Review: Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance

Title: Midnight's Daughter (Dorina Basarab #1)
Author: Karen Chance
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Heat Index: 2 out of 5
Release Date: October 7th, 2008
Word/Page Count: 373 pages
Format: Purchased

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir-half human, half vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. So far Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing.

Now Dory's vampire father has come back into her life. Her Uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula), infamous even among vampires for his cruelty and murderous ways, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there.

Vampires and dhampirs are mortal enemies, and Dory prefers to work alone. But Dracula is the only thing on Earth that truly scares her, so when Dory has to go up against him, she'll take all the help she can get… ...

Arai's Review:

I went back and forth between 3.5 stars and 4 stars on this one. On one hand, i just picked up this book and blew through it in a day so definitely one that I had a hard time putting down. I enjoyed the characters and the universe is interesting, well-developed, and full of potential. The only thing that I had issue was that there were a couple of times throughout the book that you felt you had walked in the middle of an event and were left scrambling for information to help you make the connections. There were only a few times this happened and for the most part, I was willing to blow it off. The ending, however, felt like the author was trying to jam too many of the various story plots/lines together to give them the finish she wanted. I'm all for complex, but it was a little much to have 4 or 5 different plots wrapped up in the last 50 pages to culminate into a battle scene that lasted about 35 of those 50 pages.

On the part of the romance, there were definite parts that created a tension between the two characters but, for the most part, this book focuses more on plot than romance, which was fine for me since that was the mood I was in. However, I do hope that there is an uptake in romantic scenes between the two characters as the series progresses.

Sidenote: I really, really have no patience for Clair, the roommate of the main character and who was MIA for most of the novel. Yet, when she did appear, I was thoroughly annoyed by her within minutes and the feeling has yet to disappear.

Despite any criticism I might have, I already picked up the next book in the series and plan to spend my day curled up with it.