Lara Adrian – Edge of Dawn

Book 11 in the Midnight Breed series, published February 26, 2013.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: fits the series



Twenty years after the terror of First Dawn - when mankind learned that vampires lived secretly among them – the threat of violence reigns. The only group preserving the fragile harmony is the Order, an elite cadre of Breed warriors dedicated to protecting humans and vampires alike. Mira, a fiery squad captain, has always believed in the warrior’s code of swift – and even lethal – justice. But the one thing she desires more than the Order’s acceptance is Kellan Archer, a sexy but troubled Breed fighter who abandoned the Order years ago. Now Kellan leads a band of human rebels intent on carrying out their own rule of law. But when a kidnapping assignment brings Kellan and Mira face-to-face, they are forced to take sides – between the competing missions that dominated their lives, and the electrifying passion that claims their hearts.


I have been very hesitant about reading this latest book in the series, because it has jumped forward in time 20 years since the last book. The ending of the previous book was amazing, and I just could not believe that I would like this book. But I did.

The Breed (vampires) in this book are descendants from Aliens, or Ancients as they call them, and they have hieroglyphs in their skin, that change colour according to their moods. There are few human females who can be their mates, women with psychic abilities and a strange birthmark somewhere on their skin. When the couples form a bloodbond, the women stop aging and their powers become stronger. The vampires are almost immortal. Their children always get the same psychic power their mothers have.

Mira is one of those possible breed mates, adopted by one of the couples in the previous books. Her gift is the sight, if you look into her eyes, you can see the future. But the price is too high, as Mira looses her normal eyesight with each vision. And so she started wearing contact lenses to prevent accidental visions. When she was 8 years old, a young Breed male named Kellan Archer came to live with them. He was not easy to hang out with, as he has just lost his entire family and all his friends to a Rogue attack, and only has his grandfather left. But Mira doesn’t give up on him, she has become his best friend over time, and eventually, they have become lovers. Only for Kellan to die the next night when a building they were entering went up in an explosion. All those years, Mira has been grieving for Kellan, never looking at another male. She also hates all rebels with a vengeance.

After she attacks a known rebel in an underground fight club, Mira is arrested by JUSTIS, the new police force. After being bailed out by the Order, Mira is punished by Lucan, the leader of the Breed and the Order. He pulls her of active duty, and names one of her colleagues as the new team leader. She will have another job, taking care of escorting a civilian to the peace summit in Boston in four days. Mira doesn’t like this, but she knows she deserves it. What she doesn’t expect is to walk into a kidnapping in progress, when rebels are abducting her charge. Not someone to give up without a fight, she tries to get him back, only to be taken by the rebels as well. With a very unsuspected ending, as their leader is none but her old lover, Kellan Archer, living under the name of Bowman.

Kellan knows it is asking for trouble, having his team bring Mira in as well, but he has never been able to forget her, and now the old craving is back full force. He just can’t stay away form his prisoner. It will bring him and his team to the attention of the Order, but he can’t leave her behind somewhere, with a mind scrub. Especially when he finds out that the man he had kidnapped, is innocent of making the weapon that will annihilate the entire Breed. But one of his team members betrays Bowman by killing a collegue, severely wounding another, and abducting the civilian again. Now they all will have to work together to find them, and explain things to the Order.


A very good story, filled with action and I can’t help but to feel for Mira, knowing her lover just left her behind, and now plans to do the same thing by dying for his crimes. She did not give up or give in without a fight, but in the end she chose for love and her mate.
The plot itself was a very big surprise, and I have no clue what will happen next, except some other romances I see coming for some of the secondary characters in this story. But the new story arc is amazing, lots of very powerful bad guys to fight again.

I have to admit, I thought Kellan a coward for running 8 years ago, after he saw his vision. He could have come back after the accident; after all, he knows that Mira’s visions are never wrong, so how could he have avoided it? Instead, he deprived both of them from the time they could have happily spent together. And now he still keeps hurting her with his bad decisions. Mira is a very capable fighter even though she is fully human, and he wants to leave her behind again and again, in safety, instead of trusting her capabilities. I know he is an alpha male, a leader, but I do prefer alpha’s who trust in their mates and that they can handle themselves. There are more female warriors in the previous books.

So, I liked the story, the new overall story line, the action, the characters, but I did not like Kellan very much. He made too many wrong and selfish decisions in my opinion. I do look forward to the next book, I want to know what will happen next and if they will be able to prevent a war.

7 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian