Killing Kiss (Vampire Gene, #1) by Sam Stone

Killing Kiss (Vampire Gene, #1) Reviews

• 
  Heather G Gentle

  I enjoyed the story and really loved the trips back through time to get all of the background as if you were actually there when it happened. Some of the wit was good. The one thing I had a hard time with is liking the characters. I really disliked Gabriele through the whole book. I started liking Lilly toward the end and I think she's hilarious so I'm hoping that will lead into a great second book which I'm hoping to pick up soon! Overall-- enjoyable read that has me intrigued enough to read the next in the trilogy.
• 
  Terry Martin

  Tanith Lee says of this book: ‘A deceptively readable date with darkness – watch your step!
  This book is lit for the much more discerning chick ( and cock ) who like to walk in the shadows. Relax with it, but be prepared for sudden jewels and little masterpieces – and the rug to be pulled from under your feet.’
  You can buy it direct
  
• 
  Rachel Redhead

  an intriguing tale, the male character is one injunction shy of being labelled a sexpest and has few redeeming features, Lilly is more interesting having had her life ruined by a right bastard, though I really wanted her to properly smack him out after one comment too many alas we can't always get what we want, and this is an origin tale so I'm holding out promise for book 2
• 
  Tracey

  An enjoyable read. I liked Gabriele and Lilly.
  The added character of Lucrezia also gave the story a lot of weight . I’d definitely read the other books in the series .
  A good vampire book !
• 
  TheVampireBookworm

  This was like a rollercoaster. You first encounter the vampire protagonist as a predator who worms his way into an unsuspecting virgin's life only to kill her off, then he slowly reveals his story and you start to forgive him a little just to dislike him again at the end. Somehow all the facts that add up create a monster, not an individual cursed with eternity who I'd like to read about so there's that. To say nothing of other characters who are so disagreeable, too.
  There are lots of vampire clichés in the book so it depends whether you dig them or not. It's centered on a couple of centuries old chauvinist Gabriele who thinks women are property and source of pleasure. But at the same time he yearns not to be alone and have one significant girl. That's the classic monster type for you. So your ability to go through the pages depends whether he will make you gag or not. Also, there are hot scenes so watch out where you read it. Though they kinda felt unnecessary so I found myself skipping them.
  There were flashabcks of Gabriele's life and that's where you history freaks will probably get your kick as we go to Italy..... Venice! Venice vampire.... where have I heard of it? :-D=
  Vampire lore: they can fly, they can walk in the sunlight, they don't have to kill to eat, they have very hard time procreating so there are only a few of them.
• 
  Sarah

  As a self-confessed vampire fiction addict, I've read a lot of novels about vampires. And I admit, in the past few years I've grown tired of it - the likes of Stephenie Meyer and Laurell K. Hamilton have ruined what was once an exciting genre to read (for me). So I came across this book, Killing Kiss by Sam Stone, and read the blurb:
  
  "He's looking for a girl; not just any girl, and dark-haired, brown-eyed Carolyn is the one.
  But does Gabriele Caccini, a student at Manchester University, really know what he wants? When a beautiful curvacious blonde comes into his life he starts to question his motives and emotions; even a Seventeenth Century vampire can do that.
  Alone in the modern world, limiting his feeds to one a year to avoid detection, Gabriele reflects on the origins of his immortality and questions why it is he who should have the vampire gene, when over four hundred women have not survived his killing kiss...
  But at a house party, a fellow student spikes Gabriele's drink with drugs and his self-indulgent musings are suddenly turned upside down..."
  
  And that was enough to hook me. Put it this way: Gabriele (I still have no idea how you pronounce this, even with the hint in the book) is a lonely vampire, a monster, who survives by dipping into a life to find his next feed, and then moving on. He has killed over four hundred women this way, and each time he hopes that this woman will be the one who will survive: but they never are.
  
