"Dead of Night" by Lynn Viehl

NOTE: I received this title from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

When I requested Dead of Night, I had no idea that it was the second installment in a series. Then I started reading it, and was still in the dark up till page fifty something, when it finally clicked. I considered dropping the book, since I had no idea what happened in the previous one, but then decided to go on and see if it was finishable.

Turns out it was. I not only finished it with no difficulty understanding any previous events, but I also enjoyed it. The story was interesting, though a bit too slow paced to my liking, and I can say with a hand over my heart that it deserved my rating.

Sure, it had its moments that brought it down from the five stars. Like the fact that there was no action at all. None. Zero. And I don't know why that was since it was a vamp novel and all. The story evolved waaaay too slowly to reach the culmination point, and then when it did reach it, it wasn't all that captivating. And last, but not least, the romance held no passion.

Let me expand a little on that last part. Nobody expects teenagers in love to be cool and lacking passion. One or two brief kisses from time to time seem so unrealistic to me, that I can't even register the concept in my head. Seriously, there was nothing beyond "and he kissed my forehead", or "he gave me a breathless kiss". SHOW, DON'T TELL. I want to see and feel exactly how breathless that kiss was. I want to feel brainwashed by it, you know? The kisses are the sweet parts in any YA romance, and unfortunately this one lacked in this department.

Still though, I liked the story, so my rating stands.

About the characters:

Catlyn was the story teller. We were in her head, so we knew exactly what was going on inside of her. She was a likeable character, though when the grand moment came, her abilities weren't shown. I honestly expected to see some cat action, but alas!, there was none. What sort of bothered me about her was that she was constantly angry with her brothers. True, they had their reasons for being overprotective, but hey, with no parents in the picture and all the loose vamps, I think they were right to be so.

Jesse was the most dispassionate boy-in-love whom I've ever read about. I didn't witness one single loving look, didn't feel any vibe from him at all. Sure, he was nice and all, but that's as much as I can say about him.

Trick, Cat's oldest brother, was a real pain in the butt. He messed with people's minds however he saw convenient. And he was so overprotective, I honestly wanted to slap him. But he was also cute about it.

Same goes for Grayson, the other brother.

So, to sum it up, Dead of Night has great potential, but sadly it wasn't developed to reach it. The story was intriguing, but other parts were missing - like real passionate teenage love and some much-needed action.

I do recommend it, but I can't bet my head that you'd like it. Happy reading ya'll!


My rating is