Niki Kroff has one mission in life--to lead Sylvan Mir's elite guard and protect the wolf Alpha's life. When Lara, another of the centuri, becomes a Vampire in the course of saving Sylvan's life, Niki is assigned to protect her during her transition. Removed from Sylvan's guard, Niki struggles to find her place in the Pack and control her desire for a forbidden Were whose call grows stronger every day.
Sylvan, driven by primal instincts to protect her pregnant mate, grows more powerful, and more deadly, than any Alpha Were in centuries. While Sylvan rallies her allies, Vampire and human, to fight extremists, radical groups, and members of their own Praetern coalition in a war to preserve the autonomy of all Praetern species, Niki fights a private battle with her own dark urges—a battle which, if lost, will cost her everything.
This is the 3rd book in the Midnight Hunters series. Be sure to read Books 1 & 2 first!
Niki, Sylvan’s chief protector and #2 in Pack hierarchy, has been the unenviable sidekick of the series so far. In love with Sylvan all her life, she’s watched Sylvan mate with Drake, and she is now sworn to protect the woman she'd once wanted to kill to protect Sylvan, the Pack…and perhaps her own heart.
While each of the characters in this series has very unique characteristics, Niki is the most unique for me…in that I just never develop much sympathy for her many plights (some external and some internal). Even as she turns to vampire blood addiction to escape her pains, I often just want to slap her, which is definitely NOT my normal reaction to anyone in pain, or battling an addiction. Niki’s aggressiveness borders, and sometimes crosses, acceptable behavioral limits. Her motto could be “I want, therefore I take”. She nearly rapes Sophia several times even as Sophia cries “No, Niki!”.
Sophia is another person I struggle to like as much as I want to. Neither dominant nor submissive, as “Omega” her role is to bring calm to others. Yet, she is the biggest damned tease in the book! In the same breath as she tells Niki “no”, she immediately says “I need you, Niki…now!” When she’s not teasing Niki, she’s teasing Lara, Dasha and Grey. She often teases two at the same time, setting them off against each other. NOT COOL!
The relationships of Sylvan & Drake and Jodi and Becca continue in this book, but it is Niki and Sophia and their many issues of roles in the pack, with each other and with others that takes center stage. The vampires Francesca and Michelle and their political roles with human politicians and scientists develop further. Katya’s role also develops….once a victim of experimentation and sexual and psychological abuse…is her relationship with Michelle a continuation of victimhood or a free choice? Stay tuned.
If you’re reading the series, you cannot skip this book. You’d miss too much and would be confused if you went from book 2 directly to book 4. But, this is a much less satisfying book than numbers 1 and 2. There’s too much sense of repetition with old pairings, and the new pairings are uncomfortable to watch develop with the many mind games. Sex frenzy between consenting participants is entertaining, but too often this book portrays lust as an aggressive act by the strong against the weak rather than a loving joining.
3.5* rounded up to 4*. I recommend it because it’s a necessary link in an otherwise terrific series, but this is a weak link. Hopefully it will be the weakest link in the series, and won’t be so weak as to break the chain.
I liked the first book in this series enough to read the other two (currently) sequels. But I think I'm ending this with book three. I don't find any of the characters particularly fleshed out (no description exists beyond hair and sometimes eye color, certainly no one has any thoughts about what is being given up or consequences of turning), almost all the dialogue could be interchangeable between any of the characters, many of them share identical hard knock life back stories (daddy issues, abandonment issues, fitting in issues), just about every female character is a lesbian (my number one lesbian fic pet peeve), and the sex scenes while exciting at first are just so repetitive that they become dull and boring very quickly. There is an interesting plot line throughout the series, but it tends to get pushed aside in favor of another sex scene. Vamps and Weres are awesome and exciting, don't get me wrong, but this series has devolved into a book with as many sex mashups as the author can think up, without much variation in terms of what's going on between the lovers. I found myself skipping through large chunks of books two and three because i grew tied of reading yet another sex scene described the exact same way as the previous twelve. I wanted more action (not between the sheets), more suspense, more questions answered about the plot. I think a big opportunity was missed here with such a great genre.
And better. The series is exciting, inspiring and has everything if not more you could want. Radclyffe is an excellent and exhilarating author. Her descriptions put you right there along with a little imagination. I guess you could read these individually but I wouldn't advise it. So far all three books are linked and make an intriguing and truly amazing story. I would love to live in Radclyffe's head for a day. Ok that sounded better in my head. Read you'll love it..
Niki is not my favorite character but I was glad to see her with Sophia. Sylvan and Drake's story continues and I have yet to grow tired of them. This book isn't quite as good as the first two (likely because of my opinion about Niki) but still an excellent read. Kudos to Radclyffe for this fantastic storyline. I am in awe.
I was wondering if L.L. Raand was following this werewolf and vampire personality stereotypes throughout the whole series. For example, every werewolf characters would act in this kind of wild, in-heat, agitate, aggressive, and over-protective kind of personality (excepted Sophia). Then every vampire characters would act in this kind of calm, elegant, aloof, bore, dark kind of personality. There are exceptions of course, but those exceptions are not much. It's like a recycled personality of one person and stick it to another person of the same species. It appeared to me that the villains are grouped together in one type of personality as well. The villain-species! So many sexes, hot sexes, but still so many sexes. It doesn't matter how hot the sex is, but if the dialogue is a one-track repetitive dialogue added with repetitive sex, it will get boring. But that is to be expected when the author explained about the nature of these paranormal beings. That just who they are.
I really like Sophia, which is why I was excited for her part in the story. I don't like Niki that much. I was thinking that if the book is going to be about a couple, the author should concentrate more on that particular couple only instead of bringing too much other couples into the scene.
