Review: Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian

Edge of Dawn, the next book in the Midnight Breed series, was released on Tuesday. Before we post our review of that book, here’s the review for the last book, which signals the end of the first era of the Order.

Darker After Midnight 

By Lara Adrian 

Book #10 in the Midnight Breed series 

In the dark of night, a blood war escalates within the hidden world of the Breed. After existing in secret for many long centuries, maintaining a fragile peace with the humans who walk beside them unaware, a single act of retaliation has put the entire vampire nation at risk of discovery. It falls to the Order—a cadre of Breed warriors pledged to protect their own and humankind alike—to stop Dragos, the power-mad vampire at the center of the conflict, before his push for domination can explode into catastrophe.

At the center of the Order’s quest is Sterling Chase, once a morally rigid enforcer of Breed law, now a warrior fallen from grace, whose biggest battle is the one he wages against his own savage nature. With addiction beckoning him toward eternal darkness, Chase’s path to redemption has never seemed more out of reach. But when his eyes meet those of Tavia Fairchild, a beautiful witness who identifies him at the scene of a mission gone terribly wrong, Chase finds himself drawn to the woman—and convinced she is something much more than she seems.

Pulled into a vortex of intrigue and danger she can neither resist nor understand, Tavia is uncertain whom to trust. And while everything sane and logical warns her against getting close to Chase, she cannot deny that the handsome, deeply haunted male stirs something primal and ravenous within her. But even as she surrenders to her cravings, nothing can prepare her for the shattering truth of who—and what—she truly is. As the Order’s enemy mobilizes for the battle of the ages, Dragos and his Minions unleashing a hell on Earth like nothing ever seen before, Chase and Tavia are thrust into the heart of the violence. With time running out and the streets running red with the blood of innocent lives, both Breed and human, together Chase and Tavia must find a way to defeat Dragos once and for all—or die trying.

Sterling Chase, once an upstanding enforcer of Breed law, has been spiraling downward for some time, dangerously skirting the edges of Bloodlust. When the story begins, he has sacrificed himself to the human police after Dragos orchestrated them chasing his minions directly to the Order's compound. Chase's selfless act gave the warriors time to relocate and destroy the underground of the property. The police believed he attempted to shoot U. S. Senator Bobby Clarence. While in custody, Tavia Fairchild, Clarence's assistant, comes in to identify Chase as the shooter and the chaos begins.

The action in this story never let up as Dragos senses he's on the verge of complete world dominance after neutralizing the Order by compromising the compound. Chase recognizes that Tavia may be in danger and abducts her only to discover she's more than what she seems. Their unlikely pairing was a blessing for both of them as they became critical to each other's survival. Tavia promises to be one of the more complex and interesting characters going forward and her romance with Chase was long overdue for the tortured warrior.

The events occurring in this story signal an end to the era as it was once known and the beginning of the next. It was incredibly exciting with a fitting climax. It's also unclear what that future will look like but it is an important pivot in this series and I can't wait to read the next book.

Jennifer's  REVIEW

Review: Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe by Abbie Williams

Summer at the Shore Leave Café 

By Abbie Williams 

Book #1 in the Shore Leave Café series 

Contemporary Romance 

Joelle Gordon is leaving Chicago and her cheating husband to head for her hometown of Landon, Minnesota. WIth her three beautiful daughters in tow, Joelle is bombarded with an onslaught of memories that Landon evokes. Landon -- home to the Shore Leave Cafe, the restaurant Joelle's family owns -- has some surprises in store for Joelle. Finding herself confronted with the reality of single motherhood, a mysterious but handsome young staffer at the Shore Leave Cafe, her upset daughters, and the prospect of returning to her husband for the well-being of her kids, Joelle must make decisions she never thought she'd face. A story about heartbreak, blame, family, desire, love, and the difficulties of returning home, Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe highlights hardships to which everyone can relate.

REVIEW:

It’s bad enough to find out your husband is cheating but to catch him in the act is pretty painful. Joelle Gordon stuck it out for a few months after this happened and then packed up her three daughters and returned to Landon, Minnesota, the town where both she and her husband, Jackie, grew up. Joelle comes from tough stock as the women of her family have learned to fend for themselves for various reasons. They welcomed her back with open arms, somehow sensing her heart and providing her safe haven while she tries to heal and figure out what to do with her life. Unfortunately, it got much more complicated as soon as she stepped inside of her mother’s café and looked into the eyes of Blythe Tilson, a tall, dreamy, hot and YOUNG temptation.

From the moment I started this story I knew it was going to draw me in and keep me in Landon until the story ended. Joelle is telling her own story but this isn’t a woman who is completely leveled, even though she feels that way. She keeps going for her daughters and going home gave her just the right energy to revive herself. As she’s contemplating the end of her marriage, Joelle wraps herself in the strength emanating from her Gran, Aunt Ellen, Mom and Jilly (her younger sister). Her daughters, though sensing something is wrong between their parents, believe they’re just going to be there for the summer and thrive as they benefit from being with this incredible family. They are not perfect but somehow their flaws seem to make them even less imperfect because at the very least, they are authentic.

Joelle’s attraction to Blythe (Bly) wasn’t just on her end. From the moment they saw each other, it was pretty clear that he shared that connection. He’s in his 20s and she’s 35; this is a small town and his step-grandfather is the long-time cook at the Café and Joelle brings enough baggage to consider a relationship impossible. She tries to resist him for all the typical reasons, knew she should but Bly wouldn’t give her a break. I was concerned that Joelle might be “rebounding” but her evaluation of her marriage was done with amazing clarity, recognizing that lots had been missing for years. The issues they had to deal with were complex, considering the age difference, her marital status and her daughters’ feelings (they ranged from ages 12 – 17). Nothing was sugar coated and each stolen moment that Bly and Joelle were able to manage was incredible…not just steamy (and they are steamy) but highly romantic.

I cannot say enough about the quality of the writing as I felt as if I was catapulted into Landon, feeling, smelling and languishing at the surrounding Flickertail Lake, the café and the front porch where so many of the conversations occurred between the women of this family. The writing is flawless and I could vividly picture every character with a role of significance either to Joelle or Bly.

I love this story, which didn’t end at the last page and is the reason why I rated it 4 ½ stars instead of 5. If you enjoy contemporary fiction along with your romance, you’ll love this book. Joelle tells her story so honestly and refreshingly, making no excuses for her down periods and sometimes questionable choices. She’s devoted to her daughters and is committed to doing the right thing not just for them but for her. The next book cannot be released quickly enough for me to return to the Shore Leave Café.

(I received an ARC from the publisher)

Review: Crazy Thing Called Love by Molly O'Keefe

Crazy Thing Called Love

By Molly O’Keefe

Book #3 in the Crooked Creek series

Contemporary Romance

 

Dallas TV morning show host Madelyn Cornish is poised, perfect, and unflappable, from her glossy smile to her sleek professionalism. No one knows that her iron will guards a shattered heart and memories of a man she’s determined to lock out. Until that man shows up at a morning meeting like a bad dream: Billy Wilkins, sexy hockey superstar in a tailspin—still skating, still fighting, and still her ex-husband. 

Now the producers want this poster child for bad behavior to undergo an on-air makeover, and Billy, who has nothing to lose, agrees to the project. It’s his only chance to get near Maddy again, and to fight for the right things this time around. He believes in the fire in Maddy’s whisky eyes and the passion that ignites the air between them. This bad-boy heartbreaker wants a last shot to be redeemed by the only thing that matters: Maddy’s love.


Billy Wilkins was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, an NHL hockey team and he's miserable. The coach doesn't believe in his rough playing style and Billy is resisting change. Madelyn Cornish wants nothing to do with him following her surprise confrontation with him at Victoria's party but she's being forced to because her producers have put Billy on her show as part of a short term makeover project. No one knows of their history and that he's her ex-husband. 



I wasn't excited about reading this story as Billy seemed to be a bit of a wreck in the earlier books. Well, this turned out to be my most favorite of the series.



Billy IS a wreck but not for the reasons I thought. Instead of being just a wild man on hockey skates, brutal for the sake of the fight, Billy was expressing his anguish in the only way he knew how. When he and Madelyn ended their marriage, it seemed it was a choice he was ready to make. We learn so much more about this man, what led him to ultimately destroy his marriage and his relationship with Madelyn and the toll it ultimately took on his life.



Madelyn expressed her pain caused by the demise of their relationship so completely differently. She reinvented herself, becoming a glossy on air professional who was the picture of perfection, never losing her cool or displaying any extreme emotion. She was a brittle woman with no meaningful relationships in her life but on the surface appearing to be a model of success in her business.



This is a heart wrenching story as both Billy and Madelyn have to give up their protective shells in order to find their own hearts and the way back to each other. At times it is excruciatingly painful to experience but the payoff is huge. Billy's family unwittingly plays a significant role in their reunion as well. It all plays out in the midst of both of their careers, forcing them to reassess what is really important in their lives. I ached for both of them individually and for their fractured relationship. I really admired Billy for the risks he ultimately took to get this woman back and how vulnerable he was willing to be, publicly and privately. 



I'm so glad I didn't put off reading this book. It was tough, funny, steamy, sad and romantic with an ending that was so very satisfying. I don't often read a story that has me be quite so emotionally strung out and it pushed me to my limits. It was a perfect ending to an extraordinary series and this story will always be one of my favorites.

 (NetGalley ARC)

Review: Running Wild by Linda Howard and Linda Jones

Running Wild

By Linda Howard and Linda Jones

Book #1 in the Men of Battle Ridge series

Romantic Suspense, Western Romance

Carlin Reed lives in fear, off the grid, moving from place to place. So Battle Ridge, Wyoming, a small town in the middle of nowhere, seems like a good place to lie low for a while. But after becoming cook and housekeeper to cattle rancher Zeke Decker, Carlin suspects that she’s made her first mistake.

