“A Kiss of Blood” Review (Vamp City #2)

Cynthia Ayala ’16/ Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

By: Pamela Palmer

Published: June 25, 2013

Publisher: Avon Books

Series: Vamp City

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Adult

One of the few humans who managed to escape the deadly twilight world of Vamp City, Quinn Lennox vows to never return. But the vampires want her back, for only she has the power to renew the magic of their crumbling world and free the vampires trapped within.  When the dangerous and all-too-seductive Arturo Mazza comes for her, Quinn knows she can never trust him after the betrayal she suffered at his hands. But with her beloved brother’s fate hanging in the balance and her own power beginning to emerge, she chooses to risk all on yet another perilous journey back to Vamp City. And though she tries to deny it, her heart begins to hold hope that even a ruthless vampire can learn the meaning of true love.

Addicting.  Heart pounding.  Gripping.  Three words that describe how good this book really is.  Everything about this novel is absolutely seductive and dangerous at the same time.  Quinn was thrown into a dangerous world in the last novel.  Vamp City lives in a magical word that happens to coexist with Washington DC.  Everything about this world is deadly and dangerous as the lives of the Vampires have influenced the way the land flourishes.  Palmer does an amazing job reflecting the Vampires in the land and the world of eternal darkness.  The detail and the scene specifics ground the reader in this world allowing the reader to go on this journey with the character.

The outside plot circling around Quinn’s attempt to release her magic in order to restore the barrier of the world she hates presents a lot of tension for the story.  The world is cruel, harsh, and evil and she would much rather see it destroyed if not for the fact that healing the world would help heal her brother whose health is ailing.  Her love for her brother and her hatred of the world presents so much tension making this an incredible story because the man she loves, the Vampire Arturo, must live in that world. It is his world, his home where he has no other choice to live in.  But even though she loves him and has friends in that world, she would rather watch it burn for all the horrors and atrocities in the realm.

The character development as well reflects how much these characters have grown since the first novel.  They are stronger, weaker, more compassionate.  Arturo and Quinn, as they battle their inner turmoil, have grown so much to make them gripping character and to make their romantic chemistry grow even stronger.  The pair of them have to face their own inner demons and deal with moral and ethical dilemmas that effect everyone, not just themselves. It puts so much onto them,  and adds so much to their characters and the inside plot each of them faces.  This book is as seductive as the creatures within.

★★★★☆ (B+)