This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by PamG. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Paranormal Romance category.

Here is PamG's review:

Trigger warning for violence and attempted rape.

My friendly local bookstore clerk introduced me to Thea Harrison when I had just about despaired of finding any new authors of urban fantasy/paranormal romance that tickled my fancy. Harrison’s Elder Races books contained neither polite Canadian vampires nor humorous workarounds for vampire/shifter handicaps nor TSTL heroines who nevertheless triumph over all evil-doers. I totally fell in love with Pia and Dragos Cuelebre and gobbled up the rest of the series until I got to Midnight’s Kiss. Though the Cuelebre family are my favorite characters, I enjoyed reading the stories of their friends, associates, and even enemies. However, glomming the series may have led to a little premature burnout, and I really didn’t like Julian, the Nightkind King. He pretty much comes across as a power hungry asshat in the earlier novels. As a result, Midnight’s Kiss languished on my Kindle twiddling its thumbs for most of the year. The RITA Readers Challenge was just the incentive I needed to move that sucker on.

Julian and Mellisande’s story functions quite well as a standalone. The Elder Races’ world is a complex one, with the U.S. divided into demesnes ruled by different groups among the powerful paranormals. Dominant on the west coast are the Nightkind (Vampyres, etc.) and the Light Fae. Whatever the reader needs to know to understand this story is contained within the novel, There is conflict among the Nightkind caused by a renegade named Justine who kidnaps the Light Fae heir, Mellisande, in order to manipulate Melly’s ex, grumpy-ass Julian. Despite the twenty year pissing contest since their breakup, Julian does not hesitate to go to Melly’s rescue.

While interior monologues explain Julian’s overriding crankiness, they do not precisely excuse it. Yeah, he’s older than dirt–vintage Roman Empire dirt. Yeah, he’s a scarred, gritty warrior. Yeah, vampyres ain’t nice and politicking ain’t fun. Yeah, his sire was acting major crazy pants when he attempted to off her earlier in the series. Yeah, two decades ago he was presented with irrefutable (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) proof that his lover was cheating. Still, it’s pretty clear from the get go who the wounded party is here. And it’s just about anyone but Julian–well, excluding Justine, kidnapper of Melly and would-be usurper of the Nightkind throne. She’s pretty mean.

When Midnight’s Kiss opens, Julian is coping with crises within the Nightkind demesne and is gruff and charmless, but not in full asshat mode. It takes Melly to unleash the asshat and also, as it turns out, the hero. Before her kidnapping, Melly’s role in the earlier series is much more peripheral than Julian’s, so this book is really the first exploration of her character. And I have to say that I really love Melly. She is smart, funny, and unsquashable. She is kickass in the best possible way: believably. As an actress and her mother’s right hand, Melly is far more inclined to diplomacy than battle. Her vulnerability is based on character rather than generic girliness. She is admittedly not aggressive, yet rises to the occasion when necessary. Justine’s version of villainous gloating includes calling Melly “stupid as a poodle.” Melly’s response made me grin.

After a while, stirring, she whispered, “Poodles are smart.”

Twisting, she groped down the back of her neck until her fingers connected with what she was searching for. Snagging it, she pulled out the hairpins that had slipped down her top earlier.

Poodles could also bite when someone least expected it.

I love a character who is chronically underestimated, whether hero or heroine, and when Melly channels her inner MacGyver, her eventual success is extremely satisfying. Still some of the best moments occur when both Julian and Melly are on the stage. Their relationship is an excellent example of both second chance and hatehatehateloooove, and the dialog shoots sparks. After King. Crankypants’s characteristically gracious response to Melly saving his ass, she lets him have it.

“I swear to all the gods,” she said between her teeth. “If you say ‘don’t be stupid’ to me one more time, I’m going to start using you as a punching bag. Because I’ve had a really rotten couple of days, and if you think I’m going to feel bad that you’re chained up and can’t do anything to stop me, you’d better think again, soldier. So you’d better rein in your asshole tendencies, because I’m in the mood to say hello, opportunity. You’ve been a long time coming.”

Over the course of one damn thing after another, each character gradually and realistically develops a deeper understanding of and empathy for the other. The issue that keeps them apart is believable and understandably impervious to words, given their characters. Their mutual desire is rooted in their shared past and avoids stigma of insta-lust. Both have to grow, nurture empathy, and learn to accept change in order to realize their HEA. Their trials help them past the anger, but Julian has to learn that sometimes faith trumps forgiveness and apologies. Melly has to recognize that Julian’s jaded cynicism has some legitimate roots, though she does not have to travel the distance that Julian does. The slow blossoming of the relationship is not a step backward in time for either character, but a rich new chapter in both their lives.

Harrison writes some extremely hot love scenes, effective because they are based on the emotional and physical interaction between two individuals rather than generic tab A/slot B descriptions. Sometimes they are further enlivened by sly humor. At one point Melly develops reservations about her own behavior.

Um, maybe she should have asked first. If somebody had grabbed her crotch and helped himself without so much as checking in with the rest of her, you can bet your ass she would react with a strategically aimed knee to the privates.

Just because he had an erection didn’t mean he was willing or able to act on it. People were complicated. Bodies were complicated. God only knew, it was tough enough to try to balance what was in the head versus what was in the heart, let alone trying to figure out the rest of the body’s needs as well.

I found this an unconventional, sideways approach to issues of consent. The perception is rather interesting from Melly’s point of view, but Julian’s response while, in some ways, quite conventional reveals a rarely seen dryly humorous side of Julian’s personality. The ensuing sexytimes are both hot and funny. I’m a big fan of the sex and laughter combo, cuz nothing is sexier than shared laughter.

One possible problem with Midnight’s Kiss is the amount of violence. The dungeon scenes are fairly creepy, over the top, and very, very gory. Overall, this is a pretty violent entry in the series in terms of death count and scenes of carnage. There is also an attempted rape that probably rates a trigger warning. None of it is gratuitous or particularly dragged out, but there’s enough mayhem that it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

I graded Midnight’s Kiss based on my own response to the book. On its own, this novel isn’t the most amazingly unique example of the paranormal romance sub-genre, but it is part of a pretty dynamic series. The writing is solid; characterization, strong–especially Melly’s–and world-building, consistent and interesting. A reader new to the series could easily follow the plot, might well enjoy it, but might not get what the hoopla is about. I do reread my favorite books and series, so I expect to reread this one at some point. Hence the B+. However, there was no Good Book Noise™ wafting up from the old recliner as I turned the last page, so Midnight’s Kiss fell a little short of an A. On the other hand, I was smiling.