Saturday, September 14, 2013

A Taste of Midnight (Midnight Breed #9.5 - Danika and Malcolm) by Lara Adrian

Sweet Novella. 
We had a glimpse of Danika in a previous book that led me to believe we will be hearing from her again though it was obvious she can't really return to the Order (too many memories). 
I loved that she got her HEA after losing Conlan. 
Bran was exactly what she needed, I wouldn't have felt it "right" with anyone else, I mean with someone totally new.
He's past story felt just as right to bringing them together. 

This novella was short but I felt it brought us what needed to be brought, didn't feel like I was missing something (which happens a lot in novellas) maybe it is because we already know Midnight Breed world and Danika herself. 
I loved the ending because in my eyes that's what Danika needed though I wasn't sure it's going to end this way.




Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 70 pages, 14 September 2013 / On GoodReads
 
 
ABOUT THE MCs
 
Danika (MacConn) MacBain
Breedmate of Order member Conlan MacConn until his death. Current Breedmate of Malcolm MacBain. Danika was born in Denmark more than four hundred years ago, and mated to Conlan of the Scottish clan MacConn from the time she was eighteen, until his recent death on a mission for the Order in Boston. At the time of Con’s death, Danika was pregnant with their first child. She left Boston to return home to Denmark, where she gave birth to her son, Connor. During the timeline of Ashes of Midnight, Danika provided a safe house in Denmark for Andreas Reichen and Claire Roth. There, she reads Claire’s mind and assures Claire that Andreas feels the same regret at having lost so much time without each other. Later, during the timeline of A Taste of Midnight, Danika and Connor travel to Scotland to reunite with Conlan’s family in Edinburgh for the Christmas holiday. While there, Danika crosses paths with a dangerous Breed crime boss (Reiver) and his scarred, mysterious henchman named Brannoc—a Breed male Danika once knew very well, at a different time, when Brannoc was a different man (Malcolm MacBain).
Hair: blond Eyes: blue
Breedmate mark: on her abdomen Bloodscent: fresh rain
Unique ability: Mind-reading.

Malcolm MacBain
Highlands-born Malcolm is more than four-hundred years old, lives in a fifteenth-century stone castle outside Edinburgh, Scotland. Mal was as close as a brother to Conlan MacConn, the pair of Breed males both neighbors and brothers-in-arms who rode into many battles together. They also saw Danika for the first time together, and both were mesmerized by the Nordic blond beauty. Malcolm tried to impress her, seduce her with his dark, cynical charm. But it was Con who won Danika’s hand in the end. Malcolm harbored no ill will for his friend’s lucky match, but he secretly loved Danika for a long time. Mal remained unmated until very recently, when a young Breedmate named Fiona stole his heart with her innocence and sweetness. Mal and Fiona mated and soon were expecting a child, but Fiona met with tragedy in Edinburgh while shopping on her own. A blood club supplying pimp grabbed her off the street, intending to hand her over to an area crime boss (Reiver). She fought back and was stabbed and killed. Malcolm raced to the city in daylight hours to find her, and suffered UV burns and a savage knife wound across his face when he confronted the pimp. Vowing to avenge his slain mate and unborn son, Malcolm adopts a new name, Brannoc, and covertly infiltrates the crime boss’s organization with a plan to destroy him from the inside.
Hair: shaggy, chestnut-brown Eyes: gunmetal gray
Unique ability: not yet revealed.
 
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)

No comments:

Post a Comment