Kiss of Night by Debbie Viguie'
October 7, 2011 by Faith Words
Paperback, 304 Pages
Review Copy

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.

Review

Blood thirst, murder, a blasphemer of all kinds- that in a nutshell describes vampire Raphael...well at least 900 years ago it did. Cursed to walk the earth as a vampire during the time of the Crusades (kind of like Cain in the Bible-minus the Crusade thing-oh and the vampire thing and I guess the killing of women and children thing) and forever suffer for his murderous ways, he feeds off the blood of the innocent and pines for the days when the supernatural world was once a figment of his imagination. Raphael gets no points in the moral department, he kind of makes Jack the Ripper look like the Muppet's. But Raph has had a long time to think about his ways, his victims and a little thing called true regret that eats away at him daily. Doomed he is from the past, but he's so close to a place of humanity, that conversion is holding his arms out waiting. Raphael wants nothing more than forgiveness, to erase the past and make up for the many lives he stole. But wouldn't you know that on the cusp of transformation a gang of real evil twisted vampires plot to destroy the world. Caught up in the possibility of war, more violence ensues, leading Raphael into the dark pit again, only this time he will fight the evil that he once was and with help.

Sounds cliche to hear, but then again there is always opposition to goodness. As a Vampire war begins to form, Raphael enlists the help of two humans, Susan and David, humans that both have ties to the vampires. With the little threesome tiding the way to fight the evil vamps, they will encounter bizarre characters, awkward scenarios, even more bizarre fight scenes and enough romance to make your brain sizzle.

Admittedly, at first I had a hard time getting into this, I found the first few chapters a little painful and somewhat confusing. I found the dialog and the presentation of the plot very choppy lacking transitions and much needed information. At about page 88 things slowly changed for me and I think most importantly I got the rhythmic of Debbie's writing. What I thought was moving along way to fast actually worked well for the amount of back-story being brought in. After getting a true taste of Crusade time and Susan's family history, it was smooth sailing till the end. I guess most important, is that this is one of the first crossover books I've read, a blending of Christian Fiction and paranormal, something I've been edgy about happening. So many times the CF market rides the coat tails of pop culture, not something I'm overly excited about, as I think the CF market already has a niche on great horror story's, however I guess it was bound to happen given the popularity of- it goes bump in the night- type books.

So readers what did I think of this blending of genres? Well its a toss of the coin- on one side I found Debbie's story bold, I loved that she was brave enough to take on a modern day icon such as the vampire and placed her own original spin on it, that being for vampires, the condition resulted in the pure evil of ones heart, and thus would remain that way until true redemption reached its core. Raphael had a long and sometimes depressing 900 years to come to that point in his heart. I was vaguely reminded of Tracy Bateman's Thirsty while I read more about Raphael- with that story being metaphoric to sin, that was passed down to a child turning vampire, Raphael's vampirism was a direct result of his own sin. A truly exciting concept to blend the genres together.

On the other side of my coin, I guess I have to ask the question- how will Christian readers feel?

I think many will throw stones, the uppity's who throw around **Jesus Jukes** (thank you Serena..I had to share....) like candy and mainly due to the fact that Debbie does not shy away from freighting paranormal matter. While her undertone has a strong faith message, its presented on a fair level and not in a way that would deter general market readers. Don't get me wrong though dear fellow inspy's- I see many secular-paranormal fans bashing this as well, just go read some reviews on Goodreads, people can and will be brutal from both teams. A lot of us (myself included) will be fine with it, vampires and monsters are a hot topic and fitting them into the CF market especially the romance department is in prime time. I think since Twilight emasculated the vampire anyway, brooding dark knights and their longing to be redeemed is an easy sell.

Rating

Kiss of Night is recommended to adult readers and contains: Vampires, the paranormal world, murder, blood drinking/lust, sensuality/sexuality (nothing graphic), frightening scenarios, compulsion, romance and violence.

4/5- Inspy-Paranormal
Thanks to Faith Words for Review Copy



**Jesus Jukes** by Jon Acuff-Stuff Christians Like- Quoted from Acuff's Essay....

"The Jesus Juke is a great way to tell a friend, “I wish you possessed the uber holiness I do and were instead talking about sweet baby Jesus in this conversation.” It’s like a tiny little “shame grenade,” you throw it into an otherwise harmless conversation and then watch it splatter everyone in guilt and condemnation".......

Read the entire article at Jons blog.....