Midnight Vengeance (Midnight #4) by Lisa Marie Rice

Morton “Jacko” Jackman isn’t afraid of anything. He’s a former Navy SEAL sniper, and he’s been in more firefights than most people have had hot meals. Lauren Dare scares the crap out of him.

Gorgeous, talented and refined, she’s the type of woman who could never be interested in a roughneck like him. So he’s loved her fiercely in secret, taken her art classes, and kept a watchful but comfortable distance. Until now.

Lauren had finally found a home in Portland, far from her real identity, far from the memories of her mother’s death, and outside the reaches of the drugged-out psycho who’s already tried to kill her twice. One tiny misstep—a single photograph—has shattered it all. She has no choice but to run again, but this time she’ll give herself a proper farewell: one night with Jacko.

Their highly charged emotional encounter changes everything. In Jacko’s arms there cannot be fear, there can only be pleasure. Anyone wishing her harm will have to pass through him, and Jacko is a hard man to kill.

Type: Romantic Suspense
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Amazon | All Romance | Goodreads

Well. Midnight's Vengeance unfortunately did not work for me. It had a great set up--heroine on the run for her life and the man who is totally smitten with her stepping in to protect her-- and potential but the actual writing just didn't mesh well for me at all which was surprising since I've enjoyed others from Rice.

The quick of it is that Lauren has been living under a fake identity since her mother's death. A kinda sorta family member took exception to her inheriting everything and decided if she was dead he'd get the family empire. Not true but then crazy is crazy. And for 2 years she's been somewhat safe with her fake identity which has now been compromised. Before she can run though her friends set out to keep her safe. Who better since they run a super elite security firm.

A couple things.

• The set up. I love romantic suspense and liked the set up. Jacko has been smitten with Lauren for months but never been brave enough to actually do anything about it until now. Things are tense as the two hookup and then try to eliminate the threat against her.

• I liked the characters well enough. Lauren is a nice person but trapped and scared. Jacko is big and strong and that's all kinds of sexy. 

Unfortunately pretty much everything else.

• There's practically no dialogue. I'd say 90% of the book is internal thoughts. Lauren musing about Jacko, Jacko dealing with this or that thought that passes by, the villain's right hand man thinking and planning to himself. I need more than that. I don't mind them having their own thoughts and moments but seriously there was like no actual talking and a lot of the time when there was it was one or two word replies then back to deep inner thoughts. 

• The name Jacko. That's just...so very bad. He's really Morton Jackman but everyone calls him Jacko. And all I could think was Jacko the Wacko. It's just not a sexy name and really took me out of the story. It was also used 499 times in 12 chapters. O.o Names are a big deal and this one was just a miss. And for those who toss in that it's common in this country or that country. These were Americans and the setting was the US. It just didn't work.

• Nothing really happened. There's a lot of planning and getting her safely into his home but the action and actual interaction with the bad guys is minuscule and way at the end. So a preceived threat against her on their part but no actual threats/etc happening. 

• I got bored. I don't usually have trouble getting lost in a storyline but this one I just never felt invested in. It's 12 chapters and I was having to force myself not to scan and, honestly, towards the end wasn't resisting all that hard. I just wasn't into it. 

So, Midnight Vengeance isn't one I'd really recommend. Maybe if you've read the previous books in the series and really want to see what happens next. I will say though that the last like 2 pages somehow managed to make me want to read the next one and see what will happen with the hero and heroine for it. I won't be rushing to pick it up but maybe one day I'll give it a read.

Have you read Rice? Have a favorite?

Do you have problems if dialogue is too internally heavy?

Is hero/heroine name important to you? What's the most groan-worthy you've seen?

More Rice on herding cats!

Review--I Dream of Danger (Ghost Ops #2)

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