Pearl's World of Romance - Reviews with a Passion: Veil of Midnight

January 31, 2009

Veil of Midnight - Lara Adrian

8:00 AM |

Back Cover Copy:
Bound by blood, addicted to danger, they'll enter the darkest - and most erotic - place of all.

A warrior trained in bullets and blades, Renata cannot be bested by any man - vampire or mortal. But her most powerful weapon is her extraordinary psychic ability - a gift both rare and deadly. Now a stranger threatens her hard-won independence - a golden-haired vampire who lures her into a realm of darkness and pleasure beyond imagining.

A combat-loving adrenaline junkie, Nikolai dispenses his own justice to enemies of the Breed - and his latest quarry is a ruthless assassin. One woman stands in his way: the seductive, cool-as-ice bodyguard, Renata. But Renata's powers are put to the test when a loved one, a child, is threatened and she's forced to turn to Niko for help. As the two join forces, as desire fans the flames of a deeper hunger, Renata's life is under siege by a man who offers the exquisite pleasure of a blood bond - and a passion that could save or doom them both forever...

The battle has intensified...Where the Order was first butting heads with the Rogues, vampires lost to the bloodlust, now it has been thrown into a more complicated battle with significantly higher stakes and an even more ruthless enemy who has been killing Gene One vampires (first generation Breeds) and creating a new army of vampires to take over the world. And in the midst of this intensified battle Nikolai, a member of the Order, is sent to Canada on a mission to warn a specific Gen One, Sergei Yakut, who is on the hit list and secure him as an ally for the Order. But when Yakut refuses to adhere to any warning or request and is betrayed and killed unexpectedly by one of his own it becomes a mission with ultimately a very different outcome than anticipated. A mission that involves not only the capture of Niko by one of the enemies and the abduction of a young Breedmate with an extraordinary talent but also new and unlikely alliances and a blood bonded romance between Niko and Renata, one of Yakut's personal guards.

Renata is sharp, lethal, courageous and stubborn. She lives one day at the time and has learned to be suspicious and depend on her instincts. Her Breedmate ability is to disable Breeds with a mental blast. But this ability is not without consequences on her.
Niko(lai) is cool as ice, nothing seems to bother him and he lives for action. He is protective, compassionate and laid-back but at the same time he's lethal and analytical with an exceptional Breed talent, inherited from his mother.

Wow, Renata was some heroine. She's a true female warrior. Hardened by the far from easy life she's had to lead. Unlike the previous heroines she is right in the center of the action. She's familiar with battle and fighting.
And Niko, I was drawn to his character from the first moment he appeared in the series and I must say I loved the story that Lara Adrian gave him. Not only his romance with perfectly matched Renata, but also the plots, both continuing and new, surrounding his love story.

I can't say this enough but with every book the plots get better and better. It's getting more and more intricate and Lara Adrian keeps adding surprising revelations and new questions to the mix. Both new and familiar/known players enter the battle and are set in place for the future. There are enough hints to where things seem to be going and I stress the word "seem" because with Lara Adrian you never know. Just when you think you have it figured out she throws something new and puzzling at you and you're back wondering what the plot is going to bring next. She has created a world that is expanded with every new book that is released.

I was completely mesmerized by this 5th book in the Midnight Breed series. Lara Adrian hit the right notes with me on everything: the plot, the romance, and the characters. She also manages give each individual book its own uniqueness and still holds on to the continuity of the ongoing plot.
With this book it was like coming home again and reveling in this amazing world of vampire warriors, their mates, their enemies, their allies and their battle to save both their own and the human world.

Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breeds-world can easily compete with the established order of authors in the paranormal, vampire romance genre. She distinguishes herself with an excellent blend of a perfect story arc that continues and gets more elaborate, great characters with depth and believable development and strong romances that appeals to every reader who has a romantic streak.

Quotes:
And deeper still, in a place that was all woman, with needs and wants she hardly dared to examine too closely, she craved a taste of Nikolai. She craved that more than she had a right to.

She could still taste his blood on her tongue, sweet and wild and dark, an electric tingle that spread all through her and lit her up from within.

He had his methods down pat: Deflect with humor. Disarm with nonchalance. Cut and run like hell at the first inkling of his own vulnerability.

Labels: Bantam Dell, great reads, Lara Adrian, Midnight Breed Series, Paranormal Romance, reviews

1 comments:

Anonymous said...: I'm reading this at this very moment. Seems very nice this far (Renata saved Nikolai same pages ago).; Feb 2, 2009, 11:12:00 PM