2 Bloggers 1 Series - Deep Midnight (Alliance Vampires #3)

 

This month Stormi and I continued our series read of the Alliance Vampires series by Shannon Drake (aka Heather Graham).  I have to admit, this book almost broke me and not in a good way.  Read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads to see hers.  

 

TITLE: Deep Midnight (Alliance Vampires #3)

AUTHOR:  Shannon Drake aka Heather Graham

PUBLISHER: Zebra

PUBLISHING DATE: September 1, 2001

PAGES: 480   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: The Hour When Dreams Turn Into Nightmares... 

An opulent Carnivale ball in Venice takes a terrifying turn for book critic Jordan Riley. As festivity turns into frenzy, she is rescued by a powerful man disguised as a wolf. But was what she witnessed really just the evening's entertainment--or something far more sinister? 

...And Pleasure Beckons From Beyond 

From a de-consecrated church in Venice to a secret society in New Orleans, Jordan is led on a nightmare journey to the razor's edge of reality. Her mysterious savior is always a shadow behind her. A man whose closeness will both torment and tantalize her as darkness falls--and an eternal hunger threatens to consume her.

MY THOUGHTS: Man, I really struggled with this book.  One of the major problems was that it started out so similarly to book two that I had to check several times to make sure I hadn't already read it.  

Jordan is in Venice to attend Carnivale with her cousin Jared and his wife Cindy.  One night they attend an elite party at the home of an infamous Contessa. Jordan ends up on the wrong floor of the villa and witnesses a horrific scene of blood and death.  She ends up being saved by a mysterious man but no one believes her and everyone claims it was an elaborate staged act.  Strange things continue to happen and Jordan keeps being haunted by her dead fiancé, a cop in the States that was killed while investigating a local cult.  Jordan continues to experience strange things and is soon being followed by a mysterious man named Ragnor.  Is inviting Ragnor into her life inviting something more than she bargained for?

This book really dragged for me.  I found Jordan to be an annoying character as she knew situations were dangerous and she kept doing stupid things. Oh, there is a head in the canal.  Let's go investigate after dark. Oh, I don't trust this man and believe he is behind the murders no one believed I saw so let's sleep with him. I will say there was a twist at the end which totally caught me off guard and that is the only thing which brought the rating up a point.  Also, it took over 300 pages for the connection to the first two books in the series to be made.  

I think this book could have been about 100 pages shorter or maybe not added to series at all.  I am interested to see where book 4 leads but honestly, after this one, and not in too much of a hurry to find out.

MY RATING: 3 PAWS