Gwen’s review of Edge of Midnight (The McCloud Brothers, Book 4) by Shannon McKenna
Romantic suspense published 1 Aug 2007 by Brava/Kensington
Sean is the clown of the McCloud family. Always ready with a quip, a joke, and never one to let a good time go unobserved. But, for fifteen years he’s struggled with his twin’s apparent suicide and with the way he pushed out of his life the only woman he ever loved…
In this McCloud Brothers entry, we explore the “fact” of the brother’s suicide, the basis of his treatment of his lady love, and how they manage to repair their relationship not once, but twice.
This is only the second of Shannon McKenna’s novels I have read to date. It won’t be the last. Her characters are multidimensional and full, even the secondary ones. The story arcs are complete and resolutions satisfying. All in all, a well told, fun story.
There are sometimes little details that are left hanging, but that may be as much editing as writing. For example, I never quite understood if Sean lived close to the town Endicott Falls or if he lived out of it. It’s never quite clear how close the town is to Seattle or Olympia. There are some other small details like that left to the reader’s imagination. But in all, that’s not a big flaw and didn’t detract from the story.
I really liked Sean and Liv. I wanted them to get their HEA in a bad way. I really liked the erotic scenes (serious steam); they were told with a different voice than the other McKenna novel I’ve read. They were told using language that Sean would use – a tad crude and over the top, but very evocative of the character. Most of the erotic scenes were told from the male perspective (which I not-so-secretly enjoy), and were very hot and very appropriate.
This was an excellent novel and one I can recommend to fans of romantic suspense and McKenna. If you’ve never read McKenna before, or this series, you’ll still enjoy it. It stands alone just fine.
Grade: B+
Blurb:
Shannon McKenna creates characters readers never forget–and in her latest novel, Sean McCloud must protect the woman he has never stopped loving: Liv Endicott. Years ago, Sean had to send Liv Endicott away to save her life. Now he has to keep her closer, very close–for the same reason . . .
THE BREAKING POINT
On the very day an arsonist burns down Liv’s bookstore in a small town in the Washington mountains, she finds fate has another shock in store for her. Amid the smoke, rubble and tears, Sean McCloud appears, calling her name. He’s every inch the man he always was–the man she kept on wanting. But wanting is not the same as trusting, and she doesn’t dare let him get too close. Yet a ruthless killer is gunning for Liv, and she’ll die unless they join forces to unearth a chilling truth–and come together in a blaze of searing passion . . .
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
“I never quite understood if Sean lived close to the town Endicott Falls or if he lived out of it. It’s never quite clear how close the town is to Seattle or Olympia.”
This bothered me a lot, I think, because I actually live in the area. I kept thinking of a real town about 1 hour from Seattle toward the mountains called Granite Falls. It kept causing a disturbance in me as I read this book because Endicott Falls seems to be bigger than a quaint little country town but way smaller than a city like Seattle, which Granite Falls isn’t. Yet, Endicott Falls seems to be not far from back country Washington, which Granite Falls is. It kept confusing me. I know it’s a made up town, but for people like me who live in the area a book is set in it can be disturbing. Or maybe I’m just too anal about those kinds of details.
“They were told using language that Sean would use – a tad crude and over the top, but very evocative of the character. Most of the erotic scenes were told from the male perspective (which I not-so-secretly enjoy), and were very hot and very appropriate.”
I have to agree with this totally. This was my first Shannon McKenna book and when I read it I was still a romance and erotic romance virgin so to speak and it was a bit too much for me. However, now I’m practically an erotic romance Ho, this review reminded me that I definitely want to get around to reading some more of her books because she does write some pretty intense scenes. 🙂
Is there an order to these books?