Tempted by Midnight: A Midnight Breed Novella - 1001 Dark Nights

Less do has always been dark and intriguing. He has been through so many trials and tribulations. He deserves to be happy. I hope to read more in future books about him and his lovely Melena

Tempted By Midnight is story number 12.5 in Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed Series as well as novella number 10 in the 1,001 Dark Nights Series. I am always thrilled to read a new story from Lara Adrian and head back into the Breed world and this novella was spectacular. Packed with emotion, heat, and action, I devoured it in one sitting and loved every second.Leader of the Order’s Italian command center, Lazaro Archer was used to sensing threats and eliminating them. It was his sole focus, especially now that his family had been taken from him in a horrific manner years before. Preparing for an important meeting with political members with the hopes of ending the strife between the Breed, vampires, and humans, he thought he knew all the players intended on coming to the meeting…and then he saw her. The intriguing and beautiful red-head that shouldn’t be here. Melena. But here she was and his reaction, and attraction, to her was almost immediate. He remembered her from almost another lifetime ago, and remembered saving her from an untimely demise when she fell into an icy lake when she was much younger. She was grown now, and with beauty and brains to spare, he shouldn’t wonder why he was attracted to her. But could he really forget all that he had lost in the past? His family? There wasn’t too much time to ponder more on that night because as fate would have it, he would have to rescue her once again before the evening came to an end…Melena Walsh would never forget Lazaro Archer. He had saved her life and she will be eternally grateful for that. Now she was here with him and wanted nothing more than to thank him for what he had done all those years earlier. She also would love to be able to ease some of the pain she still saw in his eyes. He had been hardened since she last saw him and after losing his family it was no wonder. But the pull she felt when she saw him was much more than wanting to ease his pain…it was a longing for more. Maybe she would have the chance to rescue him this time…from the sadness and pain that lingered.Before either one of them can contemplate their attraction, they are met with a terrible situation and thrown together, having to rely on each other to stay alive. And with that, their attraction only grows stronger and into something much more meaningful. Could this be fate’s way of giving Lazaro a second chance at love?I loved, loved, loved this story. Lara put so much heart into the pages and so much emotion that I was drawn in from the very first page. I loved that Lazaro and Melena had a history and that she understood what he had gone through with the loss of his family. Melena never tried to forget the past, in fact she wanted Lazaro to accept it and move on with his life…a feat he had been unable to do until now. She was exactly what he needed and even though it took a while for him to realize it, she pushed him to realize she was right. He deserved a chance at happiness again and Melena was that chance. It was beautiful to read and I wanted nothing more than for these two to have their happy ending. Of course, my lips are sealed as to if they got it!Adding another layer to this story was the conflict between the Breed, fellow vampires, and the humans and the trouble all the sides are facing. Also, we got to see a few familiar faces along the way, which was a real treat, and met some new ones that I can’t wait to read more of!Thank you, Ms. Adrian, for a yet another phenomenal story!

“Tempted by Midnight” picks up 2 weeks after the ending of “Edge of Dawn” and about a week after the end of “Crave the Night”. Lazaro Archer is about to facilitate a secret meeting between a Breed diplomat and the brother of Italy’s new (and anti-Breed) President. The meeting gets off to a rocky start when the Breed diplomat unexpectedly brings his daughter, the young Breedmate Melana, along as a translator. She has history with Lazaro, as he saved her life when she was a child visiting his home with her family. But the meeting literally goes up in flames when a missile targets the yacht where the meeting is taking place, sending Lazaro and Melana into the sea and killing everyone else aboard. Lazaro must figure out who was responsible—while trying to keep his head clear around Melana. He vowed upon the deaths of his family more than 20 years before that he would never bond another Breedmate, but Melana seems to be destroying his every resolve. The novella ends pretty abruptly, I think, and didn’t address everything I had hoped it would.I’ve been a fan of Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breeds books since discovering them several years ago. And without exception, I’ve been very pleased with each and every offering…until the last 2 novellas. I completely understand that novella’s are different from books and can’t offer the same amount of detail in 150 pages that an author can give in a full book with twice that many pages. But a novella—even one intended to tie into/promote a new upcoming novel—ought to be able to tell its own complete story. I don’t really think that these last two novellas (“Marked by Midnight” and “Tempted by Midnight”) have been totally successful at that. With the first two novellas (“Touch of Midnight” and “Taste of Midnight”) we got full stories with the expected beginning, middle, and end. With these last two novellas, it’s like the manuscript cuts off a chapter before the end and we’re left hanging on the edge of the cliff. I hope Lara’s plan is to provide us with bridges in her next novel that will tie off these loose ends and offer closure, or there will likely be quite a few upset fans.I’ve wondered since the end of “Edge of Dawn” whether Kellan and Lazaro were able to have a conversation before Kellan was turned over to JUSTIS for his trial and execution. With Lazaro’s novella, I was hoping/expecting that there would be at least some mention of the return from the grave—twice—of Lazaro’s only surviving grandson. Yet, there was nothing. Not a single word. Okay, maybe Kellan was right in EOD when he thought that his grandfather would be pretty upset/angry at Kellan pretending to be dead for 8 years. Maybe Lazaro is indeed furious with him—but then why not at least mention that? Perhaps we’re meant to believe that Lazaro’s GenOne nature is ruthlessly locking that issue up (especially with other, more life-and-death issues on the table at the moment), but I’m not sure that I can buy that argument. And at the end of the novella, Lazaro intended to leave the US, but why bolt back to Italy and not take at least a little time to see his grandson and Kellan’s new mate again?The relationship between Lazaro and Melana gives me whiplash most of the time. He goes from being adamantly against having a new Breedmate to drinking her blood within just a few pages or paragraphs. What happened?Unlike with “Marked by Midnight” I did figure out who the immediate villain was in “Tempted by Midnight” before the end. He bears the same scarab tattoo that the criminals bore in that earlier novella, so we might hope/assume that this organization (which may or may not be part of Opus Nostrum) will play a significant part in the next full-length Breed novel, “Bound by Darkness”, due out in Summer 2015.

