Kiss of the Vampire

Baker's first vampire book is not perfect, but despite that it's probably one of the best vampire stories I've ever read. It's worth mentioning that I get perfectly bored with books where the protagonist is vampire just to be cool/erotic/superhuman. I love this book because tells the story of how someone deals with becoming a vampire.

I am a collector of vampire novels, and after reading a few recommendations, I picked up Nancy Baker's "Kiss of the Vampire" (which by the way is also "The Night Inside)." Do not make the mistake of picking up both books like I did. It is the exact same story. Ardeth is a graduate student living at college. She just finished a project with two of her friends (also graduate students). She is saddened when one of her friends and ex-lover dies, but that sadness also becomes wariness when the second person she was working on the project with also dies. Also, she felt at one point that she was being followed. Her fears become reality, when while jogging on campus one morning, she is literally snatched by two men, thrown in a van, and knocked out. When Ardeth recovers she finds herself locked in a cell, with a vampire in another cell next door named Dimitri Rozokov. She finds out that she has been kidnapped to be his food source. She is terrified of the vampire, but as time passes, she realizes she is even more horrified by her sadistic kidnappers (who are making [some] snuff films for profit using the vampire). As the days pass, Ardeth begins to see the vampire Dimitri as a person, and as they get closer, she realizes her and Dimitri will have to come up with a plan to outsmart the kidnappers. But just how far is she willing to go to live? I don't want to give too much away, but this is an excellent, excellent story. I really enjoyed all of the characters. I would highly recommend (...).

This is a haunting, well written book that no vampire fan should miss. Ardeth Alexander is an average graduate student living an average, structured, somewhat boring life. One morning while exercising she is abducted, blindfolded and finds herself thrown into a cell in a former sanitarium. As if this isn't enough of a shock she realizes the cell next to her is also occupied, and the inhabitant isn't human. Ardeth soon discovers she is there to *feed* the vampire until her usefulness runs out. Ardeth decides to keep her sanity and believes she can bring the vampire out of his world of madness (he is also a prisoner & is forced to do things against his will for some real sickos) by forcing him to speak to her and when he tries to ignore her she tells him all about herself. This begins the relationship between Ardeth and Dimitri and if I go on I'll give too much away. Pick this one up! It's one of those books you just can't put down no matter what is going on around you. It also takes you on an emotional roller-coaster ride and you won't soon forget the heroine.

This was a very good vampire novel. As a result, I did some research and found that there are two more books in this series, Blood and Chrysathemums, and A Terrible Beauty. They are published in Canada, and kind of expensive to get. I can only hope that they will be published here!

I really liked this book. It was different from the ones I usually read. A lot more blood and all that. But it wasn't so bad that I couldn't understand why it was happening. I understand from a reader's comments that there are two more. I have searched every where and they are not to be found. I hope that they print them in the US.