Review: Midnight Awakening

MIDNIGHT AWAKENING
by Lara Adrian

With a dagger in her hand and vengeance on her mind, Darkhaven beauty Elise Chase prowls Boston’s streets in search of retribution against the Rogue vampires who took from her everything she cherished. Using an extraordinary psychic gift, she tracks her prey, well aware that the power she possesses is destroying her. She must learn to harness this gift, and for that she can turn to only one man—the deadliest of the Breed warriors, Tegan.

No stranger to loss, Tegan knows Elise’s pain. He knows fury, but when he slays his enemies it is with ice in his veins. He is perfect in his self-control, until Elise seeks his aid in her personal war. An unholy alliance is forged—a bond that will link them by blood and vow—and plunge them into a tempest of danger, desire, and the darkest passions of the heart. . . .

This is the third book in this vampire series that takes a fresh, sexy, exciting look at the genre. Here they are called The Breed and battle against vampires of their kind who have succumbed to bloodlust and gone Rogue. There is a cultured, sheltered element of their kind, much like the ton of England called the Darkhavens.

This is the story of Tegan, the loner and most feared and dangerous of the Order, the warrior class that protects the Darkhavens and the rest of the Breed. He has been a bit of an enigma in the previous books, someone who doesn’t connect with others, someone who the Breed mom’s probably use to scare their little Breed offspring into behaving. That sort of thing.

In the last book, he met Elise, the mother of a young Breed male gone Rogue. She was a delicate widow who he was briefly kind to. Now, after four months, their paths have crossed again, and he can’t seem to stay away from her.

Theirs is a great love story. A story about love, loss, and devotion. A story about vengeance and doing whatever it takes. This is a fabulous book with depth of emotion, fabulous characters, twists and turns, and – most of all – the healing redemption of love.

Elise is a character that has grown exponentially since we last saw her in book two. The woman she has become is a direct result of the tragedy she has endured. I felt for her, I related to her. She was someone who I had longed to know more about when she appeared in the earlier book, and I was happy she got her own story, but also happy that she became a much stronger, convicted character.

Tegan’s harshness is explained in this book. He is not really a sympathetic character, but I do understand better why he has made the choices he has and what made him the unfeeling, harsh male we’ve seen in the other books and in beginning of this one. I thought the twists, turns, and history of the characters that was revealed was excellent. The world Lara Adrian has created here is compelling and exciting.

Being the third book, I would recommend first reading the others in the series to get the full enjoyment and depth of this story. This is one of my favorite new series. It’s structured somewhat similarly to J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, but without being as dark as those books are. Don’t get me wrong – they are every bit as entertaining and deep, but without that incredible dark edge that exists in the other series. I highly recommend this book. Stay tuned to the end for a real revelation and cliff-hanger! I loved it.



Reviewed by Aster