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Preliminary Publication Date: Feb. 26, 2013
Review copy provided by Netgalley.
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Lara is back with a new Midnight Breed novel "Edge Of Dawn" which takes place 20 years after the last one. She does not disappoint the Breed fans! This book is truly compelling & I couldn't put it down from the first moment I picked it up! Ms. Adrian is a compelling story-teller with a flare for dramatic scenes. Her love scenes are sexy & steamy and her fighting scenes are well-written & detailed.
This book reintroduces us to Mira, a beautiful, strong & troubled young human woman with an amazing psychic power, who was raised by The Order to fight the evil Breed Vampires. She fights her heart out, thinking that the pain & build-up to the battles will ease her broken heart but the constant disobeying of rules lands her in a heap of trouble..
It also reintroduces us to Kellan, a sexy & oh-so-strong Breed make who disappeared from The Order by faking his own death, because he thought it was for the best..
Mira & Kellan come together in a flash of sparks & as much as they try to avoid each other, sometimes the unavoidable just doesn't happen... They are fighting for their lives & the lives of the other warriors of The Order.. Will they manage to somehow move beyond the painful past and into their own new dawn, or will the demons of the past come up & tear them apart forever?...
This is a gorgeous, detailed, engrossing novel and it's one that fans of paranormal will not want to miss! Reserve your copy of "Edge Of Dawn" today!
Platinum Reviews gives Lara & "Edge Of Dawn":
5 Platinum Rings!
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Twenty years after the terror of First Dawn-when mankind learned that vampires lived secretly among them-the threat of violence reigns as the two species struggle to coexist. The only group preserving the fragile harmony is the Order, an elite cadre of Breed warriors dedicated to protecting humans and vampires alike. And in this precarious world of torn loyalties and shattered trust, Mira, a fiery squad captain, finds that every fight bears an intensely personal cost.
Raised among the Order, Mira has always believed in the warrior's code of swift-and even lethal-justice. But the one thing she desires more than the Order's hard-won acceptance is Kellan Archer, a sexy but troubled Breed fighter. In love with him since childhood, Mira once broke through his tough exterior during an unexpected night of rapture, but the next day he mysteriously disappeared, never to return.
Kellan didn't think he would ever see Mira again-or have to confront the truth of why he left. After abandoning the Order years ago, he now leads a band of human rebels intent on carrying out their own vigilante rule of law. Yet a high-profile kidnapping assignment brings him face-to-face with the past he sought to avoid, and the striking woman he has tried desperately to forget. And as tensions mount and the risk of bloodshed grows, Kellan and Mira must take sides-between the competing missions that dominate their lives, and the electrifying passion that claims their hearts.
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EXCERPT:
She spied the young man's head--his ridiculous red mohawk--bobbing along in a group of petty thieves and troublemakers now walking past the crowd that waited to get into Asylum. That upright comb of bright scarlet hair, along with his distinctive laugh, had helped earn the delinquent his street name of Rooster.
Son of a bitch.
She hadn't seen the bastard in years. Her blood boiled to spot him now. A known rebel-sympathizer, strutting around with his repeat-offender friends when he should be rotting in a prison somewhere. Better yet, dead from choking on the business end of her blades.
When the top of his red mohawk turned the corner up the block with his four pals, Mira hissed a curse. Not her concern what Rooster was up to. Not her damn jurisdiction, even if it turned out he was up to his usual no good.
Still...
Impulse propelled her into motion, even against her better judgment. Rooster was an occasional supplier to human militant groups and rebel factions. And that occasional alliance made him Mira's permanent enemy. She fell in behind him and his friends at a covert distance, her lug-soled boots silent as they devoured the pavement in stealth pursuit.
The men shuffled up the block and entered an alleyway door of another place, one that had long ago been a popular dance club in the North End. The former neo-Gothic church was far from holy now, and far less reputable than it had been even a decade ago. Graffiti and old shelling scars from the wars all but obscured the fading "La Notte" sign painted on the side of the old red brick building. No longer pulsing with silky trance and synth music, the current proprietor favored hardcore industrial bands with screaming vocals in the club at street level.
All the better to drown out the raucous shouting and bloodthirsty cheers of the customers taking part in the establishment's underground arena.
It was down to that part of the club that Rooster and his pals now descended. Mira followed. The stench of smoke and spilled liquor hung like fog in the air. The crowd was thick at the bottom of the steep stairwell, thicker still in the space between the entrance and the large, caged-in, steel-reinforced fighting arena at the center of the room.
Inside the cage, two huge Breed males circled each other in bloody combat. Outside, gathered around the perimeter and standing a dozen rows deep, the crowd of human spectators cheered and hollered, bets placed on their favorite. This match had been going on for some time, based on the amount of blood in the ring and the fevered pitch of the crowd outside of it. Mira had seen the outlawed games before, and hardly flinched at the sight of the two powerful vampires wearing only gladiator-style leather shorts and a U-shaped steel torc around their neck. Titanium spikes rode the knuckles of their fingerless leather gloves, making each blow a savage shredding of flesh and muscle.
