All aboard the vampire train of SexySexyHotHot!
“Kiss of Midnight” by Lara Adrian
I *heart* JR Ward. First, she brought to me the Brotherhood (and our love of the Brothers needs no further affirmation here at the RMB offices (ILOVEYOURHAGE!!!!)). Now, through the power of a quote, she has brought to me, the Breed (basically while staring at the new arrivals shelf at the bookstore with a thumping heart, my eyes registered the words “JR Ward”, turned to Lola and said “Hey check it! JR Ward said this book was good! Look look! She says it is “evocative, enticing, eroticâ€! Sold!” “You know that you just judged a book by it’s cover don’t you?” muttered Lola, not taking her eagle eyes off the new arrivals shelf; her eyes scanning each title rapidly for the new Kresley Cole book, hoping against hope that the pale scary lady got it wrong. “No that’s so not true! Look what are you trying to say that I’m shallow and easily misled by false advertising? OMG! check out this guy on the cover! *grabs book off shelf* Gorgeous! I shall read this one too! *ahem* anyway back to “Kiss of Midnight”, look Lola, THE WARDEN says it’s good! In JR Ward I trust”).
Later in the day, once the soothing aloe vera balm that was oh so gently massaged by Sven into my tender supple flesh had melted like honey into my skin (I suffered some bad-ass bag strap burns having bought the entire series and then proceeded to go shopping with Lola for the next 3 hours or so), I settled happily onto the newly upholstered sofa in the RMB library (but not before throwing a kiss at my life sized picture of Gerard), rubbing my hands in glee at being introduced to a new group of sexy-hot vampire warriors. Now for those of you who love and worship the series known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood (known to fans/ groupies/ delusional people who think they are the shellens of one of the Brothers (*admires my henna tattoo of a dragon with the words “Mrs. Rhage†on my ankle*)), you may or may not be disappointed to know that Lara Adrian’s series is almost identical to the BDB. Six warrior vampires who fight with titanium blades and tight leather and uhm…ahh…wait sorry what was I saying? I got distracted by the words “tight leatherâ€. Okay I’m fine now s’all good.
Lucan is the leader of this motley crew of vampire warriors, a Gen One vampire (i.e. generation one (or at least I think that’s what it stands for)) and is revered by all. With most of his body covered in vampire markings that look like tattoos (hot! hot!), Lucan is deadly, cold, principled, and in trouble. In this vampire world as created by Lara Adrian, each vampire walks a tight rope and each day is a daily battle not only against the Rogue, but against themselves. Unlike the Brothers, the vampires in Lara Adrian’s story feed off human blood which is apparently all kinds of addictive; and a vampire who doesn’t know when to stop/ unable to control his bloodlust goes “rogueâ€. Or you know, Rogue. I.e. a more aggressive, dangerous, amber eyed, long sharp fangs mutated version of a vampire, without a moral compass (well ok that’s not true they do have a moral compass that points to “bloodâ€). And Lucan, who has lived for about 900 years, is slowly losing the iron-grip on himself and his bloodlust; no doubt fueled by one Gabriella with whom he longs to do the dirty dirty sucky sucky with. Before I talk about Gabriella, can I just say, that Lucan is hot. And towards the end of the book, when Gabriella wants to leave him because she thinks he cannot love her and says to him “you cannot give me what I need†and he responds with “Name them. Tell me what you needâ€, I screamed to the heavens in utter frustration and then hid behind curtains because Mimi starting banging down the library door yelling something about interrupting her concentration as she played Trauma Centre on the wii.
