Review: Ashes of Midnight

Review: Ashes of Midnight
Author: Lara Adrian
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Midnight Breed/Book 6
Published: May 2009

*Spoilers if you haven't read the previous books in the series*

From the back cover:

A WOMAN DRIVEN BY BLOOD. A MAN THIRSTING FOR VENGEANCE. A PLACE WHERE DARKNESS AND DESIRE MEET . . .

As night falls, Claire Roth flees, driven from her home by a fiery threat that seems to come from hell itself. Then, from out of the flames and ash, a vampire warrior emerges. He is Andreas Reichen, her onetime lover, now a stranger consumed by vengeance. Caught in the cross fire, Claire cannot escape his savage fury--or the hunger that plunges her into his world of eternal darkness and unending pleasure.

Nothing will stop Andreas from destroying the vampire responsible for slaughtering his Breed brethren . . . even if he must use his former lover as a pawn in his deadly mission. Blood-bonded to his treacherous adversary, Claire can lead Andreas to the enemy he seeks, but it is a journey fraught with danger--and deep, unbidden desires. For Claire is the one woman Andreas should not crave, and the only one he's ever loved. A dangerous seduction begins--one that blurs the line between predator and prey, and stokes the flames of a white-hot passion that may consume all in its path. . . .

I have been looking forward to Andreas' story for some time now. I don't remember what book he first appeared in but I found him to be an interesting character because he wasn't the typical leather wearing, smart-ass alpha bad boy that so many PNR heroes seem to be. Andreas seemed to be more refined, an elegant gentleman in his demeanor and language. So I was curious as to how he would be after the horrible loss of his Darkhaven and family in Veil of Midnight. I knew he would be seeking revenge against those that killed his family but how much of that refinement would still be there?

Well, this Andreas is so different from the one we met in previous books. The refined, European gentleman is gone. Don't get me wrong, I never saw him as weak but I did see him as different from the guys in Boston. He just had that European flair about him, very James Bond-ish. Not the type to go off without thoroughly thinking things through. Now he's gone all pyro crazy and killing anyone that gets in his way. His power is awesome, amazing fire. Fireballs flying through the air and he's got one hell of an aim. The only problem is that he's basically gone and this "monster" takes over. It's like Andreas retreats and this big, bad, mean as all hell vamp takes control. His loss of control continues to accelerate until he losses hope of ever getting it back. And since this is a romance, Claire turns out to be his only hope of gaining control and not losing himself forever.

Claire Roth is the heroine and for some reason that I still can't put a finger on, I just didn't connect with her. She came across as old fashion. A lady who fills her time with charity work and maintaining her home. She lives in a house out in the country while her mate, Wilhelm Roth, prefers the city. I didn't understand how the whole feeding works between these two. The impression I had from the previous books was that in order for the female to maintain her youth she had to feed fairly frequently from her mate. But the impression I got regarding Claire and Wilhelm was that they went months without seeing each other. So not sure how that works.

Claire has carved out a separate life for herself and has very little involvement with Wilhelm and his businesses. This explained why she didn't know what how truly evil and nasty he was and what he was involved in. But it didn't explain why she could sense when he was around and he knew when she slept with Andreas - all because of their blood bond. It seems like she should have know how bad this guy was if this blood bond allowed her to sense the other things.

This is a dark book with very little humor. I prefer the scenes with the guys talking the way guys do with their own unique humor peppered with smart ass remarks. Ashes of Midnight had very little of that. It was mainly Andreas and Claire and their attempt to heal old wounds and become the couple they were meant to be.

I liked the parts with Hunter and the little bit with Chase. Chase is still my favorite in this series but Hunter is turning into a very interesting character. I'll look forward to reading more about him and his continued progression from trained killer to potential hero. There was a problem that was alluded to regarding Chase but nothing more. Unless this series takes a complete nosedive, I'll be reading his book too. Kade was given more page time and the set up for his book, the next book in the series, was evident. I don't mind this since Adrian did make it part of the overall story arc and it made sense within the context of this book.

Ashes of Midnight is not the strongest book in the series and I can only hope the difficulties I had with this book is not a trend. The love story is still the focus with the previous characters filling out the story line and continuing the main story arc. I do hope that the next book picks up the pace and brings the breeds face to face with the big bad Ancient One.

Since this is the 6th book in the series I would not recommend starting with Ashes of Midnight. There are just too many reoccurring characters and the continuing story arc that makes it difficult to slip into the series with this book. The next book is Kade's and is set for release in January 2010.

For more info on Lara Adrian and the Midnight Breeds series check out her website.

Rating: B-