[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Deeper Than Midnight

Lara Adrian  As a child, Lara Adrian used to sleep with the covers up around her neck, afraid she might become the midnight prey of deadly vampires. Later on, under the influence of Bram Stoker and Anne Rice, she had to wonder if her fear wasn't actually something else: a secret desire to walk in a darker world, to live a dangerous and sensual dream with a man of seductive, preternatural power. It is that twining of fear and desire that fuels Lara's own fantasies today, and the idea that she explores in her New York Times bestselling Midnight Breed series of vampire romance novels from Bantam Dell Books.

With an ancestry stretching back to the Mayflower and the court of King Henry VIII, Lara Adrian lives with her husband in coastal New England, surrounded by centuries-old graveyards, hip urban comforts, and the endless inspiration of the broody Atlantic Ocean

Deeper Than Midnight, Book #9 of the Midnight Breed series

Author:  Lara Adrian

Synopsis:  At eighteen, Corinne Bishop was a beautiful, spirited young woman living a life of privilege as the adopted daughter of a wealthy family. Her world changed in an instant when she was stolen away and held prisoner by the malevolent vampire Dragos. After many years of captivity and torment, Corinne is rescued by the Order, a cadre of vampire warriors embroiled in a war against Dragos and his followers. Her innocence taken, Corinne has lost a piece of her heart as well—the one thing that gave her hope during her imprisonment, and the only thing that matters to her now that she is free.

Assigned to safeguard Corinne on her trip home is a formidable golden-eyed Breed male called Hunter. Once Dragos’s most deadly assassin, Hunter now works for the Order, and he’s hell-bent on making Dragos pay for his manifold sins. Bonded to Corinne by their mutual desire, Hunter will have to decide how far he’ll go to end Dragos’s reign of evil—even if carrying out his mission means shattering Corinne’s tender heart.

Our Review [by LITERAL ADDICTION’s Pack Alpha – Michelle L Olson]: 

I am a HUGE Breed series fan, and was looking forward to this release like nobody’s business.  Now that I’ve read it and had some time to think on it, I can safely say in print that this book was not my favorite of the series, but it was still a very good installment.  I’m sure as soon as I read Darker After Midnight, I’ll feel that everything that happened in Deeper Than Midnight  was  completely necessary for the series as a whole, as that’s what this book felt like to me… a set up for the next installment (similar to what other authors do with novellas released between books in a series).

I have always had a soft spot for Hunter, ever since he took it upon himself to be free and joined up with ‘the good guys’ (the silent, broody, ‘broken’ types are always a weakness of mine.  J)   My favorite Breed Male is Chase though, and this book was almost more about him than it was about Hunter.  While that should have made me very happy, it was this conundrum that sort of left me scratching my head and wondering if it was Lara’s intention for this book to be a big segue into Darker After Midnight, or if she really felt like she had to tell Hunter’s story and it just sort of ended up as a lead-in story to the next book. 

Character-wise:  Hunter was the strong, capable male we expect him to be in this book, but it was also wonderful to see him experience some real emotion -- heart breaking at times, frustrating at others, but wonderful.  As for Corinne, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like her at the beginning.  She felt a little weak to me, but after her secrets are revealed and her single minded determination becomes evident, you realize just how much of a survivor she really is and I started warming to her.  She and Hunter work well together and I think this was a good pairing in the end, but the steamy chemistry that we’ve come to expect from Lara’s Breed series just wasn’t there with these two.  I don’t know if it was done on purpose because of the history of each of the characters themselves and the fact that Lara felt that the usual explosiveness wouldn’t be believable with these two or what, but in my honest opinion, while enjoyable and believable, the romance was a little flat for me . 

Plotline:  As I stated earlier, a LARGE part of the book was about Chase and his struggles with demons within and without.  I loved that, and soaked up as much Harvard as I could with this book...  We get tie-ins with several of the other characters as well; Mira, Dante, Tess, etc, which was great also.  The baseline of what the synopsis hinted at though, Hunter and Corinne’s story and their ultimate goal as a team, while entertaining, felt like it never got closure, and I can only hope that more of that is resolved In Darker After Midnight as well.  I literally hit “next page” on my Kindle expecting at least another chapter only to find out that there WASN’T a next page…

All-in-all, LITERAL ADDICTION Paranormal Book Club gives Deeper Than Midnight 3 1/2 Skulls.  It was well written, as everything in Lara’s repertoire is, and it was enjoyable, also as everything Lara writes is, but it left me wanting & wondering  a little bit too much to give it the 4+ Skulls I had hoped to award it.  I definitely recommend that all Midnight Breed fans read this, as there is so much ‘filler story’ in it, and so much of that ‘filler’ is Sterling Chase related, I can’t imagine reading Darker After Midnight without having read Deeper Than Midnight.     

Deeper Than Midnight: