Sammy’s review of Born Of Darkness (Midnight Breed – Hunter Legacy, Book 1) by Lara Adrian
Paranormal Romance published by Lara Adrian, LLC 18 Mar 27
I really love the Midnight Breed series and I was kinda upset that the next generation of books didn’t work as well. I guess for me it was the fact that it felt like New Adult and that’s just not my go-to subgenre. To my surprise, Lara Adrian wrote a short story, Midnight Unbound, about Scythe, the Gen-One Vampire, and I was so onboard. Here’s my review. I have been so interested about these poor vampires that were bred to be assassins, the Breedmates that were tortured and raped by Drago. I really wanted to know how they were coping with life after the vampires came out to the world and were saved by The Order. I like the tortured ones, what can I tell you? With the first full novel in the Hunter Legacy series, Lara Adrian does not disappoint.
Asher is a Gen-One Vampire, born and bred for Drago’s sick and twisted purposes. Since he was freed, he’s found himself in the Mojave Desert. Luck was on his side when he encountered a man at the only gas station/convenience store around and the kind stranger knew he needed to feed. Ned offered his wrist and a kind friendship was born. Ned’s wife had died and he was just getting through his days making furniture with Sam his dog as a companion. He took in Asher and they lived and worked side by side. When Ned passed away, Asher inherited his home and the dog. He lived a quiet life, considering his life before was brutal and always one push of a button away from being killed by the collar around his neck. Asher also has deep, dark secrets – he lives with guilt and he feels very unworthy. If you’re not familiar with the series, each vampire and Breedmate have special powers. They’re born with them. For Asher, if he touches someone, he relives the worst, most painful memories of their life. He’s got it bad.
Asher sets out for the hour drive to get his necessities and of course to feed. On his way back to his home, he knows there are people in the desert and it’s not because they were just passing through. The Mojave Desert is a great place to bury a body or 300. He pulls over and lets his senses out to feel what’s happening. He sees three men with a thin boy being dragged into his grave. He was beaten and begging for his life and Asher wasn’t going to just let them do it. The Gen-One kills them one at a time. What he realizes is that “he” is really a “she.” Naomi has been pulling off casino heists for a while and it finally caught up to her and she was busted. Of course, we all know what happens when you steal from a casino run by a very bad man. She is concussed and Asher wants to take her to the hospital, until he discovers through her bruises that she has the Breed mark. He takes her back to his home and calls The Order, letting them know he has an injured Breedmate who needs protecting. Naomi isn’t having any of it. She knows what she is and she has other ideas about her life. Like revenge and taking care of her makeshift family.
Naomi was orphaned at a young age. Her mother was dating the owner of a casino and he would beat her and then the next day she would come home with expensive gifts. Until she didn’t come home and social services came for Naomi. It wasn’t long after being in the system and foster homes that Naomi ran away and lived on the streets. There she met her best friend, whom she’s thought as a brother. Michael and Naomi would take in runaways, no questions asked, and they funded this by using her Breed powers that allow her to manipulate metals. That’s a handy-dandy power to make slot machines and roulette tables work in your favor. She’s also out for revenge, because she knows Leo Slater killed her mother. Asher is immediately drawn to her. She’s smart and beautiful and he’s felt her pain and knows her darkest secrets. He didn’t touch her on purpose, but when he kept waking her to make sure she was okay with that concussion, she turned her head and came in contact with his hand. He feels everything she does, which calls to him on a deeper level. Asher doesn’t know her powers and locks her in his room until the Order can pick her up, but she manipulates the locks and takes off in his truck. He’s stuck in the house until the sun goes down, and if Asher is good at anything, it’s definitely hunting. And a-hunting he goes.
Michael and Naomi want to hit the 1.3 million dollar slot machine and be done with it. They know it’s very risky and he doesn’t want Naomi to wind up dead. Asher, in the meantime, tracks her down at the casino, while Michael and Naomi are in the middle of their heist. He locates her dressed as an old lady going into the ladies’ room. In the meantime, Asher bumps into another Gen-One, Cain, who is Leo Slater’s head of security. Things get intense between them, but you don’t find out why until Cain tells Naomi exactly who she is with. I’m purposefully being vague, because part of this book is about secrets and I feel it’s Asher’s secret to tell and to also hear his side of the story, which I can tell you is utterly heartbreaking.
Asher and Naomi grow close, They have chemistry and soon it turns into more. Asher winds up calling off the Order and joins Naomi in her plot to take down Leo Slater. While she had tunnel vision in her need for revenge, there are casualties. It’s then when she realizes that it’s not worth it and she’s devastated. Asher comes to her aid and shit goes down. Naomi hears out Asher and his side of the story about the time he spent as a slave to Drago and she understands he had no choices in anything he did. They bond and it’s very beautiful and hot. Yes, I am leaving some things out. It’s a journey you the reader need to take. Every single obstacle, secret, feeling, touch, heartbreaking moments makes this a book you won’t be able to put down. If you love vampires, strong heroines, an amazing journey to a HEA, this book is for you. I, for one, can’t wait until Cain’s book comes out in September. He has a story too.
Grade:A
Summary:
As a former assassin in the Hunter program, Asher is one of a small group of Gen One Breed vampires who survived the horrors of a madman’s laboratory and the cruelty of the training that made him one of the most lethal beings in existence. Now, twenty years after his escape from those hellish origins, Asher is a loner whose heart is as cold as his skills are merciless. But when he thwarts a killing under way in the middle of the desert outside Las Vegas, Asher meets a beautiful woman who draws him into a deadly game against powerful enemies–one that will test both his skills and his tarnished honor.
Naomi Fallon is used to getting out of dicey situations. Orphaned as a child after her mother’s murder, she didn’t survive twenty-six years on the street without using up most of her nine lives. But when her latest caper lands her in the Mojave against a Vegas gangster’s henchmen, she’s certain her number is up. Then he appears–immense, brutal, and far from human. Naomi’s never needed anyone’s help, least of all one of the Breed. But after one risk too many, only a man with Asher’s skills can keep her safe. Yet the solitary, seductively handsome vampire has enemies of his own, and a secret that will not only shatter her faith in him but her heart, proving what she’s feared all along–that trust is only an illusion and love may be the sharpest weapon of all.
Each novel in the Hunter Legacy series is a standalone vampire romance that can be enjoyed in any order.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
