zondag 13 maart 2011

Lara Adrian – Taken by midnight

The eighth book in the Midnight Breed series, published September 2010.

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AT THE CROSSROADS OF DEATH AND DESIRE, A WOMAN TASTES A PLEASURE NO MORTAL IS MEANT TO SURVIVE.

In the frozen Alaskan wilderness, former state trooper Jenna Darrow survives an unspeakable breach of body and soul. But with her narrow escape comes an even greater challenge. For strange changes are taking place within her, as she struggles to understand - and control - a new hunger. To do so, she will seek shelter in the Boston compound of the Order, an ancient race of vampire warriors whose very existence is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the most mysterious of them all is Brock, a brooding, dark-eyed alpha male whose hands hold the power to comfort, heal . . . and arouse.

As she recovers under Brock's care, Jenna finds herself drawn to the Order's mission: to stop a ruthless enemy and its army of assassins from subjecting Earth to a reign of terror. Yet in spite of their resolve, a purely physical relationship without strings soon binds Brock and Jenna together with a desire fiercer than life and stronger than death itself - until a secret from Brock's past and Jenna's own mortality challenges their forbidden love to the ultimate trial by fire.


The story in this book, continues directly where the previous one, Shades of Midnight, ended with Alex and Kade’s story. Jenna was found half dead in her cabin in Alaska, and is taken back home to Boston, to the Order’s compound. Brock’s special power is the ability to take away someone else’s pain, into himself, and he has been with Jenna for the past days, taking care of her. They are certain she is not a breedmate like the other female’s, as she doesn’t have the birthmark they all share. But still, Brock is attracted to her like no other female in a long time. He wants to shelter her, keep her safe. And as a though as nails former cop, Jenna doesn’t really want that. She can take care of herself.
After 5 days in a coma, she is feeling remarkably well. She can stand, and walk, and is strong enough to push Brock out of her way. And no way is she going relive the nightmare of what happened with the Ancient in her cabin in Alaska! She really doesn’t want to relive that nightmare! But Jenna is changed, more than she realises. She should not be that strong, or feeling that well, and she knows it. The Ancient has left something inside of her, some alien technology, that is merging with her spine. And there is no way Gideon will be able to get it out of her without killing her. Alex doesn’t want to hear those things, she has one though on her mind: escape. So she manages to do just that, which really should not have been possible. Brock wants to follow her, but as a vampire, he will have to wait for the sun to go down. And as Jenna really does get into trouble, she needs him to save her life. And for Brock, he goes feral on her attackers. How dare they touch a woman like that, let alone his woman!
Back in the compound, Jenna heals really fast, and her bloodwork and DNA amazes Gideon. She is changing fast, and her human body should not be able to bear all those changes. But Jenna does, and she has never felt better. She finally agrees to stay with the Order, and is getting involved in the search for the abducted Breedmates with the other females, the fight against Dragos and his evil plans. And her new abilities sure come in handy.
In the meanwhile, she and Brock get closer, and fall in love. Even though she is not a Breedmate, there is a connection between them. Jenna is no longer purely human, but she is also not Breed. What she is becoming, is up to the future.


A really great new book in this series, I have been saving for a long while. And I did enjoy it a lot. Now I am looking forward to the next one, which will be published in June. Needless to say, I have pre-ordered it last year.

It took me a while to warm up to Jenna, who has been wallowing in self pity ever since her daughter and husband died in a car accident. There was nothing she could have done to save them, but she still blames her self for that fact that she survived, and they did not. She couldn’t do her job anymore, and detached herself from other people, save her best friend Alex, and her brother. And now she has to accept the fact that her brother was a corrupt cop, and is dead, so she has no family left. But once Jenna accepted her new reality, she embraced it, and Brock with it. She has held all men on a distance, not feeling entitled to being loved again, but Brock just tore down her walls. The attraction between them quickly changed into caring for, and loving.
And Brock looks like a big bad boy, but he really is a hero. He wants to protect Jenna, even from his own desires. Many years ago, he lost a young woman he was hired to protect, and that is still eating away at him. He was sworn to protect her, and he failed in that mission. So since then, he has kept woman at arms length, only having a casual relationship with them, never looking for a Breedmate for himself. Until he laid eyes on Jenna, lying bleeding on the floor in Alaska.

I love this series, and I am very curious to find out where the overall storyline is going. I still don’t believe the Ancient is dead, and I want to find out what will happen with Jenna. It was a nice change of pace, her not being a breedmate, and not having those parts described again. Though it is a lovely procedure. I think she will be more.

We also get a glimp of Hunter, and I really hope he will fall for a woman as well. Boy, how will he fall!

If you haven’t started this series yet, it really is best to start with the first book. And I promise you, you will get hooked to it.

9 stars.


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