Rooster and his friends paused to watch one of the fighters take a hard strike to the sternum. His hooting laughter shot up through the crowd as the combatant crashed backward into the bars. The downed vampire was already in bad shape, pitted against an undefeated fighter who never failed to bring in the big crowds and heavy purses. Now, spitting blood, heaving under the force of this last blow, the losing male scrabbled to reach the mercy button inside the cage. Rooster and the rest of the spectators hissed and booed as the call for mercy temporarily halted the match and delivered a punishing jolt of electricity to the wounded combatant's dark-haired opponent. Unfazed, the immense Breed fighter took the hit as if it were no more than a bee sting, fangs bared in a cold smile that promised yet another win for his record.
The cage thundered with violence as the fight resumed, but Mira ignored the spectacle of the arena. Her sights were locked on her target. Her own need to punish boiled like acid in her veins as she stalked Rooster through the throng.
She thought of Kellan's final moments as she watched the rebel sympathizer cackle and hoot, he and the other humans cheering each terrible strike, frothing for more Breed bloodshed.
She didn't know at what point she'd drawn her blades from their sheaths at her back. She felt the chill of custom-tooled metal in her hands, her fingertips light on the scrollwork of the daggers' hilts. Felt her instincts itching to let the blades fly as Rooster shot a sudden glance in her direction.
He saw her, realized she was coming for him. Something flashed in his eyes as they met hers. Panic, certainly. But Mira saw guilt in that worried gaze too. In fact, his oh-shit look seemed to say that she was the last person he expected or wanted to see. He shrank back behind one of his hoodlum pals, as if that fiery shock of upright hair wouldn't give him away.
Mira felt a snarl curl up from the back of her throat. Son of a bitch was going to bolt. And sure enough, he did.
"Damn it!" She shouldered her way through the thick crowd, trying not to lose sight of her quarry as she maneuvered for a clear shot at him with her blades.
Someone saw her drawn weapons and a scream of warning went up. People scrambled out of her way--just long enough that she saw her chance at nailing Rooster. She took it without a hint of hesitation. Her twin blades flew. They arrowed on an unerring path that hit her moving target and skewered him to the far wall, one dagger buried to the hilt in each of the human's thin biceps.
He howled, no longer amused now that he was on the receiving end of a little pain. Mira shoved a few gawking stragglers aside as she closed in on him, venom hot in her veins. She'd already broken one law here tonight; looking at the rebel ally just beyond arm's reach from her now, she was tempted to add aggravated homicide to the tab.
A strong hand came down on her shoulder.
"Don't do it, Mira." Nathan. He and the rest of the warriors all stood behind her now, disapproval on each hard face.
She realized only now how hushed the club had gone. The illegal contest in the cage was over, the spectators now gathered to watch the new one Mira had started. The human proprietor of the place and some of his Breed fighters moved in from other areas of the club, their mere presence threatening added trouble if things got any further out of hand.
Shit. Mira knew she'd stepped in it this time, but her blood was still on a hard boil and all she could think about was settling the score for Kellan. One less rebel bastard tonight was a good place to start.
"Let it go," Nathan said, his voice soldier-cool and emotionless, the way she'd heard him speak a thousand times before, even under heavy combat fire. "This is not the way you were trained. You know that."
She did. She knew it, and yet she still threw off Nathan's grip and took a hard lunge toward Rooster, who yowled like a banshee, writhing where he was pinned to the wall. Nathan blocked her. He moved faster than she could track him, placing himself between her and the human. "Get out of my way, Nathan. You know who this scum hangs with--rebel pigs. Way I see it, that makes him one of them."
"Somebody help me!" Rooster howled. "Somebody call the cops! I'm innocent!"
Mira shook her head, meeting her teammate's disapproving gaze. "He's lying. He knows something, Nathan. I can see it in him. I can feel it. He knows who's responsible for Kellan's death. Damn it, I want someone to pay for what happened to him!"
Nathan's curse was an airless growl. "For fuck's sake, Mira." His eyes were intense, but tender. Holding her with a pity that she'd never seen before and hated to acknowledge now. "The only one you're making pay for what happened to Kellan is yourself."
The truth in his words hit her like a slap. She absorbed the blow in a stunned kind of silence, watching as the rest of her squad and Nathan's moved in around the two of them.
"Probably not a good idea to linger down here," Webb remarked to Mira and Nathan when neither of them had relaxed from their unspoken standoff. "If we don't clean this up quick, things could turn ugly."
Bal swore low under his breath. "Too late for that."
Pouring into the underground club from the street outside came twenty black-clad officers from Joint Urban Security. The JUSTIS detail stormed in, heavily armed, dressed in full riot gear. Mira could only watch--and blame no one but herself--as the law enforcers surrounded them, their automatic weapons trained on her and the rest of her teammates......
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My reviews are also sometimes published on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords,
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questions. Thank you.
REVIEW DATE: 1/11/13
REVIEW DATE: 1/11/13
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Review done by blogger: Vicki Rose, for several web sites, including this
one.
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Visit Lara Here: http://www.laraadrian.com/home.php#quiet
Wonderful review. I have been a true Breed fan for years and now I can't wait to read the new Edge of Dawn. Thanks Vicki.
ReplyDeleteIt's an amazing book, Michelle:) You won't be disappointed!
ReplyDelete