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Review

BAM!! Welcome back to the world of Midnight Breed!

I love, love loved this book!!! Set 20 years after the jaw-dropping events at the end of the last book, Darker After Midnight, we pick straight up with the Breed boys and their girls and the awesome thing is – they haven’t changed a bit!!! One of the perks of being a vampire or mated to a vampire I guess, 20 years passes and they’re still the same characters that I’ve loved for the whole series. They’re not all together in the compound anymore, but they still make appearances. Plus this time there’s a whole new generation of younger Breed members – some of them the children of the ‘Elder Order’ (as they are now called), and some are new members to the Order. Either way, there’s a whole new dynamic, and a promise of a whole heap of new books, and I am totally on board with that!!!

This review may be a bit spoilery if you haven’t read the last book, but it doesn’t give anything away that isn’t already in the synopsis, so I’m going for it…

This book starts 20 years after ‘New Dawn’, which is when the world learned that vampires existed, and their whole species came out to the world. The intervening years have been horrifying – war, terror, death and bloodshed. There is now a tentative truce, but tensions are still simmering and it’s a whole new world!

Our heroine is Mira – the tenacious, stubborn and adorable orphan girl that was adopted by Renata and Niko earlier in the series. Mira is now 29 years old, and has worked hard to earn herself a place as one of the Order, now leading a team of warriors. But she is also struggling with the devastating death of Kellan Archer, the boy taken in by the Order when he was 13 years old after the murder of his family, her childhood crush, best friend and the love of her life, who was killed 8 years ago while on a mission. While on a mission of her own she falls into enemy hands, only to discover that the leader of the ‘enemy’ crew (known as ‘Bowman’) is none other than her presumed dead lover, Kellan. Having walked away from Mira and the Order 8 years ago, he has created a new life for himself leading a band of vigilante rebels. While Mira is elated to see her beloved alive and returned to her, she is shattered by his devastating betrayal, and the fact that he is now her enemy. And Kellan is keeping his own secrets as to why he left her and allowed everybody to believe he died.

With all of this between them though, they still love each other deeply, and it doesn’t take too long for the chemistry between them to EXPLODE. Literally. OMG, the hotness is pretty epic! And the fact that they have history and a deep love for each other gives the relationship a different dynamic to the other books in the series because there’s so much more time with them being together without all of the ‘getting to know you’ and back and forth of a ‘new’ relationship. Instead, we get lots of Mira and Kellan time, and seeing them together is amazing. They have brilliant chemistry, but they also have great respect for each other, and despite all that goes on around them, they are actually pretty functional together.

I love these two characters!!! Kellan was a broody young thing when we met him early in the series (understandably, after the Order took him in after his entire family was slaughtered), but he is a good and honourable man, who is crazy in love with Mira and suffers terribly with the fact that he let her, and the Order, down. But he truly loves her and he believes that he did the right thing in order to protect those he loves, and my heart broke for him and all that he went through. He still tries to keep Mira at somewhat of a distance in an attempt to prevent her from any future heartbreak, but she doesn’t take any crap from him – and I love that! Mira is an incredibly strong character. She is brave, open and honest, she says it like it is, and expects the same from him in return.

“After everything I’ve done,” he whispered harshly, “not only today, or eight years ago, when I left, letting you believe I was dead, but since the first day we met, Mouse. Ever since then, since the very beginning, you’ve stayed with me. You’ve always had my back.”
“I always will,” she replied. Her voice was quiet, but her eyes were resolute. “When you love someone, that’s what you do.”
Kellan went still. He could hardly move, could hardly command his lungs to pull in breath. “Don’t say that, Mira. That’s the worst thing you can say to me right now.”
“Why? … Why shouldn’t I tell you how I feel about you?”
… “Because when you say that, it makes me want to hold on tighter to you when I should be letting you go. And I need to let you go…before things get any worse.”
“Then let go, Kellan … if you don’t love me … if you truly want me gone…then let go.”
He didn’t.”

But when things go horribly wrong, Kellan has no choice but to sacrifice his love and future happiness to face up to his fate. Added to the drama, the Order are looking for their missing warrior – knowing only that she has been taken by a mysterious rebel called Bowman, Lucan orders a ‘kill op’ to rescue Mira and hunt down and take out anybody that gets in their way.

I LOVED being back in this world, and seeing all of my beloved characters again!! The new crew of characters are an interesting bunch, and we get to meet Hunter, Lucan, Dante and Chase’s grown children, with one relationship already in full swing, and another set up nicely. There’s a fair bit of time spent with Nathan (Mira and Kellan’s best friend from childhood), and I’m looking forward to his story. Plus I loved the seeing the original Order guys in their roles as fathers – I particularly loved seeing Niko, and his love and protectiveness over Mira. So gorgeous.

Mira and Kellan’s romance was mega swoony, and they had some beautifully romantic times. However, their struggle for happiness was utterly heartbreaking! With so much against them, they go through a horrific ordeal to get to their HEA.

“For us. Kellan, you have to promise me you’ll give me that chance-“
“I can’t promise you that, Mira. I can’t promise to put you through any more hurt or distress than I already have.” He took her face between his palms, tenderly smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks and her trembling mouth. “But I will promise you this: I love you. God, I always have.”

This book was so exciting from start to finish. There are thrills, swoon, betrayal and heartbreak, and my heart was pounding with anticipation as it headed to the inevitable climax. And before it’s all over, we get to see the whole Order come out for the big, action-packed finish, with the emergence of a new, unprecedented enemy setting up the next stage of the series beautifully.

“What happened here tonight marks a new beginning … This marks a new war…one we must win.”…
Lucan met each fierce gaze, man and woman alike. “From this moment forward, we play by our own rules. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost. Our new mission begins now.” 

*Shivers*

I am such a huge fan of this series, and the awesome just continues. I can’t wait to see what Lara Adrian has in store for us next!

5 massive stars.

 

For full series information, check out our Midnight Breed Series page.