Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian Narrator: Hillary Huber
Series: Midnight Breed #2
Published by Tantor Audio on May 29th 2007
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Length: 10 hours and 29 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Audible
He comes to her more dead than alive, a towering black-clad stranger riddled with bullets and rapidly losing blood. As she struggles to save him, veterinarian Tess Culver is unaware that the man calling himself Dante is no man at all, but one of the Breed, vampire warriors engaged in a desperate battle. In a single erotically charged moment Tess is plunged into his world—a shifting, shadowed place where bands of Rogue vampires stalk the night, cutting a swath of terror.
Haunted by visions of a dark future, Dante lives and fights like there is no tomorrow. Tess is a complication he does not need—but now, with his brethren under attack, he must shield Tess from a growing threat that includes Dante himself. For with one reckless, irresistible kiss, she has become an inextricable part of his underworld realm…and his touch awakens her to hidden gifts, desires, and hungers she never knew she possessed. Bonded by blood, Dante and Tess must work together to thwart deadly enemies, even as they discover a passion that transcends the boundaries of life itself….
Some of my reading this year is authors who will be at Nola Storycon and some series catch up. Lara Adrian will be at the con and I’ve barely read into her series.
I read the previous book but don’t really remember it at all. This feels like a very typical paranormal romance. I listened to this on audiobook and it took me a bit to get into the story. I might just be having some bias to this genre like I do for billionaire romances. Some romances, especially the billionaire ones are too unrealistic for me. There were more than an average number of sex scenes and the wording was odd.
The narrator of Kiss of Crimson was Hillary Huber. Her voicing of the different characters, both male and female, was excellent. It made listening easy and definitely increased my enjoyment.
I did like the heroine Tess very much. Her attitudes and change in attitudes felt too fast though. I enjoyed Dante’s competence as a warrior and his relationship with his peers in the Order. Strangely, I don’t recall hearing Tess or Dante’s last names, but the names are in the Goodreads description.
The action and mystery were interesting. For some reason, I liked Chase Sterling who is a side character. (I probably would have liked Ben Sullivan but the story is not set in Chicago. LOL)
While I didn’t find Kiss of Crimson too believable, it did stir some real emotion in me. I will read or listen on in the series, sooner rather than later. The plots were good here; I cared about some of the characters, but the romance didn’t quite work for me.
About Hillary Huber
Hillary has recorded over 500 audiobooks spanning many genres. She is a multiple Audie Award finalist – including Best Female Narrator, multiple Earphone Award winner, Voice Arts Awards winner and one of Audiofile Magazine’s best voices. Hillary has a BA in English Literature and is a voracious reader and listener. Raised in conservative Connecticut and hippy Hawaii, she has unique perspective. She splits her time between Santa Monica and New York. Most of that time is in a 4×4 padded room. Er…booth.
About Lara Adrian
LARA ADRIAN is the New York Times and #1 internationally best-selling author of the Midnight Breed vampire romance series, with nearly 4 million books in print and digital worldwide and translations licensed to more than 20 countries. Her books regularly appear in the top spots of all the major bestseller lists including the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Indiebound, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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I love Hillary Huber. I read these books a long time ago. I remember liking them, but not loving them. I don’t remember much about last names either, other than for Chase. I have quit this series. I forget exactly which book it starts on, but it starts to pick up the stories of the kids to you’ll meet later in the series after they’ve grown up. I just didn’t like it. I enjoyed all of the ones of the current adults enough though (like you I would call them mostly 3 – 3.5 star reads.). I think there were like 10 or 11 of them. That was enough anyway.
I agree that the first three or so books from this series are very old school PNR. In fact, I almost stopped reading the series b/c it seemed too similar to others (BDB for example). But I feel that this series gets stronger as it finds its own voice. Hope you enjoy them. Lara is a doll and I would love to see her again.
The Midnight Breed series is a little “old fashioned”. I read the first when it came out and enjoyed it, then tried to pick the series up again years later and was like…what? But the overall idea is fun and the characters develop well.