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

Lara's Website
Buy it via the Publisher
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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.

Crazy in Love by Ashley Ladd

The ghost of Kacey's crazy great-grandfather threatens her life but just might save her marriage.

When the ghost of Kacey's crazy great-grandfather mistakes her for her great-grandmother, he threatens to kill her for cheating on him. Meanwhile her husband, Heath, finds out she believes he's fallen out of love with her and he sets out to show her just how much he loves her. However, he fears she's crazy as she claims to see homicidal ghosts.

Although Kacey longs to save her marriage, she doesn't know if she can stay with a man who doesn't believe her and thinks she's insane.

Obtained: Author
Genre: Erotica/Contemporary
Series:
1. Crazy in Love

My Rating:

My Opinion:
I always try to approach a book with an open mind, especially when said book shies away from my usual reads.  Crazy in Love is written in a way where I imagined the words flowing along the page smoothly, much like water trickling along in a stream.  I must say that I really enjoyed that aspect while reading this piece. 

Why then, you must be wondering, would I rate this book a 2.5?  I think that the overall concept was an interesting one to explore.  I haven't read many contemporary books, but I will say that this was unique for my reading experience.  I simply would have enjoyed reading about these characters further.  33 pages was too brief for me to really appreciate the characters, their woes, and ultimately, their HEA.  It felt as if the reader was being told more than shown in this short story, which is something that I'm not a particular fan of.

Kacey's thought processes regarding her husband's lack of desire seemed to fly out the window the second she utters divorce to him.   Her sudden transformation from a slightly whiny character into a lusty wife, and then the sex that ultimately follows, also felt rushed for my tastes.  Perhaps it's just me, but I enjoy exploring a character's thought processes a lot more.  I want to know what makes them tick, and why they feel the way they do as opposed to being told they feel a certain way.  Readers are told why Kasey feels the way she does, and her husband's take on the matter, but it wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity.

**Warning: slight spoiler alert** The bedroom talk betwixt husband and wife seemed, well, slightly out of place.  I'm not sure why, but I think it has more to do with the fact that the couple went from being at odds with each other, to one party discussing divorce, only to have mind-blowing sex an hour later.**End spoiler alert**  I know that if I was unhappy for whatever reason in a relationship, I would much prefer to talk it out first instead of resorting to sex to solve my problems.  I suppose I also have to keep in mind that this is an erotica.

The conclusion felt a bit too convenient, but I blame this on the fact that I still wanted this story to be explored further.  I feel that this author has talent (I'm new to this author, mind you), however, she should use said talent to focus on developing her world and characters more fully.  I really would love to see this tale, and future tales, in more detail.  I enjoyed what I read, but like I've said, for me personally, I want more.  (which makes me sound like a five year old, hah)

If you're in the mood for a quick, steamy read, then Crazy in Love is a short story you'll probably want to check out. 

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• E-book - Short Story - 33 pages
• ISBN-13:  978-0857150554
• Ashley Ladd's Blog
• Buy it at Total-e-bound.com
  

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

In less than a day I had been harassed, enchanted, shouted at, cried on, and clawed. I’d been cold, scared, dirty, exhausted, hungry, and miserable. And up until now, I’d been mildly impressed with my ability to cope.

At her boarding school in New Zealand, Ellie Spencer is like any ordinary teen: she hangs out with her best friend, Kevin; obsesses over her crush on a mysterious boy; and her biggest worry is her paper deadline. Then everything changes: In the foggy woods near the school, something ancient and deadly is waiting.

Karen Healey introduces a savvy and spirited heroine with a strong, fresh voice. Full of deliciously creepy details, this adventure is a deftly crafted story of Māori mythology, romance, betrayal, and war.

Obtained: ARC Tours
Genre: Young Adult
Series:
1. Guardian of the Dead
My Rating:

My Opinion:
I read this book in about two days, for a number of different reasons.  One, because I found the concept behind the novel to be fairly interesting.  It's always nice being granted the opportunity to learn about different traditions and lifestyles, and I think that Healey did a good job of explaining in detail about these things.  Two, because I didn't want to drag out a book I was only mildly interested in.  And three, I wanted to finish this book before I went to BEA.

The story itself had way too much going on in its 300 or so pages (which is why I'm not including my story snippet because I don't know what to include).  If Healey had made the first part--which primarily focused on the conflict with Reka--into a separate book, I feel that it would have been much more successful.  At the rate I was going, I was tired by the time I got to page 100, so I can't imagine how teenagers and younger children would feel reading this.  Those first 100 pages were jam-packed with plot, conflict, and a conclusion that I felt should have been the conclusion for the first book (in a possible series).  I was extremely weary (mentally) when I moved on to Part 2.

In regards to Part 2, I think Healey went into a bit too much detail in regards to the background of some of these traditions and beliefs.  While I appreciated this attention to the mythology, it detracted from my overall experience, successfully confusing me as opposed to making me appreciate the history along with the tale.  For those who enjoyed the book, you can blame it on the fact that I'm completely oblivious to New Zealand's mythology if you want, but the integration of all the other tales was too much for me.  It got to the point where I began to scan through multiple paragraphs describing about folklore. 

I would suggest that if Healey was going to write the book with parts 1 and 2, she hone in on one tale, maybe two, and explore them further.  I think if there was more of a focus on what Ellie saw (and limit what she saw) and how that made her feel, I might have felt less overwhelmed.  Either that, or reveal all the myths like Healey did, but don't go into their story as much.  Either way I feel like it doesn't give the tale absolute justice, but it's too much of an information dump.  Jumping from one story to another, and then to another, while introducing all this back story about New Zealand's fae (which are nothing like our perceptions of the fae) was overwhelming (as you can see with my overuse of the word).  Include this with the fact that I was mentally exhausted after the first part, and it became un-enjoyable at some points.

The love story in this book felt forced at times.  It went from the main character, Ellie, being wary of her crush due to a number of certain factors, to her acknowledging that her feelings ran much deeper.  The way she confronted him about it seemed out of place, and made me reread the entire scene over again in the fear that I had zoned out on a particularly important part. 

Overall, I felt the book had potential, yet there was a bit too much going on for my tastes.

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• Hardcover - 352 pages
• Price: $17.99
• ISBN-10: 031604430X
• ISBN-13: 978-0316044301
• Released: April 1, 2010
• Karen Healey's Website
• Buy it at Hatchettebookgroup.com
• Buy it at Amazon.com