Kiss Before Dying is a short story involving vampire lord Sebastian and his blood slave Katja. Katja has been in his service for ten years and soon she will be released with her memory wiped clean. Since she is hopelessly in love with her Shellar she will risk death only to have him once completely to herself. She disguises herself with magic and accepts her fate, accepting a kiss before dying. Now, all this sounds good enough but a few things really bothered me.First, the idea that a vampire lord and master has only one blood slave for full ten years and that the blood slave must be a virgin for all that time. Really? I mean, vampires with all that sexual drive won't lay a finger on the member of the opposite sex through the course of ten years during their most intimate act of feeding? It is really hard to believe.Secondly, Sebastian claimed that he was in love with Katja since he saw her while in the market for a new blood slave. But he had many women coming to his bed while she was living with him and sharing his bed. How could he make her go through that again and again for years? She also claims that he is so good in nature and wouldn't hurt a fly but he kills each and every woman he sleeps with. No one lives to tell the story. How appropriate.Thirdly, he knew that she was the one hiding behind the mask and that she was a virgin with her 27 years of age and was never ever touched in an inappropriate way. And yet, he makes her give him a blowjob and swallows every drop in the process while nearly choking to death.In conclusion, it is hard to believe and imagine oneself in that story. That's why I'm giving it a low grade. If you’ve ever thought a short story didn’t proffer the wordage to draw you to the emotional brink, think again. J.A. Saare’s A KISS BEFORE DYING will take you there, and with all of the exhilaration of both craving and fearing the fall.And fall you will.Within the pages of A KISS BEFORE DYING there’s an amount of intimacy that will leave readers with the most delicious feeling of experiencing every moment firsthand. It’s as if you’re gazing from the shadows, watching with a hitch in your breath and a hammering in your chest, the story an intimate sweep of the senses. J.A. Saare’s words are so beautifully placed in sequence they dissolve, worlds collide, and for a few profound moments you’re there—feeling a tad bit voyeuristic, even, but all the better within the steamy folds of this exquisite tale.If you’re not a vampire person, don’t let that deter you from this one. This story is first and foremost one of love, and any reader who can appreciate a true weakens-the-knees, soaks-the-thighs kind of romantic interlude will adore it. A snapshot in time, this tale doesn’t attempt to give the characters’ life story. Rather, it offers exactly what readers need to understand the stakes, to feel each surge of adrenaline and every height of passion right along with Katja. The tenderness of Sebastian’s touch borders on unbearable, every caress a stroke-you-until-you-quiver encounter of trembling flesh and … yes, sacrifice. Because in the end, the only way for Katja to have it all is to give up everything to get it.A KISS BEFORE DYING is a-MAZE-ing. Don’t be surprised if you hit the last page sweaty and a bit disheveled … in fact, you can look forward it. For less than two bucks, you just couldn’t ask for a better ride.
