He comes to her more dead than alive, a towering black-clad stranger riddled with bullets and rapidly losing blood. As she struggles to save him, veterinarian Tess Culver is unaware that the man calling himself Dante is no man at all, but one of the Breed, vampire warriors engaged in a desperate battle. In a single erotically charged moment Tess is plunged into his world—a shifting, shadowed place where bands of Rogue vampires stalk the night, cutting a swath of terror.My Thoughts: As a reader, it can be a little intimidating coming into an estabished series late in the game. When I picked up book 1, I was prepared for it to blow me away. It didn't. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I think I expected a lot more out of it than I normally do from my books just because the series is 9 books strong. So, while book 1 didn't blow me away I was still interested enough in the world to continue on to book 2. I'm happy to say that book 2 delivered the goods.
Haunted by visions of a dark future, Dante lives and fights like there is no tomorrow. Tess is a complication he does not need—but now, with his brethren under attack, he must shield Tess from a growing threat that includes Dante himself. For with one reckless, irresistible kiss, she has become an inextricable part of his underworld realm…and his touch awakens her to hidden gifts, desires, and hungers she never knew she possessed. Bonded by blood, Dante and Tess must work together to thwart deadly enemies, even as they discover a passion that transcends the boundaries of life itself…
Dante is your typical immortal warrior type. He's big, strong, and full of bad attitude. I like that in the guys I read about. He's not looking for love (are they ever?!?) and he accidentally binds Tess to him when he's wounded. Oops. Well, big guy, you might not be looking for love but it's looking for you. Yep, whenever the two of them get close to one another, things happen. Kissing things. *thumbs up* I did think that Tess was very accepting of what Dante is and how it will impact her life once it was all laid out for her, but I can overlook that because I'm kinda enamoured of all those secondary Breed warriors. Now the fact that this series is 9 books long isn't intimidating at all. I'm giddy with the thought of oodles of more reading time with these guys.
So, yeah. This book felt a lot stronger, both plot wise and mythology wise, than book 1. The introduction of Crimson and its side effects on the civilian population takes the danger factor for the Breed warriors up a notch or two. Or three. Now things aren't quite as cut and dried as they were in book 1 and I like that.
Yes, I'll be zipping into the next books pretty darn quickly. Because I do like those strong, tormented warrior types.
Other reviews in this series:
Book 1: Kiss of Midnight
More books by Lara Adrian
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Glad to see you are enjoying the series a little more! Dante is fairly awesome, and I really loved his and Tess's story. Lara Adrian does a good job of ramping up the stakes and the action as the series goes along. : )
ReplyDeleteI have never been able to get into this series, I have read up to this one and after I wasn't that impressed, I just felt like I had read it before and felt it had been done better else where. Buuut every one says it gets better as you go long so I keep eyeballing the third book in the series!
ReplyDeleteGreat review
Suzanne @ Under the Covers
Yes, book #2 is what got me hooked on the series as well. Book #3 is even better.
ReplyDeleteMolli: I wasn't thrilled with book 1 but I can see why people really love this series after this book.
ReplyDeleteUnder the Covers: I was determined to get through at least book 4 before giving up on it. The series is really growing on me so I don't think it'll be a problem.
Lauren B: Good to know. I'll have to hunt that one down soon.