  What attracted me to this was the idea behind it: the vampire gene. By the end of the book, I had a pretty good idea of where the rest of the series is going to go (time will tell if I'm right or not, as I fully intend to buy the next book soon), but that didn't really disappoint me. The characters are not clean cut, and are not exactly likeable - it's a nice change to get that in a book. You understand Gabriele, with him being the narrator, but you don't exactly like him. The mysterious and alluring blonde who comes into his life, and eventually those others who Gabriele comes into contact with, serve in a way as our own reactions to some of the things he does - he kills women without giving them the choice of whether they want to become like him, he is aloof and arrogant, and self-pitying. Gabriele goes through a change by the end of the book, as all main characters must. He is slightly more likeable by the end.
  
  The reason why I gave it four stars is because I didn't quite like the characters as much as perhaps I as a reader was intended to, and because I guessed the twist before the end.
  
  Despite that, I'm looking forward to reading the next one, and I will treasure my signed copy of this book as I do all signed books. Kudos to Sam Stone for creating a refreshingly different type of vampire.
  
  
• 
  Andy Frankham-Allen

  Quickest book I've read in ages. I was a wee bit concerned at the initial similarity to 'Twilight' - vampire in school (in this case, university) meets and becomes interested in a mortal girl. Thankfully, though, that's where the similarity ends. It builds up slowly as we are introduced to Gabriele, a seventeenth century vampire, who is seeking the new 'one', a young woman called Carolyn. In four hundred years he has yet to meet a single woman who has survived his feasting, dying instead of being turned. It is, in that respect, a rather sad beginning, this lonely soul wandering the Earth seeking companionship, but it soon turns into something a little darker when he encounters Lilly at a party, and their drinks are spiked.
  
  The story follows through the use of flashbacks, which shows us key moments in Gabriele's life, from his beginnings in Florence right through to the death of his only son. It is a tragic life; the scenes showing the death of his wife, Amanda, are quite horrifying, as Gabriele, despite his best intentions, is forced to lie beside his dead wife, clinging dangerously to the hope that she will rise a vampire like he. These flashbacks are intermixed nicely with the development of Gabriele and Lilly's "relationship", a frosty one at best. My only gripe in this development is the way it comes together in the final chapter. The frosty almost-hate, from Lilly could have been used a lot more. It certainly kept Gabriele on his toes, and continued to help keep him a tragic figure. Surely better than a contented one.
  
  Still the epilogue throws everything into a spin, and sets up the second book nicely.
  
  There is much more I could say about this book, but I don't wish to ruin it, and so therefore it is imperative that all fans of good vampire fiction, those turned off by the popular vampire fiction out there (and we're talking the Twilight saga, the True Blood books, the Vampire Diaries - oh, the list goes on!), need to pick this book up. It definitely needs bigger exposure. The bonus here is that Killing Kiss has been published by a small independent publisher and is thus a more unique tale, and not one forced into a predictable format by the demands of a big money grabbing publishing house.
  
  Buy it! Gabriele awaits you.
• 
  Michele Lee

  Trade Paperback: 9781906584078
  
  If Dracula and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Count Saint Germain mixed you'd have Gabriele, the lead in Sam Stone's throwback vampire novel, Killing Kiss. Stone takes readers on a ride back to when vampires were ageless, alien creatures only pretending to be human, where they mourned or celebrated their liberation from the species, found themselves constantly drawn to it and they didn't sparkle.
  
  Gabriele was a well-off Italian singer who fell prey to a woman, who quite accidentally made him a vampire when she fully intended to kill him. After his own tragic attempts to maintain a human life Gabriele gives up and instead once a year he ventures into the human social world to find and attempt to change a woman to become his mate. Four hundred years, and four hundred failures later sees Gabriele assuming the life of a college student, and almost given up on finding an equal, intent just on surviving.
  
  As his new persona Jay, he runs into shy, quiet, bashful Carolyn, exactly his type of victim. For he must be a serial killer, even if he's only killed once a year, for leaving such a trail of lost loves behind him. Then there's Lilly, who is most definitely not his type, until spiked drinks from a frat party cause Gabriele to drop everything, his identity, his game and his defenses to whisk Lilly away.
  
