Born of Darkness by Lara Adrian Narrator: Roger Wayne
Length: 6 hrs 38 mins
Series: Hunter Legacy #1
Published by Lara Adrian LLC, Tantor Audio on March 27, 2018
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 314
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian introduces the first novel in the Hunter Legacy series, thrilling new vampire romances set in the darkly seductive Midnight Breed paranormal story world.
As a former assassin in the Hunter program, Asher is one of a small group of Gen One Breed vampires who survived the horrors of a madman’s laboratory and the cruelty of the training that made him one of the most lethal beings in existence. Now, twenty years after his escape from those hellish origins, Ash is a loner whose heart is as cold as his skills are lethal. But when a beautiful, secretive young woman on the run from dangerous enemies crosses his path in the middle of a dark night in the desert outside Las Vegas, Ash is drawn into a deadly game where trust can be an illusion and love may be the sharpest weapon of all.
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I’m not quite caught up on the Midnight Breed series yet, but I couldn’t resist diving into the lives of the Hunters. Those Breed warriors who were engineered and brought up by Dragos into killers. They are not in any organized group like the Order, but each has their own life.
In Born of Darkness, Asher is a Breed vampire formerly of the Hunter program who has been living out in the Mojave desert for years. He was pretty content in his solitude. Then one night on his way home he stumbles onto some hitmen in the middle of dragging their mark out for the kill. The victim appears to just be a young boy, but when Asher interferes to save the boy, he is surprised to find that he has actually saved a young woman. To complicate matters even more, this woman appears to be a Breedmate. The most protected and cherished women for the Breed. Asher tries to turn her over to the Order for protection but the stubborn and independent Naomi will have none of that.
Naomi has been on her own basically since she was 8 years old. She believes her mother to have been killed by an influential casino owner and she is out to bring him down. She lives with a man she has grown up in the streets with and together they have put together a place where homeless children can come for a safe place. However, when that safe place isn’t safe anymore because of one of Naomi and Michael’s little tricks at the casino, the kids scatter leaving Asher and Naomi struggling to find them.
The casino owner happens to have an ex-Hunter as his chief of security. Cain has figured out who Naomi is despite all her disguises when hitting up the casinos. However, all of Cain’s detective work gets brought to the boss before Cain can present it. I’m not sure if Kane was fired or left on his own, but on his way out he makes some pretty big accusation about Asher to Naomi. If what Cain says is true, Asher is really a monster and nothing like what Naomi has witnessed her few days with him.
Born of Darkness was exciting. It contained a lot of action and seemed to fly by. Naomi’s actions created a spiral of deadly events for her group and the two must come together to fight to keep Naomi and the kids alive. We also learn so much about Asher and what he went through as a Hunter. The things about him that make the other Hunters despise him, but are so far from the actual truth of the situation. This book just seemed to jump from one dangerous situation to another. There was a nice romance between Asher and Naomi, but for me the danger really kept me tuned in.
I found the narration great with all the characters including the children and I was kept in the whirlwind of the story the whole time. Roger Wayne did a wonderful job with Born of Darkness. The pacing was well done and my adrenaline built right with the story.
Born of Darkness was a great start to the Hunter Legacy series. No book one syndrome here for me. Maybe because I’m used to the world already from the Midnight Breed series. I’m anxious to learn about more of the Hunters. Especially Cain after he departed Las Vegas in this book. I’m curious to know where he went and what his plans were. This is definitely a great spin off and I’m excited that Lara Adrian turned to the Hunters to tell their stories.
About Lara Adrian
As a child, Lara Adrian used to sleep with the covers up around her neck, afraid she might become the midnight prey of deadly vampires. Later on, under the influence of Bram Stoker and Anne Rice, she had to wonder if her fear wasn’t actually something else: a secret desire to walk in a darker world, to live a dangerous and sensual dream with a man of seductive, preternatural power. It is that twining of fear and desire that fuels Lara’s own fantasies today, and the idea that she explores in her New York Times bestselling Midnight Breed series of vampire romance novels from Bantam Dell Books.
With an ancestry stretching back to the Mayflower and the court of King Henry VIII, Lara Adrian lives with her husband in coastal New England, surrounded by centuries-old graveyards, hip urban comforts, and the endless inspiration of the broody Atlantic Ocean.
LARA ADRIAN is a New York Times and #1 international bestselling author with nearly 4 million books in print and digital worldwide and translations licensed in more than 20 countries. Her upcoming release is FOR 100 REASONS, the third book in a contemporary romance series that reviewers are calling “phenomenal” and “one of the hottest series of the year.” Learn more about the author and her books at LaraAdrian.com.
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