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Veil of Midnight

Lara Adrian

Published 2008         355 pages

Summary (from the book jacket)

Bound by blood, addicted to danger, they'll enter the darkest - and most erotic - place of all…

A warrior trained in bullets and blades, Renata cannot be bested by any man - vampire or mortal. But her most powerful weapon is her extraordinary psychic ability - a gift both rare and deadly. Now a stranger threatens her hard-won independence - a golden-haired vampire who lures her into a realm of darkness… and pleasure beyond imagining.

A combat-loving adrenaline junkie, Nikolai dispenses his own justice to enemies of the Breed - and his latest quarry is a ruthless assassin. One woman stands in his way: the seductive, cool-as-ice bodyguard, Renata. But Renata's powers are put to the test when a loved one, a child, is threatened and she is forced to turn to Niko for help. As the two join forces, as desire fans the flames of a deeper hunger, Renata's life is under siege by a man who offers the exquisite pleasure of a blood bond - and a passion that could save or doom them both forever…

The Review

Veil of Midnight is the fifth book in Lara Adrian’s popular Midnight Breed paranormal romance series.  For those who haven’t yet discovered the Midnight Breed world, this series follows the romantic relationships of a group of warrior vampires called the Order, who battle against rogue elements of their own kind in order to protect the future of the vampire race. 

Sound familiar? Well, there is something of a passing resemblance between the Midnight Breed and J.R Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood novels but there are as many differences as there are similarities and in some ways the Midnight Breed makes for better romance reading - so there really isn’t cause for complaint.  Don’t get me wrong, I like both series equally and have the release dates of new novels from these authors pencilled into my diary months in advance but I just feel that the Midnight Breed series makes for more consistently good romance reading – here we are Veil of Midnight, book 5, and while the fantasy plot line is hotting-up it doesn’t swamp the character driven romance that makes these books so readable.

The series has a story arc - involving a plot by a power-hungry (and evil) vampire who wants to overthrow the current vampire social order and return the world to the dark days of the middle-ages when vampires were a plague to humanity - this spans multiple books and while new readers could start reading the series here they would probably do better to start with Kiss of Midnight and read the books in order.

Veil of Midnight features Niko, the combat-loving Russian member of the Order. Niko’s current mission for the Order is to warn (and protect) an ancient first generation vampire who he believes has been targeted for assassination.   This takes him to Montreal, where he meets the cold and prickly Renata – who he soon finds himself thinking about all too much, which is bad for both Niko and his mission since she seems to be blood-bonded to the Gen One vampire Niko needs to protect.

Circumstance throws Niko into the company of Renata and there is plenty of opportunity for relationship development between the pair leading Niko to find out that Renata is anything but cold.  Renata’s past is revealed along the way which helps to make her a more appealing character than her initial cold-hearted bodyguard appearance would lead you to believe.

Most of the action in Veil of Midnight takes place in Montreal and as a result there are very few appearances by characters from previous stories, since they are still back at the Boston compound.  Readers are introduced to an exciting new character that looks to have a role to play in future novels but I’m not saying any more about who it is… you’ll just have to read the book and find out!

Summing up - Veil of Midnight is yet another great instalment of Midnight Breed paranormal romance.  With hot romance, sexy (yet realistically flawed) alpha-male heroes and a fast paced fantasy action plotline that just keeps getting better - what’s not to like?

Vampire romance fans don’t miss this!

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