Rugged, sexy, and too distracting for his own good, Zeke is pure temptation mixed with something deep and primal that makes Carlin feel almost safe. Soon things are getting way too hot in the kitchen. Zeke doesn’t challenge Carlin’s terms: cash, dead bolts, and no questions. It is easy to see that she’s a woman in trouble. Problem is, he’s so blindsided by his attraction to her he can’t think straight. Zeke tries to stay all business, no complications —but that game plan is sabotaged the second Carlin gets under his skin. And when her terrifying past follows her to the ranch, Carlin faces a heartbreaking choice: run away from the man she loves, or put him in the crosshairs of a madman.

REVIEW:

Carlin Reed is on the run from a stalker ex-boyfriend who is obsessed and out to kill her. She lands in Battle Ridge, Wyoming, far from her home in Texas and completely off the grid. Zeke Decker is so desperate for a cook and housekeeper, he agrees to Carlin's strange terms and ultra privacy about her background. They're all business...well, for a little while.

I started this book completely unaware that it is a romantic suspense, a really very pleasant surprise. Combined with a western setting, it has just about everything I love in a romance and it delivered.

Carlin was just an ordinary young woman trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life when she went out with the wrong man and had her life turned upside down. She slowly transforms from the naive, frightened woman on the run to a more confident, self-assured one who begins to take control of her life. Zeke is ruggedly sexy and a man of few words who recognized from the start that Carlin was going to be a challenge. He's got a ranch to run and men to manage and Carlin is definitely a distraction.

I loved how their romance developed. Both wanted to ignore their attraction to each other, Carlin because at any moment she might need to move on and Zeke because he needed her to first run his household. There was no "all of a sudden" moment, just the gradual growth of affection and lust. I admired both of them, especially Carlin for figuring out how to take control of her life and stay alive. Zeke had a role in this but it was driven by Carlin. They were really well designed characters with a meaty story to accompany the romance.

The tension builds throughout the story because the threat of Carlin being found is always there, not in an overt way but the ex-boyfriend is clever, calculating and obsessed. We get his point of view from time to time, just enough to give you chills. The climax was all that I imagined and more. It was scary, exciting and unpredictable in the end.

Lastly, I'm always concerned with co-authored novels as there's a tendency for the "voice" to become convoluted. Not the case with this story as the characters and tone were consistent to the end.

This is a great start to the series and I'm already looking for the next book. There was also a fair amount of humor as Carlin didn't really know how to cook at first and there were some failed experiments. The Wyoming setting is perfect and the secondary characters introduced here will be interesting leads going forward. It struck the right balance between the action, romance, suspense and humor. Well done.

CR Review: Barefoot in the Sand by Roxanne St. Claire

Barefoot in the Sand 

By Roxanne St. Claire 

Book #1 in the Barefoot Bay series
Contemporary Romance
★★★★★

When all you hold dear is taken away . . .

When a hurricane roars through Lacey Armstrong's home on the coast of Barefoot Bay, she decides all that remains in the rubble is opportunity. A new hotel is just what Mimosa Key needs, and Lacey and her teenage daughter are due for a fresh start. And nothing, especially not a hot, younger architect, is going to distract Lacey from finally making her dreams a reality.

A second chance is the only thing you have left.

Love has already cost Clay Walker everything. And if he's going to have any chance of picking up the pieces of his life, he needs the job as Lacey Armstrong's architect. What's not in the plans is falling for the headstrong beauty. Her vision of the future is more appealing than anything he could have ever drafted for himself. Will Clay's designs on Lacey's heart be more than she can handle, or will she trust him to build something that will last forever?

REVIEW:

When 36-year old Lacey Armstrong lost her home and all its contents in a Florida hurricane, she thought it was a chance to not only start over again with her 14-year old daughter but an opportunity to fulfill one of her dreams. Lacey decided to use her insurance proceeds to build her Bed & Breakfast, something she'd wanted to do since inheriting the house from her grandparents. The architect who showed up was not the elder gentleman on the website but his son, 29-year old Clay Walker, a man on a mission to get this project no matter what. And, he's got a much bigger vision for Lacey and the project.

This is the first story in the new Barefoot Bay series and it is a winner. I loved everything about it, from the four women who have been best friends since freshman year of college, the setting in the town of Mimosa Key off the Gulf Coast, the offbeat people who live in the town to the conflicts Lacey faced following the loss of her home. Her romance with Clay is unconventional, fraught with issues and off-the-charts steamy, all the while juggling the challenges of a teen-aged daughter and a relationship from her past. Clay is pretty complicated and figuring him out was an interesting journey, too. I loved how the friendship between the women is so embedded in each of the characters without being inauthentic and predictable. They share a lot and support each other but they still have a fair amount of secrets individually that are yet to be discovered.

I'm really not a fan of love triangles but the one in this story was maturely presented. I always knew everyone's true feelings but wasn't always certain of the outcome because of outside pressures and factors. Lacey and Clay were pretty honest with themselves, if not always as open and straightforward with each other. I also liked how their age difference was handled, sometimes messy and at other times it being inconsequential.

There are a lot of characters in the story but all were pretty well fleshed out and strongly contributed to the storyline. The town is pretty small so everyone knows each other, their back stories and private agendas, which made them even more interesting. The story is really well written without falling into the trap of using well worn love triangle angst. I loved the story, am really excited about the rest of the series and cannot wait to start the next book.

(I received an ARC from NetGalley)