Ever since the slaughter of his entire Dark Haven Lazaro has been working alongside the Order to bring down their enemies and he's now the leader of their command centre in Italy. The Breed was exposed to humans 20 years ago and the dangers they face have only increased since then. Now there is a faction who is determined to pit humans and vampires against each other and Lazaro is working on creating a secret alliance between influential Breed members and powerful humans trying to prevent a war. When things go drastically wrong at a secret meeting he must work with Breedmate Melena if they are going to have any chance of surviving and warning the Order of the newest threat.I've been waiting for Lazaro Archer to get his own HEA ever since his whole family (apart from his grandson) was murdered in one of the earlier books but I could understand why it has taken so long for him to reach a point where he was ready to move forward with his life. To be honest, Lazaro still doesn't feel ready, the last thing he wants is to find another mate. He blames himself for failing to protect his family and he doesn't want to risk getting his heart broken all over again so he's very resistant to the attraction he feels towards Melena and is determined to walk away from her once they get to safety. Melena first met Lazaro when she was a child, he was visiting her family Darkhaven and saved her life when she was just seven years old. Ever since that moment she has never forgotten the man who rescued her but that was before Lazaro lost his family and the man she meets now is very different to the one she remembers. That doesn't lessen the attraction she feels though and she becomes determined to prove to Lazaro that they could have a wonderful future together if he just lets her inside his barriers.I have to admit that the fact that Melena has been crushing on Lazaro since she was a child was a tiny bit creepy. I'm very used to huge age differences in vampire / human romances and they don't usually bother me but there was something a bit weird about the way she kept thinking back to their initial meeting when she was a child and how she's always had a bit of a hero worship thing going on. I was able to get past that issue though and I enjoyed the romance that developed between them now. This is a novella so everything moves quite quickly between them but as much as I'd have loved a full length novel about them I think we got enough to make their story believable. We also get a nice amount of action and a bit more information about the Opus Nostrum that will have a knock on effect in the main series.

Lazaro archer is on board a ship in italy when it explodes he manages to jump overboard and takes melena a breedmate with him but everyone else breed and human aboard ship dies, lazaro takes melena to his home in rome where he is a commander for the order and they try to figure out who was behind it.What follows is a short story with plenty of hot romance and action between the main characters, the story is really good and i couldnt put it down i read it within a few hours and i wish it had been a full length novel as i didnt want to stop reading.

Good story as usual by Lara Adrian. Love this series, but because it is a novella I cannot give it the full five stars. Not enough depth of character can be imbued into a novella's characters and in the main series we really have not had a chance to fully learn about Lazaro either. Nice story but over all too soon. Would still recommend though.

A short novella about the midnight breed and following the series from Lara Adrian which I have read from the beginning with a big break in between so it was to come back read more, well worth recommending to anyone who likes paranormal romances with a bit of fire

I wld hav expected a full length story on these two charrecters. Grt story , he is such a wonderful guy & I wld hav liked it to last a bit longer. Maybe there cld b more in th future? Thank u Lara. Xxxxxxx