Brief Encounters

Title: Kissing Orion
Author: Amber Kell
Length: 16,222 words (91 pdf pages)
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Genre: m/m paranormal (vampires)
Rating: B-

Blurb:

Aaron Bradshaw’s boss told him to acquire the vampire Orion’s cooperation in their police investigation. Little did he know that sweet talking his way into the club was the first step in establishing a long-term relationship with a vampire.

Orion has been alone for a long time. However, one look at the sexy detective and he decides he knows what he wants to keep by his side. Aaron’s insistence on throwing himself into danger drives Orion insane. How is he going to keep his lover safe and still let Aaron do his job while hunting down drug runners in Orion’s club?

Review:

This is definitely the first in a series, although it’s a fairly new release so I’m not sure when the next installment will arrive. It’s not on the author’s coming soon page yet. As well, on Goodreads I saw there was a previous version of this story that is listed as 39 pages. Now it’s hard to say whether there are significant changes to this one, as Silver tends to have high pages counts due to formatting, so if you’ve read the previous version (2009) you might want to investigate further before you pay for the same book again.

This is a rather typical fated vampire mates story (which I enjoy when the mood strikes), with a bit of a mystery of who is selling drugs in the area of Orion’s club and may be trying to run him out of town. The difference is, the relationship is handled with quite a light hand. There is a good dose of humour that makes it not all so very serious. Aaron is a cop whose not afraid to admit he finds Orion hot, but he’s very clear he’s not about to become some mindless bond-mate. He likes being a cop and having his own life, but he’s not against a good time either.

The issues arise when Orion’s posessiveness raises its head. When due to his female partner’s ill husband, he’s forced to partner with an old friend/lover, Orion is not impressed and makes it clear if anyone touches Aaron, they’ll have him to deal with, however Zheng takes it with a bit of an eye-roll.

Occasionally, the vampire would rub his cheek against Aaron marking him with his scent.

“If he decides to pee a circle around you, I’m out of here,” Zheng said, watching the pair.

So while I enjoyed the story, and I do find this author has a very easy style which is fast to read and in this case I found myself snorting a couple of times at the humour, as I said in the first line, it’s definitely the first book. A lot of ideas/issues are introduced that are not resolved at the end. The relationship portion of the book is pretty set, Orion has marked Aaron and really, he’s not going to let him go. However, there is Orion’s daughter and her boyfriend who is selling the drugs, but of whom Daddy disapproves; there is the ultimate death of Zheng by another vamp but the maintaining of his soul in a necklace until Aaron can find another body; and just more details about what being mated to a vamp means, about the whole blood bond which would make him give up his job.

So I’m assuming that more of these themes will be explored in future books. Vampires are not made in these stories, you are born a vamp (hence Orion has a few kids running around), everyone knows vamps exist and while maybe not fans, accept them as a normal part of everyday life. There is no stigma about having a relationship with one. So there are some interesting points as vamps are integrated into society, but despite quite enjoying the banter between Orion and Aaron, and even Zheng, I felt a bit let down that so many new ideas are left languishing until we get the next book. Always leave them wanting more is the saying I suppose.