Friday, December 19, 2014

Chasing Midnight by Shylah and Alex Morgan (A Darkest Desires of Dixie Novel).... Review by Kathy








Blurb-

Quinn Mason is a young Southern gentleman. Perhaps, gentleman is a stretch for how he lived his earlier years. He was the kid whose life seemed charmed, a popular athlete in high school who won a full scholarship. Life was on track for him until the death of his parents. In one terrible moment, Quinn went from having everything being everything for his young siblings. He left college, and used the money from his parent’s life insurance policy to buy a bar. The bar supported him and the kids, affording him the ability to give for them the life they were robbed of, even sending them to college. 

Mhisery Bellemy has returned to Midnight, reluctantly. Her mother died, and she is left to take care of her drunken father, and the family cafe´. She had escaped the small town’s clutches as soon as she was of age, and swore never to return. Now, her siblings have turned to her, leaning heavily on her for help. The woman who got out of town and made a life she loves is now forced, by the bonds of family, and the weight of obligation, to return and give up what she had worked to build for herself. 

These two are unlikely to cross paths, but chance throws them into the right place at the right time. Quinn’s brother is the catalyst that brings Mhisery into Quinn’s line of sight. And that’s all it took, one look and he knows he has to have her. The golden boy athlete is now drawn to the tall, tattooed woman stepping off the last bus into town. 

Will Quinn ever have the woman he desires, and make her his own, or will she return to the life she loves far away from the small town of Midnight, and Quinn, or will she stay and make a life with the man she loves? 

I received a copy for an honest review. Where to start....

I really did want to read this book. I admit the blurb grabbed my attention and made me want to see what was going to happen. The name of the female heroine was unique and I like unique. So I am gonna just jump in here.....I will try not to spoil to much but beware that some things will just have to come out....

So the basics here are that Mhisery left her small town to go to New York. She was invisible in her town and she wanted bigger and better things. She was living a wonderful life with friends and her art. She has a thriving business and is happy. She gets a call from her brother that he and their sisters need help with their Dad. He is not in a good place, and needs around the clock care. He is an alcoholic since they lost their mother to cancer. With taking care of him and trying to run the family diner, they are at their wits end. Something is gonna break and soon....So Mhisery does the only thing she can do and that is go back to Midnight.

 There she meets, or meets again, Quinn who was her brother Caleb's friend in high school. She had a huge crush on him in school. He is now running a bar with his family. They started this after his parents died and he took custody of his siblings. Quinn knows that Mhisery's dad is a drunk. He has spent many a night taking him home from the bar. 

Quinn and Mhisery start a friendship/relationship. Even knowing that as soon as the stuff with her dad is fixed she will be going back to New York. You also meet Chance, Quinn's younger brother and a huge manwhore. His sister Syra, who has an ongoing thing with someone. Oh and lest we forget Mhisery's stalker from New York.

Now that we know basics, lets get into what I liked and didn't like about the book. I am goinna start with what I didn't like first.....

I didn't like the changing POVs. Don't get me wrong normally I am fine with multiple POVs, however when they are changing on same page and going over the same material it doesn't work for me and I find it distracting. This happened with all the characters which honestly was very confusing at first. I didn't need to read the same kiss from both perspectives, this just distracted me from the overall stories. I didn't like the use of the "big college vocabulary" either. It took me out of the story several times. I would rather read the word lust than have to go look up CONCUPISCENCE. Why not say beautiful rather than PULCHRITUDINOUS? These are just examples from the book. Each time I had to go look up these words it irritated me and took from the flow of the story.

 I also did not like that we are told on multiple occasions about how much he wanted her from the moment he saw her. Yes, I get it was Love/Like at first sight but to tell it over and over was again distracting to me. I had a hard time with things in the book, for instance, the first time there was a sexual encounter with the characters there was no mention of a clit piercing or an apa piercing but, later on it was a big deal that they were both pierced "down there" and how alike the characters were. Again this took me out of the story. I was not a fan of all the liquor that the main characters were consuming either. I get that he owned a bar, but drinking a 12 pack of beer and then shots on top of it is not normal. Having a beer or 3 and then shots daily is also not normal. I would have thought that since the heroine is watching her father kill himself with alcohol that this would have been a major issue with her but it seemed like she wasn't bothered with it. I have a really hard time believing that she would be okay with this though.And lastly,the first part of the book was really slow for me. That may have just been me trying to get used to so many POVs and the way they write but I'm not sure if i normally would have pushed to finish the book.
 Not that I am not glad that I did finish it. 

Lets move on to what I liked about the book. The basic story of Mhisery and Quinn was great. Their changing attitudes about love and life were real to me, The fact that she was set to leave no matter what and then everyday with his love she changed and realized that she could be there with him and build a life. He went from a man whore to a one woman man. He wanted her in his life and his home. He truly loved his siblings and was proud of them. He backed them up no matter what. He would do anything for those he loved. You also had Chance who fucked up his life but, was doing everything in his power to make it right. He was not willing to take a handout but worked his ass off to make the money he would need to go back to school and make a better life. His friendship with Alyssa, I found totally believable and was yelling at him and her both to get their heads out of their asses and move into a relationship. The brother sister dynamics in the book I found to be right on. I remember fighting with my siblings the same way and it made me laugh and have so many emotions. The scenes with the dad in the hospital. Those ripped out my heart.  The asshat stalker, he amped up so much for me and i wish that there had been more from him. I also loved the "Bubba brigade" Being a southerner that totally rang true for me. The characters in the book were well thought out. I do want to know what happens in the second book and will read it. I do want to know what happens with the secondary characters. 
That being said. I was surprised that by the end I was overlooking the POV issues and some of the other things that disrupted the beginning of the book. I really didn't think I would like it as much as I did but, the last half of the book did flow better for me and felt like the authors had settled into the book. So my overall rating for this book is 3.5 clocks. I will be reading the second book, I need to know what happens to the rest of these characters.



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