ARC Review: Lara Adrian's Darker After Midnight

All I have to say is I've been waiting for Harvard's story since Book 2, Kiss of Crimson (my review.)  And it's finally here....Book 11, Darker After Midnight.  Squeak!  Ask and you shall receive.  Seek and you shall find.  Hallelujah, Lara Adrian.  First, I have to say a big thank you to Lara for sending me the ARC.  This is one of my favorite vampire series.  I simply must read all that's breed, dang it!  If you're a fan of Adrian's Midnight Breed vampire series than you know how we "breed" lovers have been patiently waiting (in near-death anticipation) for this book!  I'll do my best not to give away too many spoilers, but there may be some…sorry.

Darker After Midnight...in two words: Breed Armageddon.

If you recall, our breed hero, Sterling Chase, first arrived in Book 2, Kiss of Crimson.  Since then, we faithful readers, have read Chase's slow and painful demise.  Over the course of this series, he's managed to lose his loved ones and the damn near respect of every one of his kind.  As breed, vampire warriors almost always face bloodlust.  That's when you (according to Lara) "fuck, fight or fang" with an insatiable appetite.  And then, of course, you go “rogue.”  Going rogue is about the worst thing for a breed vampire.  Rogues are mindless and live in a constant feeding frenzy.  And poor Chase is on the cusp.  He had been there the last couple of novels, nearly going over the edge in Deeper Than Midnight (my review.)  It's there were he foils Dragos' plot and meets the lovely Tavia Fairchild.

In Darker After Midnight, the Order (Chase's Breed Warrior family) comes to terms with losing their treasured compound.  Chase, however, took one for the team, diverting attention away from the Order and becoming public enemy number one.  While the police end up containing Chase, the Order manages to relocate to another property.  While biding his time in lockup, Chase sees Tavia again.  At first glance, these two appear to be worlds apart.  She's a perfectionist and is the right hand to a prominent US Senator.  Chase, on the other hand, is the nearly rogue vampire warrior.  When Tavia first eyes Chase, she shudders at his unearthliness.  It permeates through his human facade, piercing Tavia's soul.  However different they seem, lo and behold through Adrian's plot reveal we soon find out they are not so different after all.  

So much happens in this book, I don't want to say more than that.  I have to warn you, though.  I've said it before (too many times *sigh*.)  Lara Adrian loves to break her own rules and she's done it again, minions.  Damn it, it's awesome too.  I wasn't sure what to expect having such high expectations for one of my favorite brooding heroes, Chase.  But after reading the book in its entirety, I was more than pleased.  Tavia is a force period.  And Dragos' war against the world - human and breed alike - has finally arrived.  It was nothing like I expected.  On my meter....Darker After Midnight was a 4.  

Stay tuned for my review of Lara Adrian's novella, A Taste of Midnight.

Mina B.