Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Night Huntress World Series (Book 2)
Paranormal: Vampire
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PJVs QUICKIE POV:
The second book in Frost's Night Huntress World series is quite a treat. I was stand-offish regarding this book at first. Mainly because the hero is non other than the mysterious Mencheres. Introduced in the Night Huntress novel, Mencheres has always been the super powerful and untouchable sort of character that I didn't think would come across well in a romance. Sometimes these super powerful vampires in fiction come off as unemotional and unbelievable, there testosterone and godlike behavior is usually demeaning and belittling to their women and the heroine really only becomes a side to this big boy. This did not happen at all. Mencheres came off as real. Very real. His psychological problems came across very well and the whole romance wrapped around the novel exquisitely. Frost did a wonderful job and I can't wait to read more and more and more.

REVIEW:
Walking home from her work, Kira hears a scream of pain and decides (against her better judgment) to intervene. She walks in on a preternatural show down between Mencheres and five ghouls. In a show of power and speed the ghouls attack her and Mencheres saves Kira's life by infusing her with his blood. Meaning to make her forget and send her on her way, Mencheres is stumped as she seems to be impervious to his Jedi Mind Tricks.

He has no choice but to take her with him and hope that it is his blood that makes her impervious to the eyes. After a week and no forgetting, Mencheres believes Kira is one of the rare humans that is able to withstand a vampires mind tricks. But, as it comes time to let her go, Mencheres starts to realize that he doesn't want her to go.

Touching in some spots and actually pretty deep in others, Frost delivers in her unique fashion. She wove a very sexy, action-packed and exciting novel that kept me going from front to back. Mencheres suffers from his loss of vision and technically a very overly long life and his emotional path shows a unique side to the plot of this world. It reminded me greatly of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicle series, but I actually think Frost handled it more rationally.

The great thing I like about these novels are the fact that they are stand alones, you do not have to be on top of the Cat & Bones part of the Night Huntress series, you also didn't have to read First Drop of Crimson. They don't impact this novel at all. Cat & Bones do appear in this one but the back story is minimal. They make a few references to prior conflicts, like the death of Patra - but nothing too intense to warrant having to go and read the Night Huntress series, even though I recommend reading that series.

Minor problems I found with the novel included Kira the heroine. I just found her succumbing to Mencheres a little too easily. After a week of holding her hostage she is all hot for him. Then she quickly falls in love, plays psychiatrist to him and then jumps in a tries to solve all his problems. And she also accepted his darker side a little too easily. It made the story easy without any romance bumps, but I think a few problems might have been a bit more believable. She just accepted vampires, killing, becoming a vampire so easy.

I do have to say - that Kira's vampire transition was very believable. This is how I totally would see it happening. Her working on maintaining her powers, having to learn how to handle things gently, accidentally stomping her foot through the floor - much more believable than some other vampire transitions I've read *ahem* like a certain YA novel.

All in all, great follow-up and I can't wait to read more. From what I can garner there is no set Night Huntress World Book 3 as of yet, but I'm sure we'll be hearing about it soon.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Fans of the Cat & Bones (Night Huntress Series) should really read these spin-offs. Also if you like the Anita Blake series, Gena Showalter, Sherilyn Kenyon...you should really enjoy. Paranormal Romance means some nookie, so this is adults only.