  Killing Kiss could never be dismissed as mere "vampire porn". While the plot is foresee-able it's also a return to vampires as predators on humanity, yet creatures utterly charmed by and weakened to us. Flashbacks are mixed in with modern events, giving the book the feel of slowly backing away from a painting to see the full picture.
  
  Vampire fans, especially those feeling left behind by romance's siege on the genre, will find Killing Kiss (the first in a trilogy) has a lot to offer and shouldn't be missed.
• 
  G.R. Yeates

  A classy blend of historical gothic romanticism with modern urban vampires that don't sparkle. The narrative shifts seamlessly between the past and the present, weaving both together with the protagonist's internal dialogue as he struggles with the good and the bad sides of his supernatural nature. This is also a great traditional adventure that closes with a cliffhanger that will leave you wanting to rush out and get the next book in the series. Great fun. Great characters. Great story.
• 
  Simon Forward

  Oh dear. This book might as well have flitted in through my bedroom window and drained my will to live as I slept. Brings zero new life to the genre, not a single character to inspire any care or connection whatsoever. Some competent writing with an eye for detail, but the story is, sadly, the kind of tiresome drudgery that tends to get published - and read - far too commonly.
• 
  Raven Dane

  Loved this ! Ms Stone has a sharp mind and great talent and has created an alluring and very different edge to the well trod vampire genre. An assured and intriguing first novel.
• 
  Neil

  Did not think that this would be for me, but what a cracking good read!
• 
  Allieandra

  So bad. Even worse than Twilight.
• 
  Steven Davis

  I've read a reasonable amount of paranormal romance, and this book is a good exception. I'm not sure it is para-rom or vamp-lit, there's more to it than that. Yes, there's hopping between time streams in the principal character's life, and there's a sex/seduction scene or two, but there's also a lot more. Some of this book, without giving the plot away, is set in Manchester. Okay, so I don't know Manchester well, but it's a city I can envisage, as opposed to a metropolis in the USA. The main character takes a while to get into, but once the spiking incident happens (you'll have to read to find out more) it gathers pace and depth.
  I'm normally not that fond of trilogies, but the twist at the end surprised me and I want to read more.
• 
  Laura Summers

  'Killing Kiss' is the story of Gabriele, a Seventeenth Century vampire, and a Manchester University student. It is a dark, and somewhat edgy book.
  
  Gabriele is entirely alone in the world since he was accidentally turned into a vampire, and then abandoned by his maker. He lives in the outskirts of society.
  
  To keep his existence under the radar he only allows himself one feed a year. The choosing of each year's victim is an all consuming and important task for Gabriele. He seduces and stalks the woman like the serial killer that he is. That woman always has the same characteristics. She is dark, slim, quiet, reserved and a virgin.
  
  It is very difficult to turn a human into a vampire and no-one knows why one person survives and another dies. So every year Gabriele chooses carefully, and every year devastatingly, she dies. He would know, he has four hundred trophies to remind himself.
  
  This year is unlike any other, he has chosen his prey and has begun stalking her with single minded determination. But, this year something distracts him. A beautiful and curvaceous woman called Lilly, who has every male student on campus panting. Of course she is not Gabriele's type. Gabriele has already chosen the dark haired Carolyn who fits his requirements perfectly.
  
  However, despite hundreds of years of planning and control, Gabriele quickly discovers it only takes one small action to disrupt even the best laid plans. It comes in the shape on a simple spiked drink and suddenly everything changes.
  
  The story is mixed in equal parts with Gabriele or Jay's, as he is known currently, life in the modern day and his reflections of his past. As his thinks about how he became a vampire and his life since. The women he's loved and killed, some even his wives. He takes us on a macabre and occasionally desolate journey.
  