➬➱➫➩➪【5 Stars】 This is the third book in the Midnight Hunters series. Sophia was one of my favorites from the get-go so I am very happy that she is now with her mate. I’m always so impressed with the details about the Were physiology and Radclyffe’s background in her career field really shows through.
As stated in my previous review: Radclyffe does not disappoint on the erotica tag at all. I was a bit concerned with the insta-love vibe, but it definitely coincides with the fact that the Weres are able to sense their true mate. I am such a sucker for books where there are possessive and jealous love interests. This hits that right on the dot.
TW: There are explicit M/F scenes (hardly any but still). There is also abuse to some characters. It is mild. It’s not g!p necessarily… but please read other reviews for a more in depth explanation.
I reread this series every Halloween and cannot recommend it enough. H to the o to the t. ➢Happy reading!
Rounding up for this one because I am fully committed to the series even if this book did not have as much of the "charm" that the first two books had.
This book was certainly more the type of urban fantasy I am used to - angsty and at times problematic. If this was the first book I probably would not have been interested in pursuing the series, but since I am well invested in the characters (regardless of how messy and irrational they are) I do not plan on giving up just yet.
I certainly would not recommend the series to anyone not familiar with the urban/paranormal genre based on this book. If you are familiar with the genre and are looking for a longer series to consume, with a mostly werewolf perspective, then you might want to give book 1 a try!
This is the third book in L.L. Raand's Midnight Hunters series and I have yet to tire of the storyline or the characters. Each successive book has maintained the central story of Sylvan and Drake but adds a new couple to focus on as well. In book two it was Jody and Becca and in book three it is Niki and Sophia. I was very excited to see what would potentially develop between them as I think Niki and Sophia are two of the more dynamic characters. Sylvan and Drake are my favorites, though, and I don't care how many times Raand (or Radclyffe) writes about them "tangling"....it never gets old!
I like the old Jody, the pre-ans. But, I still like Jody, none-the-less. I like Sophia, but I still have an issue connecting with Niki Kroff, no matter how much backstory I get so far. I am still very curious about the vampire enforcer, senechal, Michel and her being taken with a certain vampire and how that will actually play out. I am curious as to what Francesca is really up to. What is really going on with this “were fever?” What/who is Lara?
Still my most favorite part of all of the books in the series so far is the hot scenes between Sylvan and her mate Drake. The passion, love, and desire that they share is palpable.
This series took me by surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The ending of this book took me by surprise I wasn't ready for it to end and found myself flicking the kindle back and forth looking for more. The Nikki character is growing on me and was nice to see her come into her own a bit more. Would have loved more Becca and Jody definitely my favourite characters. Bring on the next one!
Finally!!! I was really beginning to feel horribly for Niki. This book finally resolves so many things for her. I was so hoping the she and Sophia would finally get together, and now, well. I'm kinda hating being a human right now. This book, and all the Midnight Hunt series, paint humans in such a poor light, that I wish I was Were, honestly. Veronica needs to just go away, seriously go away. I know every story needs a villain, but she's bad, really bad. I mean, you can't really trust a vampire either, and I'm not even sure Sylvan can even trust Gates, much less the viceregal. They're almost as bad as the humans. I know I should be reviewing the writing, but this series has me so worked up, that I have to take breaks in between. Of course, the writing is excellent, although the sex is sometimes too prevalent, but it is 'Rad' after all, so, well, there it is.
All these people challenging Mir all the time… argh.. It really dampens the whole "I am the Alpha" attitude. And it seems like she's been softened… I HATE THAT. Like Nikki said, a lot of things are not happening according to how the whole Alpha law should be… and that's disappointing… I hate Nikki but I do agree with her on that bit.
PS: I usually love when there are many characters… but this time… nope.. less focus is put on Mir and her mate and that just pisses me off coz the other characters are just fucking or sucking.. or shit like that.. I NEED CONTENT. ALPHA CONTENT. Which I will probably not get since, there's already like 7 books and if they're the same as this one… just sad.. truly.
“What are we, any of us, except what we believe and how we behave? We are more than what is inside our cells. We are what lives in our heart.”” + • + • + • +
Although not as amazing as the first book, this book was more enjoyable than the last— not relying on sexual tensions & likeable characters, but returning to a successful writing style that advanced a captivating plot & engaging storyline development.
…& once again I'm looking forward in anticipation for what happens next.
Yes! We are back to story! I'm very excited to see where this is going to go. With Sophia's real past being revealed and the attack on the lab I'm excited to see how Silvan will react. I'm really hoping that this will end with Silvan being the head alpha of all the packs. I think Francesca is playing a dangerous game and really needs to chose sides. I think Michel is going to leave to be with Katia. I'm looking forward to the next book. I also am really excited about Drake giving birth and I'm hoping Sophia and Nikki end up having kids that will be able to grow up with silvans kids!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The third book in a series of nine and it’s only got me wanting more. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Nikki in earlier books, I found her incredibly uptight and obsessive but this book has slowly changed my mind. I love how the author has fleshed out all of these MCs will slowly introducing new ones. Worth the read for those of you who enjoy some spicy sapphic fantasy.
The third book, in the Midnight Hunters, never left me questioning my interest. The series continues to be a page turner. I went from 57% to 99% without even realizing how involved I was in the story. Another excellent book by Raand. Now on to book 4.
The storyline is starting to heavily unfold and give more to what's to come. I enjoying all the new pairings and the new vamp/wolf hybrid. The next books to come I can tell are going to be intense with worry and anger going towards what they must do to protect themselves and their allies.