TBR Challenge Review: Midnight Man

Midnight Man
Lisa Marie Rice
Erotic Romance
Midnight/Book 1
Ellora's Cave/October 2004

*Some mild spoilers*

From the back cover ~

Interior decorator Suzanne Barron's new tenant is the most dangerously sexy man she's ever met. Navy Commander John Huntington, a former SEAL (aka 'Midnight Man') works best under cover of darkness. Within hours of meeting him, Suzanne has wild, no-holds barred sex with John, then panics at the depth of her passionate response to such a powerful and dangerous warrior. Suzanne doesn't do sex like that. John is definitely someone she needs to avoid for her own peace of mind. But when killers come for her, Suzanne knows she can turn to only one man. John will guard and protect her body. But who will guard and protect her body against John?

When I saw that this month's suggested theme was erotic romance I dug into my hidden stash of "dirty books" and after some tough decisions, settled on Lisa Marie Rice's romantic suspense. The Midnight trilogy has been sitting on my TBR pile for a while now but for some reason I hadn't picked it up. I had read good things about her steamy romantic suspense and have read one of her Elizabeth Jennings novels, I had yet to give her LMR books a go. While I'm not crazy about the cover with the computer generated hero and the heroine's face imprinted with the hands of a clock (WTH), I was willing to over look the cover and discover what was inside. (There is an updated cover that is more appealing. The one above just happens to be the one I own.)

The story starts with John and Suzanne meeting to discuss John renting space in Suzanne's building. John has recently returned from a job which involved killing two men. He's still pumped up on the adrenaline rush and as any man in the spec ops world knows, that means he's horny. At least this is what John thinks. So while they are conducting this interview and Suzanne is showing him around the building, John is thinking about how hot she is and how he will have sex with her. No doubt in his mind. But he decides he needs to take it slow and not scare her off. What a guy. It turns out John's idea of slow and mine are very different. *see blurb*

Suzanne Barron inherited a building that she has since renovated. She set up her living and office space in the building but still has space to rent out. In walks John Huntington and he's just oozing sex and animal attraction. Suzanne is immediately attracted to him but tries to keep her business-like demeanor. Suzanne assures herself that she doesn't date dangerous looking guys and how John could only mean trouble but then BOOM! she has sex with him the same day she meets him. And then she freaks after and slams the door in his face. LOL I think I would have liked her better if she'd held out a little longer. Or maybe not freaked out after.

John is in the business of keeping people safe and he proves this when he rescues Suzanne from an intruder. Which sounds great except for the fact that he kills the intruder. John is able to sneak up on the guy, cut his throat without the guy ever knowing John was there. As a former SEAL you would think he could subdue the intruder so that maybe the police could question him, right? But John goes all caveman and must kill anyone that threats "his woman". It turns out that a good friend of both John and Suzanne is a detective with the Portland police so no real problems for John killing this guy. Reality this is not.

John continues his protection of Suzanne placing them together 24/7. These two have no problem finding something to do, burning up the pages while John turns on his badass alpha charm and Suzanne discovers she likes dangerous men. The ending was wrapped up fairly quickly and lucky for Suzanne she had John on her side to make it all better. In the end I could have done with less of John's overbearing personality. I love alpha heroes but he just rubbed me the wrong way. Suzanne was okay but I would have liked to know what aside from his hotness, drew her to John.

The writing is fine and the steam is pouring off Suzanne and John in waves but the suspense could have used a heavy does of reality. I do have the next two books in the trilogy and will read them eventually. If I didn't, reading Midnight Man would not have made me run out and buy them.

Rating: C

Books in this trilogy ~

Midnight Man
Midnight Run
Midnight Angel