A Touch of Crimson by Sylvia Day

A Touch of Crimson takes place in a new world where Sentenial Angels are the law when it comes to vampires and lycans. Lycans have been recruited (or enslaved depending on how you look at it) to help keep vampires in line. But a revolution is brewing within the lycan race and the world may be in for a big change — for better or for worse. Now, while it may seem like Sentenials have free reign, there is one thing that is forbidden for them — loving a mortal. They are not to get involved with mortals, but keep their eyes on the duty of enforcing the laws for paranormal creatures.

But for Adrian, he has been chasing after the love of his life — Shadoe — for many years. Every time she dies, her soul is transported to another body which inevitably finds him. While the person who’s body her soul resides in is unaware that their body is not their own, Adrian falls in love with Shadoe’s soul over and over again. But Lindsay is different. When Lindsay appears in his life, he finds himself falling in love all over again. But there are distinct differences between this reincarnation and the ones from the past, which leads Adrian to believe that he may be falling in love with Lindsay, and not Shadoe this time.

A Touch of Crimson is a very different take on the paranormal. In some ways it reminded me of the Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh because the angels are in charge of the vampires and such. But, it’s still very different from that and unique. The thing that didn’t connect for me though was a combination of the writing style and the visuals. There were many times when I just couldn’t picture what was going on and there was a lot going on. So this lead to some things feeling blurry and disconnected.

But I liked Adrian and Lindsay. Their relationship and “love” was a bit fast and I felt like they could’ve had a bit more chemistry. It seemed like they were just doing what was expected of them as opposed to feeling an undeniable attraction for each other. But as individuals I liked them both. I also liked the secondary characters. Probably my favorite character was Elijah. You an just tell that there’s more to him that meets the eye, and I really hope we get more of his story in the future books.

One thing that bugged me though was some of the language was a bit crude and out of place. It’s not so much I mind swearing because I really don’t. But the problem for me was that when there were intimate, seemingly more romantic moments, and the “F” word would be used when it just seemed out of place. There were a few other examples, but I can’t think of them right now.

Overall, this was okay. It is definitely a different world, but I think it needs some more building and foundation. It definitely has potential to be a really intriguing world. Hopefully after another book or two this will be a more solid paranormal romance series, but this book alone was just a little too boring and a bit flat for me.

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