Tori's Review: Taken by Midnight by Lara Adrian

Paperback - 400 pages
Price: $7.99
ISBN 10: 0440245273 
ISBN 13: 978-0440245278
Released: September 28, 2010

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Obtained: Publicist 
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
Series: Midnight Breed Series 
1. Kiss of Midnight
2. Kiss of Crimson
3. Midnight Awakening
4. Midnight Rising
5. Veil of Midnight
6. Ashes of Midnight
7. Shades of Midnight
8. Taken by Midnight

At the crossroads of death and desire, a woman tastes a pleasure no mortal is meant to survive... 

In the frozen Alaskan wilderness, former state trooper Jenna Darrow survives an unspeakable breach of body and soul. But with her narrow escape comes an even greater challenge. For strange changes are taking place within her, as she struggles to understand--and control--a new hunger. To do so, she will seek shelter in the Boston compound of the Order, an ancient race of vampire warriors whose very existence is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the most mysterious of them all is Brock, a brooding, dark-eyed alpha male whose hands hold the power to comfort, heal . . . and arouse.

As she recovers under Brock's care, Jenna finds herself drawn to the Order's mission: to stop a ruthless enemy and its army of assassins from subjecting Earth to a reign of terror. Yet in spite of their resolve, a purely physical relationship without strings soon binds Brock and Jenna together with a desire fiercer than life and stronger than death itself--until a secret from Brock's past and Jenna's own mortality challenges their forbidden love to the ultimate trial by fire.

My Rating:

My Opinion:
The good news: for those of you who are new to the series, like me, you will be happy to know there is plenty of recap in TAKEN BY MIDNIGHT. Starting with book eight will not leave you wondering what the heck has been occurring within the prior seven books. The unfortunate part: I thought there was too much recap and not enough action. The first half of the book turned me away instead of pulling me in. I was tempted to skim quite a few pages due to all the dialogue and repetitive angst.

Jenna's character annoyed me. I don't have a problem with cop characters (though I do prefer to avoid stories with them just because I don't find them as interesting for some reason), but I had a problem with our heroine. I understand the trauma she was suffering from, but the pity party and her negativity made her extremely hard to like; not to mention her blindly running away from the situation. I agree with many other reviewers: Adrian should have started this story later on after Jenna adjusted to some of her issues. At least then she wouldn't have been frustrating to read about. As it was, she was hard to connect with.

Brock had the potential to be extremely interesting, yet I found his beginning scenes tiresome. Here's what you read about in the first half of the book: rage, angst, rage, guilt, grr. Now, don't get me wrong; I love rage and I love angst. But I also love reading about steamy sexual tension between my hero and heroine that makes me sweat wondering whether or not they're gonna do it on the kitchen table, or whether or not the hero's going to make a move and the heroine's going to slap him silly. I did not get that; probably because I didn't feel like I learned much about Brock's past and who he really is.

I thought the first encounter with Jenna was cute, and I loved how the two had an instant attraction, but after that... eh. There was too much telling, not enough showing, and not enough interacting (all of these apply to the first half of the book) between Brock and Jenna to make me feel invested in their romance. The romance aspect started strong when they met, yet it fizzled away as the story progressed to the midpoint.

The overall storyline was interesting -- which is why I want to start this series from book one. My only complaint about TAKEN BY MIDNIGHT was the fact that this felt more like filler than an actual story. What the heck happens to Jenna and that implant? What is she now? Will this all be addressed later on, or are we pretty much done with Jenna/Brock? I think I would have rated this higher if Adrian at least addressed this. I mean, there's so much fretting over what's inside Jenna now, and yet it simply gets shrugged off towards the end.

Because a lot of people have praised the prior books, I won't give up on this series. I will read at least the first two books by Adrian to get a better feel for the universe and characters. Perhaps if I enjoy those books, I will come back to this one and give it another shot. I suggest, for those of you who have not yet read this series, to start from the beginning. While TAKEN FROM MIDNIGHT is informative, I do not believe it is a strong book to introduce you and draw you into this world.