Review: Shades of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Posted January 22, 2010 by Casee in Reviews | 1 Comment

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Casee‘s review of Shades of Midnight (Midnight Breed Series, Book 7) by Lara Adrian.

In a frozen wilderness steeped in darkness, the lines between good and evil, lover and enemy, are never black or white but drawn in Shades of Midnight.

Something inhuman is stalking the frigid Alaskan wilds, leaving unspeakable carnage in its wake. For bush pilot Alexandra Maguire, the killings stir memories of a horrific event she witnessed as a child and evoke in her the inexplicable sense of otherness she has long felt within herself but never fully understood . . . until a darkly seductive stranger with secrets of his own enters her world.

Sent from Boston on a mission to investigate the savage attacks and stop the slaughter, vampire warrior Kade has his own reasons for returning to the frigid, forbidding place of his birth. Haunted by a secret shame, Kade soon realizes the stunning truth of the threat he faces–a threat that will jeopardize the fragile bond he has formed with the courageous, determined young woman who arouses his deepest passions and most primal hungers. But in bringing Alex into his world of blood and darkness, Kade must confront both his own personal demons and the even greater evil that could destroy all he holds dear.

I didn’t really like Ashes of Midnight. It split the series off from the core of the series which is the Order. Even though I didn’t like Ashes of Midnight, I really enjoy this series. I like where she’s taken the series and look forward to seeing how it end. And there is an end in sight. I really hope that Lara Adrian doesn’t go the whole “this series is open ended” route. That would be really disappointing.

Alex is speshal, but she doesn’t know it. She’s a Breedmate, a woman that is revered by the Breeds and protected at all costs. Breedmates have unique psychic gifts that can easily be explained away if the woman in question doesn’t know what she is. That’s the case in Alex’s situation. She has always been able to detect when people are lying. It’s an uncanny ability that she has just accepted about herself.

When Alex goes to deliver goods to the settlements in the Alaskan bush, she walks into a nightmare from her past. A family of six that she has know for years have been brutally murdered. By something that’s not human. Alex recognizes it right away, but doesn’t know where to turn.

Kade was sent to Alaska by the Order to check out the murder of the family and see if it’s Breed related business. Being from Alaska, he’s the obvious choice to send. When Kade meets Alex, he knows she’s different in some way, but he can’t figure out how. It doesn’t take much investigating for Kade to know that it’s more than a Rogue on the loose in the bush. Now he needs Alex’s help. Then he’ll scrub her memory. Yeah, I didn’t like that very much.

Kade finally figures out (d’oh) that Alex is a Breedmate. He wants to do the right thing and leave her alone, but he just can’t. He thinks he’s cursed b/c of his gift and that he would hurt anyone that was stupid enough to love him. He’ll just stay with Alex for a little while.

The story was good, but it wasn’t captivating. I thought Alex fell for Kade too fast, but then isn’t that usually the case?

3.25 out of 5.

This book is available from Dell. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

The series:

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One response to “Review: Shades of Midnight by Lara Adrian

  1. Thanks so much for this insightful review. I really liked the first books in this series. I think writing a series is a particular kind of challenge–keeping up the level of story-telling can be very demanding. Lara Adrian pulls it off most of the time, but I did find that there were times in the first four books when the story line was a bit weak (for lack of a better word) and the energy of the story seemed to lag a bit. Nevertheless, it was a great experience and I am looking forward to reading the next books. Been doing lost of historicals recently but I’ll get back to the paranormals pretty soon. I think Adrian is a first-class writer! — Dr. J . . .

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