Review and Giveaway! "Kiss of Night"

"Kiss of Night"
 by Debbie Viguie

Publisher: Faithwords
Release Date: Oct 7, 2011 
Source: sent by publisher

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars


Summary from goodreads.com:

Centuries ago, Raphael was a blasphemous knight who fought in the Crusades purely for his own mercenary benefit, and to satisfy his taste for killing. Now, condemned for his evil passions and hypocrisy, he wanders the earth a vampire, cursed with first-hand knowledge of the supernatural world he once denied existed. The powerful relic he still possesses from his days as a Crusader has been stolen by a rival vampire who has recruited an army of soulless underlings to aid him in spreading evil. At the time he learns this, Raphael has been hunting this vampire for nearly a century, and it seems the final battle is destined to take place in Prague. For help in this quest, Raphael must enlist the aid of two humans, David and Susan, who suddenly find themselves immersed in a world they never imagined, entangled with supernatural forces they can't control. Susan, in particular, finds herself conflicted as she struggles with her inexplicable attraction to Raphael. In the end, both Susan and Raphael will be called upon to exercise courage and faith, and in the process, the question, "What would happen if a vampire truly accepted God?" is answered.

My Review:


"Kiss of Night" is a genre-defying, and boundary-pushing story about vampires told form a Christian perspective. This story is not a watered down tale by any means! The action is intense and non-stop. In fact I was pretty scared during a lot of the scenes.


There are two love stories in the book, and even if they do take a backseat to the action, I enjoyed the romances a lot. Susan and Raphael's relationship was much more intense and a little edgier than most Christian fiction romances, in my opinion. I really felt the chemistry between these two characters. David and Wendy's story was a lot sweeter, but sometimes it felt like too much of an add-on for me to really get into. Still, it was nice to see two very different types of romances represented.

Sometimes, I'm disappointed in the quality of storytelling in Christian fiction, but definitely not here. There's a fully drawn out story with tons of intense action. In fact, I was surprised by how scary and intense some of the story was. The flashbacks to Raphael's evil human years were especially brutal.


Main Characters: 4/5
Supporting Characters: 3/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Uniqueness: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Writing: 4/5


Bottom Line: I admire the author and publisher for being willing to push boundaries and try something so new. The story may have been a bit scary for me personally, but I would definitely recommend it to fans of vampires and urban fantasy action books.

   


GIVEAWAY RULES:

Faithwords has generously provided a finished copy of "Kiss of Night" for one lucky reader of my blog!

All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on this post with your email address! Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :) Also, if you aren't comfortable leaving your email here, go ahead and leave a comment and then send me an email with your email addy

Extra Entries:
+1 Tweet this contest (leave link in comment)
+1 Post link in sidebar of your blog (leave link in comment)



Rules:

• US and Canada only
• No PO boxes
• Must be a follower to enter
• Extra entries are optional and can all be left in the same comment
• Leave a comment with your email address
• Books will be mailed out by the publisher, In the Hammock is not responsible for lost or missing books, or the amount of time taken to ship the books
• Must be 18 or over 

• Ends Fri Oct 14

Thanks to everyone for entering! Good luck!