Crave The Night by Lara Adrian (Midnight Breed #12)
Paranormal Romance
August 5, 2014
Delacorte Press

Reviewed by Helyce

Favorite Quote: All he knew was that he wanted her. Again. Still.

Crave The Night picks up just days after the surprising end to Edge of Dawn. With the death of Reginald Crowe, a new enemy to humans and Breeds alike was revealed-The Atlanteans. Determined to get ahead of the war that is almost sure to come, the Order’s younger generation of warriors is on the prowl as they try to find Cassian “Cass” Gray-owner of the nightclub La Notte. Known for his seedy underground dealings and his renowned Breed cage fighters, Cass is someone the Order believes has ties to the group Opus Nostrum. Unfortunately, he is in the wind.

Nathan is a Gen One Breed sired by Dragos and raised to be a Hunter. By the time he is rescued by his mother Corinne and Breed warrior Hunter, he’s had all emotion and feeling literally beaten out of him. With the love of his mother and the family of Breeds, their wives and the other children within the Order, Nathan has come a long way. But darkness is still a huge part of his soul. He is first and foremost a warrior and his priorities right now are to find Cassian Gray and do everything he can to bring down the threat the Atlantean’s pose. But all that strength and single minded purpose goes all to hell anytime he’s in the presence of Jordanna Gates.

Jordanna Gates is a Breedmate of the highest social order. As she approaches her 25th birthday, her father has been pushing her to finalize the bond with fiance Elliot Bentley-Squire, a man of her father’s choosing who she cares for but has absolutely not one ounce of romantic spark with. She’s with him because she feels that it’s the right thing to do and what is expected of her. But all she can think about is that one, blistering hot kiss with Nathan that was over too soon. Now, anytime they are in a room together, sparks fly.

The chemistry between Nathan and Jordanna is electric but so much holds them back from jumping in and taking what they want. For Nathan, he feels he is too hard, the blackness in his heart and soul too strong. Jordanna is caught between wanting to experience what she knows will be better than anything she could possibly imagine, and falling in line and doing what is expected of her. Nathan can only hold back for so long, though, and given the opportunity, he takes charge and Jordanna is happy to let him.

I really enjoyed Crave The NIght, but I did have some mixed feelings on certain aspects of this story. I loved that there is focus on Nathan and Jordanna as a couple. While not your typical road to romance, these two are clearly meant to be together. Their passionate scenes early in the book only whet your appetite as these two come together for a few steamy scenes with kissing and groping only to part before things go too far. The build up is incredible.

“She whimpered, squirming against him as he slowly rose before her and caged her with his body. When she spoke, the words tumbled out in a breathless gust. “Oh God…I shouldn’t be doing this…shouldn’t want you.”

“Then tell me to stop.” He pressed himself against her, fusing them from check to thigh as he licked the fluttering artery on the side of her neck, then took her earlobe between his teeth. “Tell me to let you go, Jordanna.”

He stroked his free hand down the front of her body, then around her backside, squeezing one firm cheek over the fine wool weave of her skirt. When she parted her lips on an indrawn breath he took her mouth in a deep, heated kiss, at the same time delving his fingers into the cleft of her ass.

She gasped against his mouth, tensing for a moment, before she accepted his wicked caress. He slid deeper along that crevice, reveling in the way she quivered under his hand. He didn’t cease until his fingertips were nestles in the juncture of her thighs. Her sex was a furnace against his palm, tantalizingly soft.”

I simply loved Nathan. He is nothing if not a man totally in control, but Jordanna is his undoing. He fights internally with what he was early in life and while he certainly has come a long way he still views himself as unworthy of a woman like Jordanna who is pure and untouched. In my eyes, that made Jordanna perfect for him. The light that would dispel all the darkness within him. For Jordanna, she too fights with herself but her reasons come more from outside expectations. Once she finds the strength inside herself to accept her feelings, its a done deal.

While Nathan and Jordanna fail miserably at trying to stay away from each other, Cassian Gray is found dead by beheading. With this, the Order confirms that Cass was in fact Atlantean bringing the threat even closer than they’d imagined when Jordanna reveals that Cass, though wearing a disguise, had visited her at her gallery just the day before. This brings forth more questions about Cassian’s connections to the Atlanteans and the answers, when revealed, were as exciting as they were unexpected.

I feel like Ms. Adrian has been leading us to the revelations in this story since the introduction of Jenna in Taken By Midnight. With the implantation of alien DNA into Jenna’s body by Dragos, she’d begun to reveal ancient memories of another people we now know to be the Atlanteans. Like the Breeds before them, they had been living among humans for millennia just waiting for the right time to reveal themselves. And though they did so in a spectacular fashion, they continue to elude the Breeds at every turn. After what happened at the end of Edge of Dawn, I’d say it is safe to assume that their goal is to wipe out the Breeds and go for total world dominance. But why?

What is revealed herein is BIG and really kind of exciting. While it advances the story a bit, we still know nothing more about the Atlanteans or what they are truly after. My first reaction upon finishing the last page of this story was, “Wow that was awesome!” But as I started to deconstruct some of the details, I had the same questions I’ve had since Jenna’s book. Clearly there was a war in another place between the Breeds and the Atlanteans. Why? (I have my suspicions but that can’t be the whole of it.) Because they are undoubtedly connected. The Atlantean symbol is the breedmate birthmark. Hello? Doesn’t that mean that all these breedmates are descendants of Atlanteans? And they just happen to be the only women who can form a blood bond with a Breed male. Did I miss something? Do I have that wrong?

In the end, I decided that this is exactly Ms. Adrian’s intent. To get us all worked up. Give a little and make you hungry for more. Which is exactly where I’m at–hungry and needing more!

Rating: B+

PS: For all you Rune fans, we only get a little of Rune and Carys in this book. They are still together and there is clearly more to Rune than we’ve been given to date. I hope they get the next book…

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