Review: The most unique vampire book I've read yet!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 5, 2011
Rated 4.5/5Summary:  Conrad is the apex around whom the characters in this book revolve.  He is one of the most powerful vampires in the world, and he leads his San Francisco based nest with generosity, affection, fear and cruelty.  The opposing facets of his power allow him to maintain control of his community without challenge.Seemingly impossible, Conrad is missing and foul play seems to be involved.  The only person who is aware of Conrad's missing person status is his former lover Damian.  Although the relationship between the two men ended over 100 years prior, Damian is fiercely devoted to his sire.  As a result, Damian refuses to stir up the vampire nest by revealing Conrad's disappearance.  Instead, he acquires assistance from the only two vampires he can trust - Conrad's twin children, Marc and Julie.In this world, vampires are never born. They are only made. Conrad defied the norm after falling deeply in love in the '60s with a young human woman named Desert Rose.  Their relationship was passionate and tumultuous, and resulted in the birth of the twins against all odds.  Desert Rose did not survive after the birth, so it was up to Conrad to raise the children in secret, away from those who would want to destroy the anomaly, and with only Damian to help him.Now it is the up to the twins to save their father.  For the first time in their lives, they have stopped hiding in the human world and are taking their place in their father's nest.  Will they be able to find Conrad in time to save his life?Review:  This book was one of the best surprises I've read all year.  Every good book has (what I call) an incision point.  It is the point in the book when the cut has been made and I'm 100% in for the duration.  Even in a really good book, it can still take several chapters before I hit that point of no return.  In this book, I hit it in chapter one.Based on the book summary and the introduction of the twins' history in the first chapter, I assumed immediately that they were going to be in their late teens or early twenties when Damian calls them to the nest for the first time.  I expected a coming-of-age vampire story.  Then all of a sudden - POW - the author casually divulges that the twins are actually in their forties.  How awesome is that??  They aren't adolescents... they are older than me!  That was the point I was hooked, because I knew this story would be unique.  They might be children in the vampire community, but to us human readers, they are adults.  What a fantastic dynamic to work with.The second major surprise was the complete lack of boundaries within the vampire community with regards to sexual orientation.  The vampires love who they love.  Male or female, it makes no difference.  They are not human, and they don't fall prey to human prejudices or labels.  They simply fall in love with the one who is worthy.  What an amazingly unique feature to be a natural part of this world.  In all the vampire books I've read, I've never read anything like this.For those of you who are sensitive to POV changes, this is a story that changes POVs with each chapter.  It is also a book that changes timelines.  There is a lot of jumping back and forth between the 60s (Conrad's relationship with Desert Flower) and current day (the search for Conrad.  Once in a while I did get frustrated with the timeline changes because it would cut off a part of the story I was really engrossed in.  But other than that, I enjoyed the format, the pacing, and the characters immensely.  The book is really well written and very emotional.I highly recommend this book to adult fans of paranormal and vamp romance novels.  Expect the unexpected.