READING: Last Breath by Rachel Caine

Last Breath by Rachel Caine

Publication date: November 1st, 2012
Published by: NAL
Genre: YA Paranormal, Vampires
Rating: 4/5

With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone new to town-a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville's latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn't merely human. But is he a vampire-or something else entirely?

After 3 somewhat disappointing books, in Last Breath, we catch a glimpse of Caine's brilliance. It was enough to remind me why I love the Morganville series.

At this point in the series and if you're reading this review you know the characters, the story, the writing and hopefully, what happens in the previous 11 books. LB takes up where Bite Club left off, Claire saying no to MIT and Eve and Michael getting married. Here we see them planning their engagement party and having some trouble from both the human and the vamp front. Something about the two species and a stupid reason why they should never mix. Um, excuse me, the whole town knew Eve and Michael were together, it's the engagement part that got you to point the finger and start the accusations? Really? Just chill, Morganville residents. Just chill.

Anyway, best part comes after, when a simple word, "Run", is enough to scare the hell out of everyone. And when Amelie is scared, you just know it must be something really bad. You don't know what it is until somewhere in the middle when you meet it for the first time and it hits you hard. It's one of those moments when it's late at night and you lie in bed reading. Absolute silence. Suddenly, out of nowhere, something so shocking happens, something you never, ever saw coming, that you sit up in the speed of light crying "Whoa!". It's when your ability to speak is lost and you can only utter exclamations. There is a glorious moment exactly like that in Last Breath. Don't wanna say anything else because it's kinda huge and I don't want to ruin the book for you. Hold on tight, it will blow your minds.

Oh, and one last thing. Myrnin, I love you. Really, you're awesome. The way you handled every situation in LB from start to finish, was simply amazing. Nothing but love for you, mister! (why am I speaking to a fictional character in the 2nd person? o_0)

So why the 4/5? Apart from demanding even more from Caine because she can write awesomely, I know she can (ahem Feast Of Fools ahem), I didn't quite care for the ending. I thought there would be a huge change happening in this book that would turn the story in its head. I thought the baddie was bad enough to accomplish that. Sadly, it didn't happen. Despite the fact that I was terrified of those creatures and I was made to believe they were practically invincible, turns out they can be beaten in a single chapter. Not easily, but it was doable, after all. It was pretty anticlimactic after making these things a huge deal in the rest of the book.

That being said, Last Breath was a nice change of pace from the 3 previous, in my opinion, mediocre books, with scenes so good and powerful that really fill me with hope for what's to come!

Black Dawn (The Morganville Vampires #12) coming out May 1st, 2012. 

Oh wow, only 12 days to go!! Awesome Aussie bloggers, you can request it on NetGalley :)