Book Review: Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian

Darker After Midnight
Author:  Lara Adrian
Series:  Midnight Breed, book 10
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN-10: 034553087X
ISBN-13: 978-0345530875
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Lost in a blood addiction, Sterling Chase's once respectable career as a enforcer for the Breed is nothing more than a distant memory. Convinced there are no more redeeming qualities left in him, Chase sets out alone to find Dragos, the most dangerous threat to both the Breed and human worlds. After a failed attempt to kill Dragos and a selfless move to save his friends, Chase finds himself in mortal custody. Tavia Fairchild's eyewitness account may be the reason why he's in the public eye but Chase can't seem to stay away from the intelligent beauty. Tavia just wanted to do the right thing and now she's found herself in a world of vampires and minions, with a man that both terrifies and excites her. When a shocking secret is revealed about her that she wasn't even aware of, Tavia will turn to Chase for answers. Chase doesn't believe he deserves Tavia but when she needs him most, he'll have a chance to not only save the woman who has brought him back from the edge of self-destruction but his entire race.

Fueled by guilt and what he feels is a failure to live up to the high standards expected from someone of his lineage, Chase has been on a downward spiral for some time now and it seems that he's finally hit rock bottom. His blood addiction grows worse each day and he isn't sure how much time he has left before he turns rogue. Taking on what would be considered a suicide attempt, Chase decides to go after Dragos and his deadly army of gen one Breed killing machines alone. I've gone through a whole host of emotions with Chase. At first I loved that he joined the Order and got down and dirty fighting rogues. Then I felt sympathy for him when the woman he wanted chose another followed by confusion and concern when he started to detach himself from his fellow Breed warriors and go out to do dangerous and reckless things. In this book I did feel like he was close to feeling sorry for himself a time or two but, in the end I felt relieved that he finally found someone he can open up to and that could give him the love he deserves and bring out the warrior I always knew he was.

We first meet Tavia in the previous book, Deeper Than Midnight. She works for a senator and is the one who ID'd Chase as the person responsible for shooting into a party hosted by her boss. The cold look in Chase's eyes has her wanting to keep her distance but when he awakens something inside her that she never knew was there, Chase will become the only person she can trust. There's not a whole lot more I can say about Tavia without giving away her secret. I'm sure you can find other reviews about this book that will tell you what Tavia's secret is but you're not going to find it in my review! What I will tell is that I liked her character more than I thought I would. When we first met, I thought she came off as rigid and unfriendly. By the end of Darker After Midnight, I saw a more caring and determined person who was a good fit for Chase. I do wish there were more scenes with them together. You see a lot of them apart but I would have enjoyed more shared moments other than when they were having sex, not that I'm complaining about that because it was very hot. Enough time was spent together where you can feel a bond forming but it wasn't anything as strong as the other couples in this series have.

The final battle between the Order and Dragos has been a long time coming. In each book the Order would win a battle but it was never enough to through Dragos out of the war. Dragos finally sets his big plans into motion and proves how diabolical he really is. Dragos is a character I love to hate. As a reader I don't always get the villain I think is worthy of taking on some of my favorite characters, the warriors of the Order definitely being on that list, but I think Lara Adrian did a great job at delivering a villain that not only challenges the hero but me as a reader. In the end, the battle was well fought and as much as I love my happy endings, I was glad to see not everything was perfectly wrapped up in a bow. There were a few surprises surrounding the Breedmates and a secret project Dragos was working on that I hope to learn more about.

There is so much to like about Darker After Midnight but I couldn't help but feel there was something missing. Maybe it was because I would have liked more Tavia and Chase together time or that Chase got a little too close to self-pity or it could have even been the odd 1 year time jump at the end. I just couldn't shake the feeling that there should have been something more. Though the book wasn't perfect, I still had a hard time putting it down. Even at his darkest, Chase is a fantastic character that only got better and more complex with each book. He's one of the best characters from the series and I really hope he plays a part in future books.
My Rating:


Reviews for previous books in the series:
Deeper Than Midnight