Reviewer: Casee
Midnight Rising by Lara Adrian
Series: Midnight Breed #4

Publication Date: 2010-09
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 356
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Series Rating:

In a world of shadows and dark, cosuming hungers, desire is the deadliest weapon...
For journalist Dylan Alexander, it began with the discovery of a hidden tomb, thrusting her into the center of a gathering storm of violence and secrets. But nothing is as dangerous as the scarred, lethally seductive man who rises from the shadows to draw her into his world of dark desire and endless night.
Fueled by pain and rage over a shattering betrayal, the warrior Rio has pledged his life to the war against the Rogues. He will let nothing stand in his way—least of all a mortal woman with the power to expose the entire vampire race. For an ancient evil has been awakened, and a stunning darkness is on the rise. Suddenly Dylan is powerless to resist Rio’s touch, even as she uncovers a shocking link to her own past. And now she must choose: Leave Rio’s midnight realm, or risk it all for the man who has shown her true passion and the infinite pleasures of the heart. . . .

Wow. This series gets better with each book. I’m really excited to see where Lara Adrian is taking this series.

The reader first meets Rio in Kiss of Midnight when he is brutally betrayed by his Breedmate, Eva. After almost being killed in an explosion, the ugly truth of her betrayal comes out. Shortly after, Eva kills herself while at Rio’s bedside. For months Rio can barely control his rage. It’s only with the help of Dante’s Breedmate, Tess, that Rio is able to see past the anger that is changing his life.

When the Order finds out that an Ancient, the first known vampires of their race, was entombed they race to the mountains near Prague hoping to destroy the tomb before it’s discovered. What they find is shocking and horrifying. The crypt is empty, the Ancient gone. Barely able to comprehend what it means, Rio offers to stay behind to seal the cave by blowing up the entrance. Only Rio knows what he really intends…to seal himself inside as well.

Five months later, Dylan Alexander comes upon the cave after being led there by a ghost. Able to see ghosts since she was a small child, Dylan had hoped that her affliction had ended since it had been years since she had last seen one. She can hear them, though they can’t hear her. What Dylan finds in the cave is enough to give her hope that her journalism career is not completely in the toilet. Little does she know how the course of her life changed the second she stepped foot in the cave.

After Dylan takes pictures of the cave and of him, Rio knows that he has to seal the cave, then go after Dylan to remove her memories of the cave and him. That’s much harder than he first thinks b/c of all the people Dylan has been in contact with. It doesn’t exactly help the situation that he has been virtually starving himself for the last five months, nor that he’s physically attracted to Dylan. After what happened with Eva, it’s the latter that surprises Rio the most.

Considering that only a year had past between Eva’s betrayal and Rio meeting Dylan, I was wondering how Adrian was going to pull this off. She pulled it off quite nicely. Though Rio cared about Eva, they weren’t blood bonded. Rio loved her in his own way, while Eva was obsessed with Rio. Dylan is the first woman that he ever confides his past to. Not only that, but she doesn’t judge him for what he has done.

The places that this series can go with the evil that now exists in this series is virtually endless. While Marek (Lucan’s brother) was definitely evil, it would have got boring after awhile. What we learn has been going on in the last 50 or so years makes me even more excited for the next book. Lara Adrian definitely continues to keep it fresh.

4.5 out of 5.

Series order:

Kiss of Midnight
Kiss of Crimson
Midnight Awakening
Midnight Rising