Tempted by Midnight

Lara Adrian has been one of the steady producers in paranormal romance since her Midnight Breed series launched in 2007. The series is built around the Order, a group of ancient vampire warriors who police their own kind and protect humanity from the Rogues, vampires who have given themselves over to bloodlust. By the time of Tempted by Midnight, Adrian had built out the world enough that the supporting cast was as much a draw for many readers as the central couples in each book.

Adrian’s vampires are not the brooding undead of older paranormal fiction. They are descendants of an alien species crossed with humanity, with strict rules about feeding and bonding that drive much of the romance plotting. Each book in the main series tends to focus on one warrior of the Order and the woman, usually a Breedmate who carries the genetic markers that allow a true bond, who is going to change his life. The structure is reliable, the heat level is consistent, and the world building gets richer as the series goes on.

Tempted by Midnight is one of the shorter pieces in the larger Midnight Breed catalogue, and like Adrian’s other novellas it works best as a companion piece for readers already invested in the world. The novella format gives Adrian room to spotlight characters who would not get full novels of their own, and to advance subplots that would slow down the longer books. For new readers, the original novel A Touch of Midnight or the early full length entries in the series are better starting points.

Fans of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, or Larissa Ione’s Demonica series will find familiar genre satisfaction here. Adrian writes the kind of paranormal romance that knows exactly what its audience wants and delivers it with practiced confidence.