Kiss of Pride by Sandra Hill (Deadly Angels #1)
Paranormal Romance
April 24, 2012

Reviewed by Mandi

Long ago God created “good” vampires to fight the dark ones that roamed the earth. Vikar Sigurdsson and his six brothers are all Vikings who have disappointed God with their many sins. Ready to banish the race from the Earth altogether, Archangel Michael stepped in and came up with a plan for “good” vampires to be created. And so the “Viking vampire angel” was born. They are actually more angels in training. For seven hundred years, Vikar and his brothers have to do penance, doing Mike’s (yes, they call Archangel Michael just Mike) bidding against the evil Jasper and his bad demons. Of course, over these 700 years, Vikar and company haven’t lived saintly lives (although they try) so years and years have been added to their sentence. While Vikar was suppose to be free in the 1500’s, it is now current day and he still has a few hundred years to work off. Vikar’s sin is his vanity.

He finds himself in Transylvania, Pennsylvania. In another month, The Reckoning will occur, a central meeting for hundreds of “vangels.” In order to prepare, Vikar has been instructed to turn a ruined castle into a working mansion in order to house all those that are coming into town.

Alexandra Kelly works for the World Gazette magazine in Washington, DC. Two years ago her husband (they were legally separated) and her young daughter were murdered by a drug cartel. (hello – this isn’t lighthearted and fun) Two of the cartel members were headed for trial soon, but rumor has it they might get off on a technicality. So Alex has been thinking in her mind of murdering them herself. (Yes, I was eye rolling at this point) Her boss sends her to Transylvania to cover the story of weird vampire sightings up there, which is how she ends up on Vikar’s doorstep. Once inside, he can smell the sin or the future sin upon her, and he knows she must be cleansed or more demons will start hunting her. He wants to save her. Alex wants to stay to get the story, although she soon realizes the truth of the situation she is in.

I am not super familiar with Sandra Hill’s work, so when I heard about this new series, and read the crazy blurb and saw the interesting cover, I had to try this one. While I tried to read it and go with the silly, campy feel of the book, by the end I just didn’t enjoy it. I’ll try to explain why.

First of all, Alex lost her husband and five-year old daughter only two years ago. And while we are told she wallows in self pity and fury, I never saw that. Apparently she is also set on revenge if the killers walk free. Her sin is that eventually she wants to murder these men – again, her character never came across that way. To me, she was this happy go-lucky, laid back woman who pretty easily believed in vampires and angels and felt safe living with all these huge, strong men. All of that just didn’t sit well with me.

Next up is Vikar. I never once thought – damn, Vikar is sexy. He came across to me more as a goofy oaf, than sexy. I get that this book is lighthearted (even though that clashes with the heroine’s backstory) but even in the more funny books I read, I still want to have a romantic feeling while reading. And I never did in this one. It’s all so cutesy.

“That’s not a halo. It’s just the moon hitting off that round mirror over there and reflecting back here.”

“If you say so.” She was clearly unconvinced. “I think it’s kind of cute, that you would have a halo around your penis.”

Cute? A man does not want his cock to be cute. “It is not a halo.”

She leaned forward to study it closer. “Let’s see if you taste holy.”

Every sex scene seemed to be like this, which made my do an eye roll.

Vikar is a lovable dude, as is all his brothers. They are all friendly and warm. There were a few times I smiled, but it was all just too much. Even the demon was cracking jokes, and making pop culture references and it just didn’t appeal to me.

There was also a young vampire named Armod, who before he was turned, was used as a prostitute, spreading AIDS and other diseases to all his bed partners (Gross). There is a moment in this book where he asks Vikar what it is like to lose your virginity – and Vikar questions him because Armod is no virgin. But Armod meant his “heterosexual virginity.” (as he was forced to have unwanted sex with men). Which was really sad if you think about it. That combined with the murder of Alex’s daughter only two years ago – is an odd pairing with the very lighthearted tone of this book.

At the end, I wasn’t convinced of their love. Why did Vikar really fall for Alex? I wanted to see more emotion from Alex concerning her lost daughter too. This book and I’m guessing this series is not for me.

Rating: D

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