Shadows at Midnight Book Review *Elizabeth Jennings*

"Do you think we're going to die?" is what Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Claire Day asks Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Weston, Detachment Commander of the Marine Security Guard of the US Embassy (try to say his title three times fast) as they are both hiding behind bulletproof glass at the US Embassy in Laka, as a rebel army has poured in the city. Even with the fear of death lurking outside, there's no other place Daniel would rather be. He has followed Claire to Laka after seeing her at a conference. To say Daniel is smitten by the elegant, pale blond is an understatement. Daniel is so far gone over Claire, who he has watched from a distance, finding the nerve to speak to her. He finally gets his wish, which is under less than ideal circumstances, but, Claire seems pretty calm talking to him. They eventually share a steamy kiss after having a heart-to-heart to the sounds of gunfire outside. But before things can go further, Claire's friend needs to talk to her privately. Against Dan's better judgment, he lets Claire go. It will be the biggest mistake of his life because an explosion goes off and he thinks Claire has been killed.

Claire has just buried her father. It's now a year later, after Claire has been in a coma for three months and then has gone through intensive physical therapy. She can barely make it through the day and has bad panic attacks and nightmares because of her post traumatic stress disorder. Her memory of that Thanksgiving Week is gone. She wants to retrace her steps to find out what happened to her. She also has dreams of a phantom man who makes her feel safe. She watches a television news report about a man who has gone into a burning building and saved some lives. It's former marine Daniel Weston, who now runs his own security consulting business in Washington D.C. Claire recognizes Daniel as the man in her dreams. She will travel to D.C. to see if he can help her remember.

Daniel is suffering silently over the death of Claire. So much so, that he hasn't had sex in a year. Claire haunts him and he blames himself for her death. But then Claire stands before him very much alive. Now he won't let Claire, his Blondie, out of his sight and wants to claim her as his own. But he knows all too well of how fragile Claire is. He will help her regain her memory and chase all her nightmares away.

But a new nightmare for Claire is about to begin. Someone wants Claire dead, because in the recesses of her mind, she knows something very damaging and she must be snuffed out. But what this evil mastermind doesn’t know is that Claire now has Daniel, who will do whatever he can to keep safe.

For those who may not be aware, Elizabeth Jennings is also erotic romance author, Lisa Marie Rice. Shadows at Midnight reads very much a LMR novel. We have an uber-protective alpha hero, a somewhat delicate, classy looking heroine, and enough sexual tension, mainly on the hero's side, to scorch the pages. Shadows at Midnight has the makings of a fast-paced suspense thriller, comparable to the Bourne Identity movies. I was enjoying Shadows at Midnight up to a point, but then Dan does a truly TSTL (too stupid to live) move that jolted me out of the story. Some may argue it's not a big deal, but when you place the heroine in danger, that's a big blinking red light for me to stop reading.

This TSTL move occurs when Daniel is returning Claire back to her bed and breakfast after dinner. Now, if this was a LMR, Daniel would have taken Clare to his home and given Claire too many orgasms to count. But since this is an Elizabeth Jennings' novel, the bouncing on the sheets must wait. An assassin is hiding in Claire's room, where the moment she walks in, he'll shoot her in the head. Dan knows something is very wrong when the front desk clerk is missing and he spots is blood on the floor. Dan takes out his gun and will go up to Claire's room to investigate, because he just knows the big baddie is there waiting to strike. Now you'd think Dan would store Claire in a safe place, like the laundry room, have her call the police, or even have her hide out next door or down the street until he takes care of things. But no. She follows him up the room. Bullets start flying by Dan and the big baddie while Claire is in the hallway. And when the police finally come, the reason Dan give why they didn't call for help right away is that he wanted to put a stop to the immediate danger. The kicker with Claire is that it was okay for her to go with him because he has her crouched by the side of the door and she fell to the ground when the gunfire started.

This is where I went, WTF?

This move really irked me. I found this to be a big mistake on Dan's part and after that I couldn't really count on him to do the right things in regards to Claire safety.

After that TSTL decision, Dan and Claire cement their relationship by having sex. Dan has only one condom, which he doesn't know if it's expired or not, so if they have sex, he'll be riding bare. Dan's reasoning is that it's okay for them to have sex sans protection because of his year long abstinence. Claire is more than willing to be with him that way because she's on the pill and hasn't had sex in years. Another reason I couldn't really wrap my head around.

These two scenes really put a damper on my reading, including the way we would suddenly be taken away from Dan and Claire in order to show the villain and why he has to stop Claire at all costs.

Shadows at Midnight is a speedy read, but my concentration began to falter by the time Dan and Claire put two and two together. Elizabeth can still write too good to be true heroes, but because of some of Dan's questionable motives regarding Claire, I was expecting a much better, planned story. (Berkley)

Final Grade: C+

A few other Shadows at Midnight reviews:
Fresh Fiction
Smexy Books
The Romance Readers Connection