In Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed series, the Breed has lived among mortals who remain utterly ignorant of their presence. A dark and secret battle is ongoing between those who seek peace, and only desire to live quietly beside humankind, and those who feel Vampires are supposed to rule over humans and put them in their place, as food.
All Breed are male, and all descend from Otherworldly creatures who arrived on our planet a thousand years earlier. The power of each individual breed is as strong as his closeness to his alien descendant; the closer he is, the stronger he is. Right off the bat we get to meet Lucan, not only from one of the oldest breeds, but also the leader of the Order, which has vowed to protect breed civilians as well as humankind from the indiscriminant killings of Rogue Breeds.
“I have to go to her, Lucan. For my own sanity, if nothing else. If I stay here, I’m not sure what good I’d be, to tell you the truth. She’s the only thing that’s held me together in a very long time. I’m a wreck for this woman, my friend. She owns me now.” - Rio, Midnight Rising (Midnight Breed, #4)
You might wonder, since there are no breed females, how do these Vampires procreate? Well, there are humans that are genetically disposed to mate with them, called Breedmates. These women are all born with a specific birthmark that marks them as compatible with the breed and able to carry the race forth. All Breedmates also have extraordinary abilities they pass down to their sons, such as telekinesis, clairvoyance, blood reading, touch reading and many more.
When we meet Lucan, a Generation-One breed, he and his fellow warriors are in the midst of a war against the Rogues. Rogue Vampires have fallen into Bloodlust, and feed without discretion, killing humans in the streets. It’s the job of the Order not only to keep them in check, but to dig into the root of the problem and find out who is organizing the previously independent rogues.
At first, I have to admit, I thought the plot of Kiss of Midnight shared a certain similarity to another Paranormal Romance series with Warrior Vampires, but with each successive book, Lara Adrian his able to set herself apart and create an original world of her own with the Midnight Breed series.
“Maybe she should cut the guy a little slack, [...] Maybe Thorne had been a no-show because something bad happened to him on the job.
What if he’d been injured in the line of duty and didn’t come by as promised because he was incapacitated in some way? Maybe he hadn’t called to apologize or to explain his absence because he physically couldn’t.
Right. And maybe she had checked her brain into her panties from the second she first laid eyes on the man.”
— Kiss of Midnight (Midnight Breed, #1)
While of course I love all the Alpha maleness found in the Order’s Vamps, I also have to give credit to the Breedmates who complete these oh-so-manly men. The Breedmates are an active and kick-ass group, not happy just to be left on the sidelines. They take such an active role throughout the series, more and more with each new book, you can’t help feeling proud of these women.
A lot of incredible smex, fast-paced action, intricate and blood-chilling plots, and compelling characters—all that and more can be found in the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian.
Larissa Benoliel blogs at Larissa’s Bookish Life and is a Brazilian-Israeli living in Rio de Janeiro. She loves to read Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance. If she’s not online, she’s reading. Usually it’s both.