Lucan and Gabriella first meet in a club, where she has gone with her girlfriends, and Lucan has gone to track a gang of Rogues. Looking around the club and seeing people sucking on each other’s necks and snorting cocaine in the corner, Gabriella thinks that the club is kinda freaky deaky and makes to leave. Outside the club however, Gabriella spots a band of Rogues attacking a hapless human, draining him of his blood. Unfortunately for her, she rouses their attentions with a 911 call and barely escapes the dark alley by disorientating them with her cell-phone flash. You see, Gabriella is a photographer. I don’t know how that kinda makes sense because if I saw a bunch of people with fangs and blood dripping off them and a dead carcass in an alley way, let’s just say that I won’t be taking pictures to capture the memories. As Gabriella escapes, Lucan emerges from the shadows of the alleyway and proceeds to kill all but one of the Rogue with his sword. That’s right, the man carries around with him at all times, a long, hard, shiny sword. Rrrrwwooooaaaarrr!!!
Wanting to find out what she snapped on her mobile phone, Lucan shows up on Gabriella’s doorstep masquerading as a “detectiveâ€, and using his impressive mind control to make her believe that he really did flash her his ID. Though this left me wondering what he actually flashed her. Maybe it was a card that read “How Do I Get To Ripmybodice.com Headquarters?â€. One can only hope. Lucan and Gabriella have pretty steamy chemistry I must say, and Lucan spends a large portion of the book struggling not to sucky sucky her as he does the dirty dirty. Partly because he is terrified that he might lose control over himself (because she stirs in him an intense hunger), and partly because Gabriella is a Breedmate – i.e. part of a special group of human women who bear a unique birthmark; a “teardrop falling into the cradle of a crescent moonâ€. To be a Breedmate basically means you get to be loved for all eternity by a vampire and by his kiss and alright maybe his blood (which is, according to the book, an intense aphrodisiac), you get to live forever. You will never age from the point he mates you with his kiss (and by kiss I mean he drinks from you, most likely while he is having sex with you since the whole blood and drinking thing is all erotic. *fans self*). Yeah so basically Lucan doesn’t want to be mated anytime soon because he thinks having a woman at home will distract him from his burning need to kill all the Rogues. Except you know, he spends half the time away from Gabriella thinking about her, fantasizing about her, and dreaming about her.
Check your bodies ladies! Having one of these is like winning the 500 million dollar lottery and Matthew Farrell appearing at your doorstep, then cradling your face achingly in his palms saying “I’m real darlin, and I’m yours’†then taking off his shirt. *weeps* I have but simple dreams.
And now, before I go make sure I don’t have the birthmark anywhere on me for the 4th time (WHY LORD?! WHY?!??!!), let me just say, that the conflict between the Rogues and the Breed is a lot more interesting and believable than JR Ward’s Brotherhood versus the Omega. I’m sorry JR Ward. It’s true. I’m not ashamed to say that whenever I read any of the BDB books I skip all the paragraphs relating to Mr. X, Mr. O, Mr. U and all the alphabets other than V and Z. In Lucan’s book, we find that the Rogue have a new leader, someone who has started mobilizing the Rogue and executed coordinated attacks against the Breed. Someone who is, as we find out later, someone close to the Breed and knows how they operate. Uh-oh. Anyhoo, I cannot wait to read Dante’s book (I hear that it is better than the first *rubs hands with glee*) And so, check out the series if you haven’t! I reco… “AWWW JEEEEZ SHERI! Why are you naked???!!!†screams Lola, covering her eyes and doubling over in pain “My eyes!!! My eyes!! They BURN!!!!â€.
andrea said,
March 31, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
I will probably be the lone voice of dissension, but I didn’t think this book was that great. I tried it for the same reason you did( J. R. Ward liked it!)but, it just didn’t do it for me. Thanks to you ladies I am now a BDB addicted fan and I cannot wait to read anything that even sounds like it might be similar to those books. I’m always disappointed when I do because they just don’t compare. I do agree however that the fights with the humans in this book were a lot more interesting.
Once again, your review was hysterical. I can now head off to work with a smile on my face.
cutepolishgirl68 said,
March 31, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
I have to say the second and third books were better than the first. But I am glad you finally had time to read this book. I love Dante in book 2 and surprisingly, I like Tegan and Elise in book 3. Elise starts out wimpy in book 2 and kicks ass in 3. Rio’s story just came out in Midnight Rising, but I have not read it yet. *squeeall*
Andrea- just try book 2 if you can- granted the guys are not the BDB, though Dante does have a little sumthin, sumthin- but for me it was the emotions, baby!!!
