Monday, August 5, 2013

Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed #3 - Tegan and Elise) by Lara Adrian

oh Tegan, Tegan...
I'm thinking of ending my review with these 3 opening words :D

I knew he would be my favorite. Exactly the dark warrior I'm drawn to! closed his emotions years ago after he lost his Breedmate and now feels nothing and it shows (he shows nothing I mean ;))!
I love those closed up, brooding, cold aggressive types! there is always something beneath that's worth scraping more then just the surface..


here comes Elise - a "girl" I absolutely adore! She had a very easy life till her husband dies, then, on the previous book she looses her son as well, but instead of crumbling down she decides to FIGHT! 

Elise is exactly what Tegan needs, a woman who knows what she wants - revenge!! and is willing to fight for it, including his "bullshit", though she has a rough time with her rising emotions to Tegan and his behavior is sort of "cold/hot" - hard to understand what the hell he wants! 

Tegan knows what he wants. well, he knows what he shouldn't want! and he struggles with his growing emotions for Elise until he realizes the battle is lost, he can't keep her at arms length. he needs her.

I couldn't put this book down. Started reading it in the evening, barely convinced myself to go to sleep then cursed all my working day thinking of when I get back home to my book!

Only thing I found a little strange was the fact that at the few ending chapters (last hour of reading) there was so much action! that I was wondering what actually happened all the book that all of that was condensed in the end. 

I loved the resolve in the ending chapter (yeah, I'm not going to say which resolve is that except I don't mean Elise and Tegan's)

Another thing I have to add! since it's the second relationship for the both of them, I liked how it played out in a sense that Tegan's first woman was a "sweet girl". I don't think he had that much in common with her, I don't think she could have understood him and his way of life. I'm not saying he didn't love her but that its wasn't what I think would be perfect for him. and with Elise, she owes her dead husband family a lot. they raised her. marring him and living with him gave her status and appreciation. she had a really good life. she differently made the best of it. but in a sense it wasn't what I'd sign her for either. because in a way her relationship with him was "all about him", his status, his job and not only because of it she felt like she was living in a golden cage. I don't think her husband ever thought about helping her deal with her gift maybe it was easier for him that she was always in the darkhaven, there for him and not "wondering outside", but she's a woman that wants to LIVE her life, be involved (and we see how much she is/was appreciated as his ex-wife during the book)but I think for her, Tegan in the right man since he sees her, sees her wants and needs and even reluctant he understands her decisions in life and is surprised with her boldness. I'm saying here A PERFECT MATCH and a perfect timing for both of them to really appreciate each other after having someone else (and not "bad" or "abusive" just not "that" for them)

Can't wait to start the next one!!! OH heavy addiction here.. I'm turning rough!





Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 402 pages, 4-5 August 2013 / On GoodReads
 
 
ABOUT THE MCs
 
Tegan
Gen One Breed, Order member. Tegan is approximately seven hundred years old. He sees no need to attempt to blend in with mankind, so he’s never bothered with a surname. One of the original members of the Order at its founding, Tegan has a reputation for being stone cold, merciless and detached, the loner of the group. Centuries ago in Europe, his Breedmate, Sorcha, was kidnapped by a powerful Breed enemy of the Order. Bled to the point of no return, Sorcha was sent back to Tegan a Minion of the Breed male who drained her (Marek). Tegan went mad with grief and rage, and would have been lost to Bloodlust if not for Lucan’s brutal, but necessary, intervention. Tegan thought he had cut himself off from all emotion until he crossed paths with Elise, a widowed Darkhaven Breedmate he had no right to desire.
Hair: tawny-gold, like a lion’s mane Eyes: gem green
Unique ability: reads anyone’s thoughts and emotional states with a touch.

Elise Chase
A ward of the Darkhavens since she was a little girl in the slums of 19th century Boston, Elise was raised by a prominent Breed family, the Chases. Eventually she became the Breedmate of Quentin Chase, elder brother to Sterling Chase. Quentin died five years before the events in Kiss of Midnight, widowing Elise. More recently, their eighteen-year-old son, Camden, went Rogue after being exposed to a drug called Crimson and is since deceased, shot and killed by Sterling Chase when the Rogue might have lashed out at his mother. After Camden’s death, Elise wants vengeance on the individual responsible for creating the drug that poisoned him. Her quest brings her up against Tegan from the Order, and introduces her to a dangerous passion she cannot resist.
Hair: light blond  Eyes: pale lavender
Breedmate mark: inside of right thigh Bloodscent: heather and roses and fresh spring rain
Unique ability: telepathically hears the sins and negative energy of humans.

 
ABOUT THIS SERIES
 
Midnight Breed by Lara Adrian is one of my absolute favorite Paranormal Romance Series. Like many of the series in this genre, we have a group of vampire warriors who are in charge of defending their race. 

The Order mainly protect the general population (vampire AND humans) from rouge vampires. Vampires whose crave for blood have reached a point of no return meaning they can no longer control themselves and since there is nothing to be done about this situation these rouges vampires have to be put down. Besides obvious risk to the human population, rouges / rabid vampires also are a treat in the sense that vampires live in secret groups (called Darkhavens) there they can live their separate lives without probing human eyes. Naturally they are a part of the general population but the way they live, in a sort of community, helps them maintain their traditions and way of living. 


