Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian

This afternoon's review is Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian. This is leading up to the release of the next Midnight Breed novel, Edge of Dawn, which is out February 26th.  ***Spoiler Alert*** If you haven't read the previous Breed novels up until Deeper Than Midnight, do not continue reading. There are spoilers from the end of Deeper in this review. Quite shocking ones, so go read Deeper first!

Lara Adrian is a brilliant story teller and has crafted a world so extraordinary, you wish it was real.

Darker After Midnight is Sterling Chase's story. For those of you already familiar with the Breed nation, Chase is our good boy turned bad boy. A former member of the Enforcement Agency, the Breed's law enforcement, Chase left to become a member of the Order, a warrior group tasked with fighting Rogue vampires and keeping the Breed existence secret. In the last few books, Chase had started to go off the deep end. His long time secret love, Elise, had bonded to the first Gen warrior Tegan and he began to let Bloodlust take control.

Darker After Midnight begins with Gideon, Lucan and the other warriors standing outside their compromised Order headquarters. If you remember, at the end of Deeper Than Midnight, Dragos' evil plan led human law enforcement directly to the Order's door and Chase gave himself up into custody to save his Brethren. While Chase is in human custody, he encounters Tavia Fairchild, the assistant to a Minion senator under Dragos' control. Tavia is a brilliant, but shy woman who harbors deep scars. She believes that her parents died in a fire many years ago, leaving her with extensive burn scars, and that because of that horrible incident, she suffers from severe anxiety disorder and must be medicated at all times. Chase kidnaps Tavia in order to save her from whatever Dragos' has planned and that is when things get interesting. Tavia goes without her medication for an entire day and Lara Adrian gives us a twist I never ever saw coming.

Chase and Tavia's story finally gives us a glimpse into the real Sterling Chase. Underneath his steely gaze and anger issues, we discover the real reasons behind his self-deprecating feelings. Tavia is the perfect woman for him and their story is the hot HOT HOTTEST of them all. 5 out of 5 stars!

Be sure to check out Edge of Dawn, book 11 in the Midnight Breed series, coming February 26th!