Sheri, alas you are not alone, I do not have a teardrop birthmark either. Can I count the circular scar on my knee from when I flipped over my handle bars when I was 14???
Sheridan Sakura Carlotta said,
March 31, 2008 @ 8:09 pm
Hi Andrea, I agree that JR Ward’s BDB series is absolutely fantastic - there’s just a lot more emotion between the characters and as the reader, you really felt it. With the Breed series, I do think there was a tad too much “world-building” in the first book and not enough romance. So I completely agree with you there. I also kept expecting Vishous or Zsadist or Rhage to bust through the doors. Having said that, I do think Dante’s book sounds really spicy! Look out for the review!
CPG - I would most certainly count that in if I were you! I’d lie on a rooftop somewhere at midnight with glo-sticks pointing to me knee. Mimi graciously offered to carve a tear-drop marking into my upper arm about five mins ago. For a split second I actually seriously considered her offer. Sigh.
mallory said,
March 31, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
Get outa my head Sheri! I just finished this book last night. I loved it! I read Kiss of Crimson last year and I know alot of people said they didn’t like it as much as this one but Dante the Italian Stallion is yummy.
Great review!
Jill D. said,
March 31, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
Andrea, I am with you, I didn’t think the book was all that great. It wasn’t terrible or anything, it just didn’t engage me as much as I would have liked. Lucan and Gabriella did have some steamy sex though. I did like Dante’s story better and then was disappointed with Tegan’s story. I will be curious to see what others think of the latest one.
Wendy said,
April 1, 2008 @ 2:20 am
Haven’t read these yet, but having just finished Lyndsy Sands Bite Me if You Can, this sounds soooo much better. Can you believe she makes vampires boring?
Sheridan Sakura Carlotta said,
April 1, 2008 @ 8:54 am
Y’all Dante is HOT (I just finished reading his book last night). I yearn to smother him in ricotta cheese and wrap him in dough and feast on his cannoli. MmMmMm…*glazed look in eyes* I loved how he tracked Tess into the art museum and then proceeded to reduce Tess (and me) into a whimpering mass of flesh.
Mos Stef said,
April 3, 2008 @ 11:08 am
Thanks to this review and other good press (not to mention being a big fan of the BDB) I picked up the whole series today, can’t wait to start them!
bkgirl812 said,
April 7, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
why???!!?? i just got sucked into the BDB world and now this?? ok i’ll give it a try.
bkgirl812 said,
April 7, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
p.s. i just stumbled into this website and i love it. you guys are hilarious!
Sheridan Sakura Carlotta said,
April 8, 2008 @ 9:02 am
Welcome bkgirl812! *hands welcome drink* Well I have to say, the BDB still ranks tops in my book for the genre known as Modern Day Sextacular Vampire Warriors Who Walk Amongst Us. Also known as Modern Day Sextacular Vampire Warriors Sheridan Sakura Carlotta Wants A Large Slice of Hot Lovin’ From.
As you can see, not only do we review, we create new important genres for the Romance world.
Glad you like our website! Feel free to look around and let us know what you think!
brandy said,
April 11, 2008 @ 9:23 am
I’m sorry, but this series of books are like designer impostors perfume for me. You think they might be okay, but then you realize that they’re nothing like the real thing. I NEED BDB! Is anybody else ready for that cute young boy named John to grow some big gorgeous BDB muscles & wear lots of sexy black leather. I heart the strong, silent type! Can I claim him? It’s like an arranged marriage - when he grows up he’s all mine!
La Lola said,
April 11, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
Brandy, I believe I can safely speak for all of us here when I say that none of us will contest your claim to John Matthews.
I like the strong and silent type too, but not so literally I’m afraid!