In the recent years, the Order became infamous. There is no respect for the members of the Order and moreover they are treated like "barbarians", the vampire population doesn't believe that they are even needed but boy oh boy they are wrong.. dark days are ahead.. 


In the beginning, years and years ago, a group of highly strong vampires crushed on Earth. They are the base of the vampire population nowadays. As is seems there are no female vampires, only males. The females that can reproduce with vampires are called "breedmates" and they can be distinguished by a certain mark (crescent moon with a drop) that each breedmate has somewhere on her body. Each breedmate also has a special (inhuman) ability which she transfers to her vampire son. Thus every vampire has a special ability passed to him from his human mother. Breedmates need to drink blood in order to enhance their special ability and sometimes so they can control it and it won't take over her life.  It takes time until the ancestry of the breedmates is explained, it adds another layer to the story and brings the Order with another adversary they weren't expecting. 


Each book has it's separate story in which each warrior finds himself a breedmate / compatible mate. As you can guess, the Order isn't notorious for no reason.. most of the warriors are somehow "damaged", preferring to live a life in the Order rather than build a life of their own. Finding their mate makes them deal with their past and free themselves from its bindings. Beside the personal plot line there is also a bigger plot line about the main villain progressing from the first book until the 10th. From the 11th book (till the final 18th installment) there is a very significant change following a progression in 20 years changing the whole setting of the series with different villains as well as introducing new characters to the series - some the sons and daughters from the first 10 installments and of course we get to meet the older version of the parents as well. 


The main issue I had with the series in the beginning was the similarities between it and the general setting of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward. It only feels this way at the first, it takes a TOTALLY different direction plot-wise and character-wise which after reading enough of the two series I gotta say I MUCH prefer this one (I actually abandoned that one a while back..). 


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!

When the whiffs of the end of this beloved series started to get suffocating Lara announced a Spin-Off called "Hunter Legacy". The series will consist of stand-alone novels of the "Last Boys" - the Gen One Hunters who were bred as weapons of war by Dragos and were freed by The Order round the middle of the series. 

Books:
0.5 A Touch of Midnight [Gideon & Savannah] (published 15 July 2013) ★★★★★
1. Kiss of Midnight [Lucan & Gabrielle] (published 1 May 2007) ★★★★
2. Kiss of Crimson [Dante & Tess] (published 29 May 2007) ★★★★★
3. Midnight Awakening [Tegan & Elise] (published 27 November 2007) ★★★★★
4. Midnight Rising [Rio & Dylan] (published 25 March 2008) ★★★★★
5. Veil of Midnight [Niko & Renata] (published 30 December 2008) ★★★★ 
6. Ashes of Midnight [Andreas Reichen & Claire] (published 26 May 2009) ★★★★★

7. Shades of Midnight [Cade & Alex] (published 29 December 2009) ★★★★  
8. Taken By Midnight [Brock & Jenna] (published 28 September 2010) ★★★★★
9. Deeper than Midnight [Hunter & Corrine] (published 28 June 2011) ★★★★★
9.5 A Taste of Midnight [Danika & Malcolm] (published 5 December 2011) ★★★★★
10. Darker after Midnight [Chase & Tavia] (published 24 January 2012) ★★★½ 
 --- The Midnight Breed Series Companion (Volume #1) (published 26 June 2013) ★★★★★

 
11. Edge of Dawn [Mira & Kellan] (published 21 February 2013) ★★★★★
11.5. Marked By Midnight [Mathias Rowan & Nova] (published 30 June 2014) ★★★★

12. Crave the Night [Nathan & Jordana] (published 5 August 2014) ★★★★★
12.5. Tempted by Midnight [Lazaro & Melena] (1001 Dark Nights #10) (published 14 October 2014) ★★★★★
13. Bound to Darkness [Carys & Rune] (published 30 July 2015) ★★★★
13.5 Stroke of Midnight [Jehan & Seraphina] (1001 Dark Nights #26) (published 13 October 2015) ★★★★★
14. Defy the Dawn [Zael & Brynne(published 1 June 2016) ★★★★★

14.5 Midnight Untamed [Ettore & Bella] (1001 Dark Nights #47) (published 11 October 2016) ★★★★
14.6 Midnight Unbound [Scythe & Chiara]
 (published 14 March 2017) ★★★★½
14.7 Midnight Unleashed [Trygg & Tamisia] (1001 Dark Nights #69) (published 10 October 2017) ★★★½ 
15. Claimed in Shadows [Aric Chase & Kaya Laurent] (published 23 January 2018) ★★★ 
16. Break the Day [Xander Raphael "Rafe" Malebranche & Devony Winters] (published 30 July 2019) ★★★★½ 
17. Fall of Night [Micah & Phaedra] (published 31 January 2021)) ★★★★½
18. King of Midnight [Darion Thorne & Selene the Atlantean Queen] (to be Published 31 March 2022)

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