Kiss of Darkness by Jennifer St. Giles

Emerald Linton is an Irish Healer who lost her daughter's father to a Vladarian Vampire infection. Once a dedicated hunter of Vampires,he succumbed to the evil of being a vampire, and was ready to sacrifice both his wife and daughter to the other Valdarian Vampires.

Emerald only barely managed to escape that dreadful night, when her home was torched, and she and her daughter were attacked. But the worldwide threat of the Vladarians has grown stronger, and she has joined with the otherworldly Shadowmen and their human allies to fight them. But unbeknownst to her allies, Emerald does not get her powers from Druidic ancestors, as she has told them. Instead, Emerald is part angel, and so is her daughter.

But the man Emerald has fallen in love with, Sheriff Sam Sheridan, has been bitten by a Vladarian Vampire, and is infected with their evil. To save the man she loves from the infection, she must perform a sort of cleansing on him, one that may very well put her own life in danger.

But they aren't going to be able to have that chance, because the Vladarian Vampires have geared up for a major attack on the town, and Sam Sheridan must be right in the middle of the defense, because as the Sherriff of the town, the residents are relying on him to keep the peace. But when a pair of military personnel show up and tell Sam that his former commander and superior wants to see him, NOW, they are willing to do almost anything to take him with them.

But as the miasma of the Vladarian's presence rolls through the small town, making the residents short-tempered and suspicious, the transformation taking place in Sam has made him unable to resist Emerald's charms. And while he has wanted her from the first time he met her, he hasn't been able to do anything about it until the vampire virus supercharged his lust and emotions. Now, having had her, he's unable to stop wanting her, and while she knows he's infected with a virus slowly changing him into a bloodthirsty vampire, and someone evil, she's unable to keep away herself- because she's in love with him.

But can Emerald save Sam from the infection, and from himself? And can Sam save her and the other people who have joined with him to fight off the Vladarian vampires and the demons they have made deals with and save the world from the horror of vampire infection? Or is their cause doomed when the Vladarians steal a holy relic and intend to desecrate it to remove the protection and angelic powers of Emerald. With so many forces arrayed against them, can Sam and the Shadowmen be saved?

Usually, it's not a problem for me to pick up a series in the middle and figure out what is going on. This book, however, was quite different, and I found it confusing. I didn't care about any of the characters, and didn't find any of the sequel-baiting the story does with any of the characters to be interesting or make me want to read more. Stuff happened. Stuff that happened in the past was discussed, but I found myself just... not particularly caring about any of it.

I even found the love story of Sam and Emerald boring and not at all hot. Nothing in the story called or spoke to me. In short, I was turned off. I felt... nothing. And it's not a general malaise against supernatural romance, it was just... bleh. Obviously, it's not the first book in the series, and just as obviously, someone must be reading it and liking it, but I was left cold. Completely cold.

I can't recommend this book. It isn't hot. it isn't interesting, and the various romances in it failed to interest me in any way at all. It bored me, and I find that to be a deadly fault in a book. Not recommended. I wouldn't throw water on this book if it was on fire, sadly enough, and I grew to resent the time I spent struggling to finish it.