Night's Cold Kiss: A Dark Brethren Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

I gave this book 2 stars but believe the author has potential. Antoinette Petrescu witnessed her mother being murdered by a rogue vampire(dreniac) when she was 6 years old. She grows up to become a Venator(rogue vampire hunter) Christian Laroque works for a government approved agency to hunt rogue vampires as well. But Christian's an Aeternus(vampire) The two must work together to hunt the rogue vampire that is on a killing spree. My problem at this point is that the story becomes cliched and erratic. Sure its a familiar plot but with some fancy writing and a creative edge many authors have made it work. Antoinette is a kick butt hunnter,the best in her class, yet early in the story she is almost bested by a group of teenage humans. Odd when you know she fights vampires for a living. Christian doesnt have any oomph. He stands around looking sexy and the author dresses him in a black suit and red shirt.Very vampiric.LOL. The story then becomes disjointed as a lot of characters are introduced by name and no description. They appear and disappear. I also think the author fell into the kill a character for impact mode. Characters died that could have played an interesting part in future novels or this one for that matter. The villain in this was a surprising twist but then even that was ruined by the appearance of a Aeternus(vampire)that was over a century old but stuck with the appearance of a 6 yr old. Another overused cliche. But there is potential. I think with a better more consistent story line, a little less cliche, and no more purposeless killing of characters, we'd have a winner. Maybe a story featuring the animalians (shifters) As for the spelling and typos-there were many. But lately I'm noticing that in a lot of romance so it may be editing in general in need of beefing up.

Overall, paranormals and vampire stories are still in demand. Tracey O'hara should take a moment study what she has and refine it.I'd give this author another chance just because I did see potential and the main parts work for me featuring hunters, rogue vamps and shifters on the police force

When Antoinette was six years old, she watched her mother die a very violent death at the hands of a rogue vampire. That incident shaped Antoinette into the woman she became. She was a determined, intelligent, and a skilled warrior, who made it her mission to kill as many of the Necrodreniac (rogue vampires) as she could. She would have liked nothing better than to get rid the planet of all vampires. It didn't matter that there were good vampires who were an intricate part of modern society...No, as far as she was concerned, they were all monsters. It was her hatred that motivated her into becoming the best Venators (rogue vampire/Necrodreniac hunters) of the best. While she had many good qualities, I couldn't help but feel her character was inconsistant. I was under the impression, she was suppose to be the elite of the Venators. She was suppose to be highly skilled, yet she often found her self bested or out-manuvered by less than skilled villians. Also, I felt her stubborn streak bordered on immaturity, and her feelings in regards to vampires was fickled at best.

I felt Christian's character lacked that something "special" most sexy and brooding vampires have...personality. It felt like everytime there was trouble, he was just standing around watching or was never around to begin with. This gave the impression of a card board character, like the author wasn't sure what to do with him. The only time he was noticably present was when a sex scene or something relevant to it came up.Now, that I am thinking about it...for a supposed nice guy, his sexual taste were a bit on the violent side. It seemed so out of character. I had expected romance and wisdom from him...nope didn't get it.

Now Victor on the other hand was a very engaging character. He was the light within the dark in this book. He was not only interesting, but he brought out the best in Antoinette and Christin's characters. His ability to use witty bantor and his engaging personality into the dialogue was sadly missed when the author decided to snub his character...thus taking away any engaging qualities the protagonsits might have had.

I thought the author did a good job on the world building, but the plot was lacking in both originality and substance. In fact, there were moments, when I felt the chapters were jerky and incomplete. I also felt, there were too many short cuts and easy outs. That being said, I saw alot of potential to be had in this book. The action sequences were amazing. I would have liked it , if the author delved more into the vampire politics. I think the political intrigue would have been a very prudent element. I would have also liked a bit more depth and romance in the relationship of Antoinette and Christian.

Overall, I think that the book was a good read, with the potential to have been a great one. I would have found it more appealing had the book had some unpredictablity, focus more on character depth, explored the vampire politics, and had some originality. I wish the book had more fluidity. Instead it felt jerky and incomplete. I also felt, the characters could have been more engaging and more consistant to who thier characters were suppose to be. I did like Victor, the conflict with Dante, the concept of the Troubles, and the small amount of political intrigue I was given. If you are looking for enjoyment in the urban fantasy world that is a quick and enjoyable read, then you might like Night's Cold Kiss.

Let's face it, it's hard for authors to bring something new to the field in this genre. There is only so much you can do with werewolves, vampires, and the like. What sets some authors apart is their ability to make even the most mundane plot come to life with strong likable characters. That is not the case here. What we have in Night's Cold Kiss is the typical girl whose mother was killed by a vampire, so now she must kill them all to get revenge. Of course she comes to realize that they aren't all bad, and of course she falls in love with one. If that isn't enough cliche for you there is plenty more, but I won't get into that for risk of spoilers.

I have to admit that I was enjoying this book initially. The two viewpoints were different enough to add an extra element to the story that many others don't have. There was a bit of intrigue where it seemed the vampires had their own agenda and were playing the humans, but all of that fell apart at around page 200 when the book turned into a romance. The two main characters have sex numerous times, and finally the real bad guy is revealed which isn't much of a surprise. I have a hard time understanding what the point of this book is. If it's a romance the romance is weak and I didn't enjoy it, if it's a mystery there isn't much to it and there isn't much detective work going on. It failed as an action book as well, and the characters aren't strong enough for it to be a character based story. So I'm left thinking it's just another vampire drama with no uniqueness and no redeeming qualities. It's readable, and it wasn't horrible, but I found myself skipping the repetitive love scenes and some of the action sequences towards the end. If you are looking for something new, this is not it. If you like the tried and true vampire hunter turned vampire lover story, then this one may not disappoint.

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