Kiss of Crimson follows Dante, as he and his fellow Breed Warriors search for the suppliers of a drug called Crimson. This drug has the unfortunate effect of triggering a vampires change into a Rogue. When Dante is injured whilst fighting Rogues, he feeds from Tess, who unbeknownst to him is a Breedmate. Having started the blood bond, he now finds himself drawn to her. But Tess is more closely linked to the distribution of Crimson than she knows, putting both herself, her friends and Dante in danger.

I like that even though Dante and Tess are essentially fated to mate once he's fed from her, that they both don't immediately succumb to it. He fights it, knowing he's fed from a Breedmate, and she fights it because she doesn't understand it. Initially neither of them are particularly thrilled about the situation. It's handled in a very realistic way. There's no immediate jumping into bed together. Tess is understandably wary having just come out of a bad relationship with her ex-boyfriend Ben.

The subplot of both the Crimson dealing, and new guy Chase and his unrequited love for Elise are smoothly intertwined into the main story. I find myself hoping that Chase will be getting his own story, as he's by far the most complex character introduced so far. He initially joined the Warriors with his own motives, and because of his error in judgment towards the end of the story, it's too late to rescue two people who might otherwise have been saved.

My favourite bit of the story, is when Dante tells Tess he has a dog - which he doesn't - which he then spontaneously names Harvard - his nickname for Chase. Of course now he's told her he's got a dog, he has to get one. This so humanized him for me, the fact that this lie came out of his mouth, probably whilst his brain was going WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?

There are other nice touches. When Dante and Tess are discussing the myth of Endymion and Selene at the museum, there's this whole other subtextual conversation going on. The dead pool the other Breed Warriors have going on how long it's going to take Dante before he cracks and kills Chase. It's these little things that raise this story above other vampire novels around at the moment.

I'm still seeing some similarities here between the Black Dagger Brotherhood and Ukiah Oregon series. Rio - horrifically scarred and misogynistic confronts Tess (Z confronting Beth), and the Ukiah Oregon series has a drug called Invisible Red. Having said that I think the Midnight Breed series is slowly coming into its own. And I find myself impatiently looking forward to book 3 Midnight Awakening (Tegan's story).