Title: Claimed in Shadows 
Author: Lara Adrian
Series: Midnight Breed, book 15
Publisher: Lara Adrian, LLC
Publication date: 23-1-2018
Pages: 315
About the author
Lara Adrian is a New York Times and #1 internationally best-selling author, with nearly 4 million books in print worldwide and translations licensed to more than 20 countries. Her books regularly appear in the top spots of all the major bestseller lists including the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Indiebound, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc. Reviewers have called Lara’s books ‘addictively readable’ (Chicago Tribune), ‘extraordinary’ (Fresh Fiction), and ‘one of the best on the market’ (Romantic Times).
Writing as Tina St. John, her historical romances have won numerous awards including the National Readers Choice; Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice; Booksellers Best; and many others. She was twice named a Finalist in Romance Writers of America’s RITA Awards, for Best Historical Romance (White Lion’s Lady) and Best Paranormal Romance (Heart of the Hunter). More recently, the German translation of Heart of the Hunter debuted on Der Spiegel bestseller list.
With an ancestry stretching back to the Mayflower and the court of King Henry VIII, the author lives with her husband in New England.
Summary
As a longtime fan of the Midnight Breed series I was looking forward to this release and I’m more than thrilled that I’ve been chosen as one of the members of the Review Team and therefore got an ARC (advance reader’s copy) to review.
The Breed are an ancient kind of vampires, back in the days some of the Breed males formed The Order, warriors who fight injustice and if necessary their own kind. Behind a strong warrior there is an even stronger Breedmate, special women born with a teardrop in a crecent moon birthmark and only a Breedmate is capable of having a Breed male’s baby. Those babies are always boys, except when the first Breed woman Tavia mated with a strong Breed warrior named Sterling Chase. They got twins, a boy and a girl, who are Daywalkers, which means they are capable of walking in daylight, which is rare. This story is about one of the twins, named Aric, who is about to become a Breed warrior himself.
It’s a damned bloodbath down here, Commander. We ashed the Rogue who did it, but you know as well as I do that the bastards tend to run in packs.
My opinion
As the son of a formidable Breed warrior, Aric Chase has been devoted to the Order all his life. With his training completed, all he needs is one successful mission before he can join the fight to destroy the Order’s chief nemesis, Opus Nostrum. His rare ability to daywalk lands Aric an assignment in Montreal, where he learns he’s to be teamed with another new recruit, a beautiful, but tough-as-nails Breedmate named Kaya Laurent.
Independent and driven, Kaya wants nothing more than to become a full-fledged member of the Order. Having grown up in squalor and neglect on the streets of Montreal, she longs for the close-knit family she’s found during her training to be a warrior. Eager to prove herself, she is thrilled to be given the chance at a key operation, even if she must share the mission with an arrogant, far-too-seductive Breed male who’s practically Order royalty.
Their unwanted partnership soon erupts into a desire neither of them can resist. But when Kaya’s past reaches out from the shadows to call her back, she must decide between protecting a dark alliance that could shatter her dreams of joining the team and a truth that could not only forfeit Aric’s faith in her, but bring the enemy right to the Order’s door.
This detour was only supposed to be temporary. I never dreamed I’d find forever here.
Only the first 9 books are translated in Dutch which is a shame, because the Midnight Breed series is an excellent series that started back in 2007. I really loved reading about the first Breed Warriors, who formed The Order, reading about the next generation is like a natural development, they almost feel like family.
I liked the story of Aric and Kaya, Aric was present in the background of some of the previous books and it’s very nice to follow his trails a bit more closely. The story is, like the other Midnight Breed stories, a very exciting read. I even held my breath at some parts of the story. What also was very nice was that almost all the Breed warriors and their partners came together for the birth of Renata and Niko’s baby. So nice to ‘see’ them again. I have read all the previous books so I kind of knew Aric and Kaya would fall for each other, but it’s always an adventure to read how and when and which enemies they have to deal with.
It is possible to read this book as a stand-alone, but you do miss a lot of background information about what has happened in the earlier books.
I’d like to give this book 3,5 stars.
Ann Koenzen
