Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

Title: Eternal Kiss of Darkness
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Series: Night Huntress World (book #2)
Previous in series: First Drop of Crimson

My rating: 3.5 Stars

Synopsis: Kira Graceling is a private investigator struggling to make ends meet until the night she is thrust into a nightmarish world of vampires and ghouls. Stumbling across the scene of a horrific attack, Kira risks her life to save a stranger only to discover that he is a vampire. Mencheres, a Master vampire, is both shocked and intrigued by the fearless human who braves death to rescue him, and must soon return the favor in order to defeat his oldest enemy and save the woman he craves more than life.

Review: It took me quite a while to get into this book, which only livens up in the last 100 pages. The plot is completely unoriginal and the relationship between the primary characters lacks sizzle and steam.

Yes, Mencheres is powerful, enigmatic and sexy but aren't all vampires these days. Moreover, he spends an inordinate amount of time lamenting the loss of his visions and wallowing in self-pity. Kira is a strong and likeable character but she is far too accepting of her sudden transition into vampirism.

The secondary characters are more engaging, particularly Vlad, who will apparently be getting his own series soon. It is a pity that Ian does not make an appearance in this book as his wit and sarcasm are sorely missed.

While the Night Huntress World is well developed and the internal rules of the vampire community are interesting and unique, it was difficult to become completely immersed in the story and I felt no emotional attachment to the characters. As this was not a problem in First Drop of Crimson, I can only assume that the writing in this book was not up to scratch.

On a final note, there were some aspects of the story that appealed to the literary analyst in me, namely, the symbolism of Kira's name, the ritualistic elements toward the end and the historical background to Mencheres and Radjadef's past.

If Frost decided to publish another book in the series, I will probably read it.