  When I first started the book I struggled to engage with Gabriele. Instead of coming across as a dark, sexy and gothic hero, initially he seems more like a horny, teenage boy. There's something sleazy about his pursuit of the innocent Carolyn that was not only sinister, but made my skin crawl. But on reflection, I think this was perhaps the author's intended effect.
  
  I can't really talk about them without throwing in some spoilers which I'm reluctant to do, but there were a few things in the narrative that made me feel uncomfortable. In particular an unexpected revelation towards the end. But, again even as I think about it, I think this is on purpose. It is meant to set the reader slightly on edge and to break stereotypical moulds. To make this an unusual and deliberately different vampire novel.
  
  VERDICT:
  
  This book is deceptively compelling. Like that alcoholic drink you shouldn't like but can't resist having just one more of. It is a purposely different, contemporary horror. And I find I am curious despite myself, to know where the author takes it next.
  
  Reviewed for
  www.bookchickcity.com 's All Hallows Event.
• 
  Jenny / Wondrous Reads

  
  I had never heard of this book before last week, and I honestly didn't know what I'd think of it. I agreed to review it because it's about vampires, and no matter how hard I try, I can never say no to that. As soon as I started reading it, I was hooked, and didn't put it down until I'd got to the end. I absolutely loved it! A bit more action in the occasional slow section would have made it even better, but it didn't really suffer because of its slower plot pace.
  
  The thing that really stands out when reading Killing Kiss is Sam Stone's fantastic writing and thorough characterisation. I haven't seen writing this good for a while, and as for the characters, they're so deep and layered they could almost be real. I feel like I know Italian-born Gabriele inside out; it's like there isn't anything I'm missing, or any extra information that could help me understand him further. He's one of the most fascinating vampires I've ever read about, and that's partially because of the way Stone delves into his entire 400-year history. His entire life is explained in great detail, with the first person narrative allowing his thoughts and feelings to take centre stage.
  
  One other aspect of Killing Kiss that I loved was the setting. It's set in Manchester, around the Deansgate area, which isn't too far from where I live. In fact, I was there a few days ago, though sadly I didn't meet any vampires! I've never read a vampire novel set this close to home, and it was great to recognise the places and landmarks mentioned.
  
  The vampire mythology is slightly different to other books I've read, and I like that Stone put her own spin on things. Gabriele flies, he can camouflage himself, and turning someone into a vampire very rarely works. He feeds once a year to avoid detection and, unfortunately, has been without a mate for most of his life. His story focuses on how he survives by himself, and just how lonely an existence being a creature of the night can be.
  
  Killing Kiss is a brilliant, intricate story, with a loveable heroine and a fresh take on the vampire legend. I'm really glad it's the first in a trilogy, as that means I'll get to spend more time with Italy's finest!
• 
  Dumpy Unicorn

  I picked up all three Vampire Gene novels at a convention I recently attended and as such I got to meet
  Sam Stone we got to talking about how vampires have been defanged somewhat, she reassured me that her vampires didn't sparkle and so I bought the books and have been looking forward to reading them.
  
  And I have made a start, I've read killing kiss and it is enjoyable. First off I think this is probably one of the few urban fantasy novels that I've read that is set in the UK so that immediately gets bonus points from me. Secondly Gabriele is definitely a predator, the reader is left with no misconception that he's a pretty efficient killer.
  
  That said, I found the character fairly easy to empathise with, as the novel fills in his backstory alternating with the contemporary one.
  
  Lilly is a really likeable character, she's strong willed and really doesn't take any vampire crap.
  
  The story rattles along at a good pace and is both fiercely enjoyable and rather sexy, even if I do say so myself.
  
  I am really looking forward to reading the sequels.
  
• 
  Christina

  Felt like not a story in itself but just the start of a larger story arc which for me was a disappointment. Only really interested in Gabriele's past, some of which were well written and compelling. The present day seemed more contrived and just intended to introduce the three key characters and set up Gabriele/Lilly relationship which the rest of the series will follow. Don't think I'll continue with the series though.
• 
  Tim Rideout

  Highly readable visceral, sexy vampire novel.