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The main thing Crimson Kiss has going for it is that it doesn't shy away from the classic evil, predatory monster interpretation of a vampire, complete with brutal blood sucking, mental manipulation and sadistic hunting- even staying resiliently dark after the hallmark twist of one of the most powerful vampires falling for a normal girl. I was really pumped for what I thought was going to be a dark timeline version of the girl meets vamp cliche and turn it on it's head in a really ironic way. The first 1/3 was really suspenseful when it was setting up for the fall of their romance and Simon's true nature.

Where it failed was when it didn't know what to do with the concept once it got there. Simon and Maggie fall into the rut of "I hate you! I love you! I hate how much I love you!" battle cry and instead of developing their relationship into anything interesting, relied on summarizing and telling what they felt and endured rather than showing. Also, Maggie was such a hard character to follow as she can't seem to hold onto an emotion or motive for more than a few sentences. I think there was a scene where she was facing the news that her father had passed away without her knowing and it upset her so much she nearly murdered Simon's servant and only a matter of pages later she enjoyed ice cream and cigarettes with Charles. The last couple of chapters were so unbearably inconsistent and meandering that I skimmed to the end, which was a soapy cliffhanger.

So three stars for the cool concept and creepy first 1/3, and meh on everything that came after.