Romance Reviews: Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Gabrielle Maxwell is a professional photographer, and one of the youngest to have her photos hung in museums. What Gabrielle doesn't realize is that her skills hide a special ability--the ability to instinctively photograph places were the Breed and their enemies, the Rogues, live in and around the city of Boston. An ability that makes her a danger to herself and others. But Gabrielle hides other dark secrets, like the fact her birth mother abandoned her in a dumpster when she was a baby, and the very disturbing need to cut herself and make herself bleed. But when Gabrielle witness a brutal murder, it brings her face to face with one of the most dangerous and seductive men she's ever met, Detective Lucan Thorne. 

Lucan Thorne is anything but a detective. In fact he is a Gen One of the Breed--a vampire whose sire crashed landed on Earth centuries ago. These alien creatures, whose taste for blood, destroyed whole civilizations in ancient times, raping and pillaging as they went. But a few special women who were raped by the monsters, carried their seed to term, to give birth to a new generation of vampires, ones who were half human, half vampire. Seeing the need to destroy their alien sires before they destroyed mankind, Lucan and had a handful of his brethren created the Order to protect both human and vampire kind from the terrible Ancients. Now with the Ancients gone, the Order fights the Rogues--vampires addicted to blood, so deep in bloodlust they will kill anyone to feed their hunger. Lucan is one of the few remaining Gen One vampires which means his need for blood is so strong that if he's not careful he could become a Rogue himself. But when a beautiful young woman witnesses and even photographs a group of Rogues killing and feeding off a man, Lucan must track her down to find out what she knows before she tells anyone else what she's seen. 

Much to Lucan's dismay, he finds Gabrielle not only irresistible, but wants him with the same intensity as he desires her. Desperate to drive his need for her out of his system, he seduces her, only to discover that one long, hard night of passion is not even close to being enough to cool his adore for her. He wants her as he has never wanted a woman, which scares him all the more. Especially when he realizes she is a Breedmate, one of those rare females who can bond with one of the Breed and give birth to the vampires. One bite of her sweet blood, and he will forever bind them together, which he can never allow--not when he is so close to loosing himself to the bloodlust. When Lucan discovers that Gabrielle has been cutting herself for years, not to cause pain but to bleed, he realizes it is her innate need to mate with one of the Breed who would feed from her regularly. It is time for Gabrielle to learn who and what she really is, and why her special ability to find vampire shelters is so dangerous. He has no choice but to bring her into his dark world. 

Gabrielle doesn't know what to think when Lucan saves her life from a man determined to kill her, only to discover that Lucan himself is a monster. A vampire. Yet, somewhere deep inside her, she's known the truth all along, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept. And when Gabrielle is thrown into the dark world of the Breed, she finds herself in terrible danger...of not only falling in love with Lucan who wants nothing to do with her, but being a pawn in the deadly war between the Breed and the Rogues. And time is running out for Lucan...can Gabrielle save him from himself? Or will Lucan turn Rogue and destroy them both? 

Lara Adrian's Kiss of Midnight is a provocative thrill ride that sucks you into a dark world of hot vampires and dangerous passions. A thousand years old, Lucan takes his duties to the Order very seriously and the last thing he wants is to get involved with a human female. Even if that female happens to be one of the most stunning and alluring women he's met in a very long tome. In fact, the harder he tries to the resist her, the more he wants her, which is enough to drive this controlled warrior mad. Gabrielle has no idea who and what she truly is, only that she finds Lucan irresistible in a way she's never felt before. And when she discovers he's a vampire and she's suppose to bond with one of his kind, her world is turned upside down and inside out. I found both Lucan and Gabrielle to be deeply complex and compelling characters tortured by pasts they cannot change yet refuse to hide from. Lucan is one hot alpha vampire who's seen too much. He doesn't realize what he has with Gabrielle until it's almost too late. And Gabrielle is his perfect mate: strong, intelligent, courageous, and yet tender of heart. I loved watching these two characters grow and discover a future they could have together. I think Ms. Adrian has created a unique and dynamic world of vampires, one which I can't wait to visit again in the next book in the Midnight Breed series.