Review--Wicked After Midnight by Delilah S. Dawson

A contortionist and a rakish brigand navigate the cabarets of Paris to rescue a girl taken by slavers in the third steampunk-tinged romance of the Blud series.

Life as a contortionist in Criminy’s Clockwork Caravan should be the height of exotic adventure, but for Demi Ward, it’s total dullsville. Until her best friend, Cherie, is stolen by slavers outside of Paris, and Demi is determined to find her.

On the run from his own past, Vale Hildebrand, a dashing rogue of a highwayman, hides Demi from the slavers…but why? He pledges to help her explore the glittering cabarets of Paris to find her friend, but much to Vale’s frustration, Demi soon attracts a host of wealthy admirers. The pleasures of music, blood, and absinthe could turn anyone’s head, and it would be all too easy to accept Cherie’s disappearance as inevitable—but with Vale’s ferocious will and Demi’s drive to find her friend, they soon have a lead on a depraved society of Parisian notables with a taste for beautiful lost girls. Can Demi wind her way through the seedy underbelly of Paris and save her best friend before she, too, is lost?

Delilah S. Dawon's Wicked After Midnight is, sadly, the last novel of the Blud series. Unless something changes to fix that! I've enjoyed the Land of Sang very much. It's a unique world and yet, it's not too different from ours, except for the bludbunnies of course!

Demi, is a Blud or vampire as we know them. She was once human but it was Criminy who turned her and introduced her to Land of Sang. But soon Demi grows tired of the caravan life and wants to leave. So she decides to leave and find her own life and adventure in Paris, Cherie, her best friend and performance partner, agrees to go with her. But no sooner has their journey started when Cherie gets kidnapped after their transportation was attacked by a group of villains. Demi can't find Cherie but she does find Vale, a brigand who helps her out time and time again. Demi joins a cabaret as she intended and turns into quite the star among her daimon co-workers.

For awhile it seems Demi loses track of her goal in finding Cherise. She gets swept up into the life of being a performer. Even introducing the cabaret and its clients to the can-can. Although, Vale does help her in every way he can. More than she thought he would. I was surprised that there wasn't an instant love connection between these two. There's definitely a connection of sorts, but not one that immediately becomes romance. Demi has "obligations" as being the star performer at the cabaret, but she is able to work around those, but Vale doesn't know this. Basically, it leads to a lot of friction and miscommunication between these two, despite that they both want the other.

At times, their antics were perhaps a touch annoying. Demi wanted certain things out of life--and more power to her--but I just couldn't understand her sometimes hostility about the matters of romance, especially with Vale. But then there's Vale, who wants to protect her. Pretty much from the moment he meets her. But Demi is an independent kind of gal and wants to make her own life choices, yet Vale is still there, ever a constant in her life, helping her even when she pushes him away.

I liked this one, but perhaps not as much as the previous novels and novellas. I can't be sure as to why. Perhaps, what nagged at me the most was Demi living the life of stardom and getting her portrait done by an artist instead of doing more to look for Cherise. Vale does more work in that area then she does. I kind of thought she would struggle to balance the two parts--life at the cabaret and finding Cherise--more. It kind of slowed the pacing a bit, but after finishing the book, I guess I can see the reasoning behind it. But still would have preferred it going the other way.

Of course that's not to say that this wasn't an exciting read! It very much was! Demi has quite a few tricks up her sleeve, especially when getting rid of unwanted paramours! She's quite feisty little heroine! And she knows what she wants out of life and you gotta admire that in a heroine!

The romance that buzzed between Demi and Vale was quite enjoyable! Lots of teasing, "almost" kind of moments. I loved the dynamics between those two as they were definitely complements to one another. 

The ending was quite spectacular! Things finally get rolling into the big reveal and while it wasn't the jaw dropping kind of shock, it still has a nice sinister spin to it and I quite enjoyed those final moments before the HEA ending. For there was an HEA ending, just as we've seen in the previous books. Of course, just because the series is over doesn't mean that the stories in Sang are done. Who knows! Maybe Delilah will give us a novella or two along the way to her next series, whatever that may be! All I know is that I will be reading it!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars