Dual Review: Midnight Rising and Veil of Midnight

Grade: C

Summary: Midnight Rising: In a world of shadows and dark, consuming hungers, desire is the deadliest weapon...
For journalist Dylan Alexander, it began with the discovery of a hidden tomb, thrusting her into the center of a gathering storm of violence and secrets. But nothing is as dangerous as the scarred, lethally seductive man who rises from the shadows to draw her into his world of dark desire and endless night.
Fueled by pain and rage over a shattering betrayal, the warrior Rio has pledged his life to the war against the Rogues. He will let nothing stand in his way—least of all a mortal woman with the power to expose the entire vampire race. For an ancient evil has been awakened, and a stunning darkness is on the rise. Suddenly Dylan is powerless to resist Rio's touch, even as she uncovers a shocking link to her own past. And now she must choose: Leave Rio's midnight realm, or risk it all for the man who has shown her true passion and the infinite pleasures of the heart. . . .



Grade: D



Veil of Midnight: Bound by blood, addicted to danger, they'll enter the darkest - and most erotic - place of all.
A warrior trained in bullets and blades, Renata cannot be bested by any man - vampire or mortal. But her most powerful weapon is her extraordinary psychic ability - a gift both rare and deadly. Now a stranger threatens her hard-won independence - a golden-haired vampire who lures her into a realm of darkness.and pleasure beyond imagining.
A combat-loving adrenaline junkie, Nikolai dispenses his own justice to enemies of the Breed - and his latest quarry is a ruthless assassin. One woman stands in his way: the seductive, cool-as-ice bodyguard, Renata. But Renata's powers are put to the test when a loved one, a child, is threatened and she's forced to turn to Niko for help. As the two join forces, as desire fans the flames of a deeper hunger, Renata's life is under siege by a man who offers the exquisite pleasure of a blood bond - and a passion that could save or doom them both forever..

Review: Sooooo, I read Midnight Rising and Veil of Midnight and honestly I only had three or four lines of commentary on both. These books are soooooooo similar to the previous ones I felt like I was just going to have the same comments and basically write the same review over and over. Both these books were average, below average to me but I would still call them decent reads. On the other hand I do think if I had read them as they came out, months in between publishing dates, the previous story would have faded from my mind and maybe I would have enjoyed the next story more because it would become more fresh. Anyway here are the only comments I came up with as I read;

Midnight Rising: Nice little quandary to start of the story: Dylan (the girl, yes I know) is a reporter who takes pics of Rio and a super secret cave. Rio can't have those pics come out and now since Rio messed up he has to keep Dylan with him when all he wants to do is off himself (in the previous books he is betrayed by his breedmate and scared horribly from an explosion).
Their relationship happens/progressing at warp speed, not sure why they are in "luv".
This story is just kind of more of the same. The tone and set-up felt the same, the characters just have different names. Rio and Dylan didn't make a lasting impression on me or anything.
Once again the author finishes strong with an ending that was fast paced and exciting. Liking the continuation storyline of the Ancient (original gansta', sorry, Vampire) being alive and breeding new Gen Ones.

Veil of Midnight: I think the author is starting to run out of ideas about what powers to give her breedmates; Renata's power is a pulse of power she can send out which debilitates vampires but also drains her of energy. Strange. If I was Renata I would feel like I got the shaft in the old power's department.
Renata seems whiny to me (so you have a Gen One vampire abusing you? Yeah well I had to do five loads of laundry today, move it along) never connected with her or liked her. The only thing I got from Nikolai was that he has piercing blue eyes and likes guns.
Ugh! The author builds up her villains, makes them hella' intriguing bad asses, and then just kills them off way too quickly, such let downs!
Like the new added storyline of Gen Ones who are assassins and the character named Hunter (Gen One assassin) who Mira (breedmate who Renate watches over) saves, I'm thinking there will be a book in their future.
Nothing interesting here really, well I guess I do find myself interested in the character Hunter and what looks like new storylines for the series. Way too much like the previous books in the series except the two main characters weren't as engaging as the previous ones have been.


Next to be read: "Married by Mistake" by Abby Gaines. Stopping with the Midnight Breeds series since all the books are running together and I don't feel as if I'm judging them fairly now; we need to take a breather from each other. So I'm going a whole different direction with some light hearted contemporary reading.