Okay, so this is a brand new book, the third in Karen Chance’s Midnight’s Daughter series. The Midnight’s Daughter series is closely tied to her Cassie Palmer series. They both feature a lot of the same characters. Midnight’s Daughter revolves around the character Dorina Basarab, a dhampir-a half human/half vampire. Her father was brothers with Dracula. Yes, that Dracula and Chance’s version is a bit more insane than Stoker’s.

At any rate, Dorina (or Dory as she’s more commonly referred to) is an outcast in the vampire community. Not really human, not really vampire she isn’t considered a vampire ‘citizen’. She has no rights and anyone can basically do anything they want to her…if her powerful father, Mircea, wasn’t protecting her. Dhampirs are feared by vampires because they tend to go into homicidal rages where they can kill even powerful vampires easily.

Fury’s Kiss is the third book in this series. Dory has come a long way since the beginning (Midnight’s Daughter) where she didn’t trust anyone, especially vampires and double-especially her father. They have a rather screwed up family dynamic and we finally figure out why in this book.

This book is so new that I won’t go into too much detail so I don’t spoil it for anyone. Basically, Dory is helping on a special Senate (vampire, not US) task force on smuggling. The problem is…she doesn’t remember her last assignment. The one that gorgeous vamp (aren’t they all these days?) Louis-Cesare rescued her from. And did I mention that this assignment was key to helping win the war between the vampires and the Black Circle (evil human mages-not the most original of names for an evil magic organization but fitting).

Who is behind the smuggling? Why is her memory missing? And just what is she going to do about Louis-Cesare? Because he seems determined to get in her pants…and stick around afterwards. Dory does not do relationships very well but rather than seeming like a trite plot device that I’ve complained about before, Chance does a very good job of showing us why Dory is the way she is. And how she’s starting to get better.

I would very much recommend that if you are interested in the Midnight’s Daughter series, that you start with the first book Midnight’s Daughter by Karen Chance. I am addicted to this series and to it’s companion series (Cassie Palmer). The one thing I don’t like about the Cassie Palmer series is…welll, Cassie Palmer. She has moments of total bad-assery but sometimes she comes across as whiney and dangerously incompetent. I’m hopefully Cassie Palmer will come along as beautifully as Dorina Basarab is. Rating: A