Cover of Night by Linda Howard

Type: Romantic Suspense

Hotness Level: Lukewarm

Amazon Blurb: In the charming rural town of Trail Stop, Idaho, accessible to the outside world by only a single road, young widow Cate Nightingale lives peacefully with her four-year-old twin boys, running a bed-and-breakfast. Though the overnight guests are few and far between–occasional hunters and lake fishermen–Cate always manages to make ends meet with the help of the local jack-of-all-trades, Calvin Harris, who can handle everything from carpentry to plumbing. But Calvin is not what he seems, and Cate’s luck is about to run out.

One morning, the B&B’s only guest inexplicably vanishes, leaving behind his personal effects. A few days later Cate is shocked when armed men storm the house, demanding the mystery man’s belongings. Fearing for her children’s lives, Cate agrees to cooperate–until Calvin saves the day, forcing the intruders to scatter into the surrounding woods.

The nightmare, however, is just beginning. Cate, Calvin, and their entire community find themselves cut off and alone with no means to call for help as the threat gathers intensity and first blood is drawn.

With their fellow residents trapped and the entire town held hostage, Cate and Calvin have no choice but to take the fight to their enemies under the cover of night. While reticent Cal becomes a fearless protector, Cate makes the most daring move of her life . . . into the very heart of danger.

Why this one: D'uh - it's Linda Howard

My Thoughts: Well - what to say on this one.

I’m of two completely different minds and I’ll explain both.

Mind One: This one is pretty good. Although the premise is a bit far fetched; the bad guys go way overboard on trying to get what they want and I kept thinking can they really be this stupid? But the writing was excellent, the story apart from the stupid bad guys, was interesting, it was fast paced and I read it pretty quickly.

Mind Two: This one is by Linda Howard and I was very disappointed! Thank goodness I decided to curtail buying everything hatdcover to JD Robb unless I can get them on sale for $10.00 or less. If I had paid full price for this one I would have been bitterly disappointed.

First off –A) the hero of this one Calvin Harris is about as different from her trademark alpha heroes as can be! He blushes when he tries talking to Cate Nightengale, the heroine. While he’s a pretty good hero as far as we know, we don’t know that much because B) there is so much of the story told from way to many points of view. We get at least three of the villains POV, Cal’s, Cassie’s, Creed, Cals’s former commanding officer and maybe even more. I don’t know why she had to include so many of the villains POV. I didn’t care if Teague, one of the villains had brain damage or just a concussion. And we got more background on Kennon Gross another villain than we did on the hero. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. And C) there was no red hot love scenes that Ms. Howard does so very well. When I think of some of the best of them, After the Night or Heart of Fire or many other books she’s written – well, I must admit it was kind of disappointing. Heck – it was more than kind of.

As I said – it was a pretty good book and if the author wasn’t Linda Howard I would have quite enjoyed it. But since it is Linda Howard – well, it’s pretty near the bottom of the pile as far as her books are concerned. I just recently reread Mr. Perfect. And Cover of Night isn’t nearly as good sad to say.

Grade: if it wasn’t LH – 4 out of 5
Because it is LH – 3 out of 5

Take Me Tonight by Roxanne St. Claire

Type: Romantic Suspense

Hotness Level: Hot

Amazon Blurb: When Sage Valentine discovers that her roommate's shocking suicide might be related to a website that provides edgy, thrill-seeking entertainment, she immediately books her own "abduction" to get some answers. But her "rescuer" isn't really who she thinks he is....Johnny Christiano is dedicated to the Bullet Catchers, who saved him from a wise guy's life of crime and turned him into an elite bodyguard. When he's assigned to stop Sage's kidnapping, he's unexpectedly trapped between deceit and sizzling desire. But the closer Johnny and Sage get to the truth, the closer danger stalks them...until death is only a double-click away.

Why this one: I've read a couple of hers before and enjoyed them and it got a pretty good review at AAR.

My Thoughts: Sadly - this one was a DNF for me. It wasn't because it was a bad book. Do you ever read along and you hit a storyline you don't like and you didn't even know you didn't like it until you hit it? That's what happened with this one. Johnny is sent to protect Sage, but he doesn't tell him who he really is and all through the story, he never does reveal the truth. I know this because even though I didn't finish it. I did skip ahead quite a bit to see when she finds out. It isn't until the end and then she discovers it, he doesn't tell her. This really bugs me in a book. I want honesty from the beginning. If he had gone undercover to protect her, as long as he told her who he really was near the beginning, fine. But I don't like it when either the hero or the heroine is dishonest throughout most of the book.
In addition, right near the beginning of the book, with Sage thinking Johnny is a high class male prostitute, she gets really hot and heavy with him. This really bugged me too. So with both these issues and a TBR pile that's frightening, I decided to skip this one. It may be a good book and others will probably really enjoy it. It's just not for me.

Grade: DNF

til later