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La Hija De La Medianoche (2010)

by Karen Chance(Favorite Author)
4 of 5 Votes: 3
ISBN
849800523X (ISBN13: 9788498005233)
languge
English
genre
publisher
La Factoría de Ideas
series
Dorina Basarab
review 1: Midnight’s Daughter by Karen Chance is a modern day paranormal romance set mainly in New York. The story is told in first person, and narrated by the main protagonist, Dorina Basarab. Dorina Basarab, Dory for short, is not your ordinary, cookie-cutter heroine. She is a dhampir (half human, half vampire mix) with a whole lot of daddy issues.In the opening of the novel, we are first introduced to Dory as she is searching for her best friend and roommate, Claire Lachesis. Claire has been missing for months. Every lead, thus far, has led to a dead end. Her latest informant, a crooked vampire named Kyle, gives her some rather unsettling news about her friend. Needless to say, the news turns her world upside down. Well, more so the informant’s workplace. Wrecking the place a... morend killing every vampire in sight, she wakes up an hour later still processing the information. She isn’t given too much time to regroup as she is greeted by her estranged father, Mircea Basarab. Mircea is a member of the vampire Senate. The Senate is the political head of the vampire community. They make sure everyone is following the rules. And when vampires don’t follow the rules, well, the Senate steps in. And they don’t usually give out slaps on the wrist. Heads will roll.It is important to note, dhampirs and vampires are mortal enemies. They kill one another on sight mostly. In fact, the hostility between the two have left dhampirs almost extinct. Dory is one of the oldest dhampirs and that is not one small feat. So you can only imagine the level of drama that will surely arrive when Mircea, a top ranking vampire, approaches his daughter to seek help in exchange for finding Claire for her. And what could possibly be so serious to the Senate to enlist the help of a dhampir? The recapture of the murderous vampire named Dracula. The Dracula. And, what’s more, Dory and Dracula have something in common. They are family!The story kicks into overdrive as Dory accepts her mission and jet-sets around the globe with the hunky vampire, Louis-Cesare. There’s swordplay, hand to hand combat, and enough sexual tension to make you sweat all packaged into an excellent novel that is Midnight’s Daughter.I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I liked that the main character wasn’t your typical Mary Sue that sometimes thrive in paranormal romance novels. Dory is a well-rounded character. You have a sense of who is she from beginning to end. The plot was great. At first, I was somewhat put off by the idea of Dracula being related to the main character. I thought it would read slightly cheesy. However, it did not take away from this novel. It was very believable and the interactions with Dracula helped define the personalities of some of the other characters. I loved the modern day take on the paranormal world. All in all, it’s a great read. I couldn’t put it down.
review 2: Midnight's daughter was a fast paced, action packed read. However, the pacing felt a bit off for the majority of the book. I felt like the characters and I reeled from one calamity to the next with barely space for breath or plot development. In a way it felt like a summer action movie - maybe one of the Transformers movies - things happened, stuff blew up and it was entertaining, but at the end the movie just seems like a strange blur. If it hadn't been for the copious, laborious info dumps, the book would have been not much more than one long fight scene set in a few different locations. The characters were a bit lifeless, in my opinion. This could be partly because I haven't read any of the other novels set in this world. I'm sure that there was supposed to be a bit more meaning behind the term "master" vampire than a notion of them being powerful, but it wasn't particularly well explained in this novel. I also couldn't really invest in Dorina's relationship with her family, particularly her father. I was continually told that there were Issues, but aside from Dorina's internal moaning, her rude comments and the info dump at the very end, this was never explored in a way that made me buy in. Further, the info dump method of telling the reader information about the secondary characters made them hard to connect with. They felt remote, and by the end I knew them as well as I would know a friend of a friend who was described to me, but who I had never met. All in all, this was a fun, quick summer read. I liked that Dorina was a character that could kick ass. It annoyed me that she was such a terrible team player and planner. Louis Caesar was intriguing and hot, with a "tragic-past" Tm. It would have been nice to get more backstory in this novel, but I hear that is in the sequel. I enjoyed the book, but probably wouldn't recommend it. less
Reviews (see all)
luad
I see where some of the people reviewed this book and hated it. And that's ok. Every book isn't for every person. I was led to this book because I picked up an anthology that featured L.A Banks and there was a story there about Dori and Louis-Cesare. The snark and dialogue were interesting, so I looked up Midnight's Daughter and I wasn't disappointed. Being honest, I do have an issue with how many times Dori gets her butt handed to her in a fight. I mean, she's supposed to be the baddest of the bad walking and she's always in recovery. But, other than that, I loved and am addicted to this series. I actually like it better than the Cassandra Palmer series (sorry Cassie lovers) and am seriously biting my nails with worry over whether there will ever be another. I don't regret looking Dorina up.
vampire_lover2012
I enjoyed Midnight's Daughter and Dory was great but I didn't really think Mircea's reasoning for not killing Drac last time made any sort of sense.Also it might just be me but I really think that this book would be better if it was lighter and less complicated, Karen Chance writes really interesting and funny characters but I found myself getting confused because so much was going on at once, the fey rules for heirs just seemed odd and the darker elements seemed a bit forced and didn't add much to the story in my opinion.
Jackie
lots of story, little quick action. good story, just slow for my taste.
Dusk
loved this lead character - nice to have a female lead kick butt
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