Midnight Breeds Series: Kiss of Midnight

Kiss of Midnight is the first book in the Midnight Breeds series. It's also my first book by Lara Adrian. I actually really enjoyed this book and I'm really looking forward to the next installments in the series. Let me give you a quick breakdown of what the series looks to be about:

Vampires of the Breed have been living in secret among the human race for centuries. The Breed are pretty reliant on the human race for survival. Not only do they take blood from humans, but certain human females are genetically compatible in terms of baby making. These ladies are referred to as Breedmates. The term is pretty much self-explanatory. See, due to some kind of genetic mutation within the vampire race, there are only male vampires. That's why the Breedmates are so important. Without them, the Breed would go into extinction. So, with the exception of these few women, most humans carry on unaware of the Breed's existence. The vampires generally live peaceably with humans, except for a few who turn Rogue. Rogues are vampires who suffer from a disease called Bloodlust. Again, pretty self-explanatory. These Rouges are crazy. They kill indiscriminately and their actions threaten the entire Breed. 

This is where the Order comes in. These guys hunt down the Rogues before they can do too much damage and expose the entire vampire race to human scrutiny.
So far, this is the basic gist of the story. Kiss of Midnight is set in Boston, where we meet the gentlemen of the Order. Quick rundown of the guys. 

First, we have Rio. He is a super hot Spaniard who lives with his mate, Eva, in the compound. He's got this whole sophisticated, sex-god thing going on. 

Next, we have Dante. He is a super hot Italian. Dante prefers his leathers to anything too fancy-schmancy. He likes-no, loves- the ladies, and they love him right back. He also loves to fight, so whenever the Rogues are causing trouble, he is there looking for some action.

Third, we have Nikolai. He is a super hot Russian. Niko was born during the Cold War, which might explain his penchant for weaponry of any kind. Guns, bombs, you name it, he likes it.

  Then we have Gideon. He's the resident techie and he loves computers and gadgets. He's happily mated to the lovely Savannah. These two are nauseatingly happy with each other.

Tegan is the fifth member of the Order and he isn't what anyone would call a "people person". He's aloof, cold and distant. He's a very mysterious character. Not much is revealed to the reader, except that he has serious beef with the leader of the Order.

That leader would be Lucan. He is the very definition of the stoic, fearless leader. He and Tegan go way back. They're both Gen One vampires, meaning that they were the first vampires to be born to human females. This also means that they're super strong, and all kinds of badass. 

Kiss of Midnight tells the story of Lucan and Gabrielle. While Lucan is in charge of saving the world, Gabrielle is a photographer. Lucan has some serious commitment issues. He has no interest in finding a Breedmate just so he can follow her around like a lovesick puppy. Gabrielle isn't looking for anything either. She's always felt a little... cut off from everyone else. Her mother abandoned her when she was just a baby, and the woman was later institutionalised. So, Gabrielle's always had this fear that maybe one day she'd go crazy, just like her birth mother. And when she witnesses a murder that no one else saw, and with there being no evidence that the murder even took place, it seems to Gabrielle that what she's always feared is starting to happen. 

Turns out this was a murder committed by Rogues and Gabrielle was not supposed to see what happened, let alone take pictures at the scene. This is where Lucan comes in. He needs to make sure Gabrielle doesn't go around telling the whole world what she saw. Obviously, things progress from there.

I really liked this book. I won't lie though, I thought Ms Adrian could have spent a little more time on the action with the bad guys. I know this is a romance, so it's supposed to be about the romance. But I thought that both the Order and Gabrielle should have spent more time kicking ass. 

I liked Lucan, but he was just a little too serious for my tastes. I liked Gabrielle too. She wasn't completely helpless and she called Lucan out when he was being full of crap. I thought the end was a little bit rushed whereas the middle kinda dragged. It wasn't a bad kind of drag, it was maybe just lacking a teeny tiny bit of oomph. But I am seriously looking forward to the next book in the series, Kiss of Crimson. It's Dante's book and I just know it's going to be epic. Because, as I mentioned just now, Dante is hot and he likes to fight and f...