Juliana Philippa's Reviews > After Midnight

Great paranormal historical romance - intense and mysterious hero is wonderful!

I am a huge historical romance fan but have never read any paranormal ones and didn't actually know I was until a ways into the book. I have read two Teresa Medeiros books - One Night of Scandal and Yours Until Dawn - and they were both just regular historicals, so I didn't realize she wrote anything else. The book was a great historical romance and for anyone who is put off by the paranormal/vampire aspect, don't be - After Midnight is a great introduction into the genre of paranormal romances.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well-written and engaging, the secondary romance is sweet, the mystery subplot is an essential part of the plot and romance and so not an unnecessary addition that just drags on, and the chemistry and sexual tension between the hero and heroine are great!

MAIN CHARACTERS:
Caroline Cabot (24) is the elder of three sisters and has been taking care of her two younger siblings since their parents died eight years ago (or six years ago - it changes - note to editor). She's a strong and intelligent heroine who is easy to like; her love for her sisters is obvious and so of course she feels a great amount of guilt for the fact that she's unaccountably drawn to her sister's potential suitor (all works out very nicely though, with no resentment, hard feelings, or misunderstandings). All three of the sisters are great characters - very different, but all of them are three-dimensional and none of them flatly drawn.

Adrian Kane, Viscount Trevelyan (27) is an absolutely wonderful hero! He's dark and mysterious and seductive, but he's also kind, sensitive, has a sense of humor and feels great love and loyalty for his younger brother, Julian. Something I greatly appreciated was that Adrian is not one of those anti-love heroes who won't admit he's in love when he is - if a guy said to me the things that Adrian says to Caroline ... ::sigh::

GREAT LINE:
"I don't want to marry you. I don't want to want you," he added fiercely, taking one measured step toward her, then another. "And I sure as hell don't want to love you. But, God help me, I just can't stop myself."

SIMILAR BOOKS:
If you enjoy the older-sister-finds-her-hero premise, you might also like The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgerton Series, Book 2) by Julia Quinn (the whole Bridgerton series is great, so I would recommend them all) and Gayle Callen's His Scandal, which is a very light and enjoyable read, the second book in Callen's "His" Series.

BOTTOM LINE:
A great historical romance with a paranormal twist; I'm not normally a paranormal romance reader but I really enjoyed this book. The hero and heroine are great and I can't wait to read the follow-up book - After Midnight is followed by The Vampire Who Loved Me.