ARC Review: Midnight Lies

Midnight Lies (Wildefire #2)

by Ella Grace (Goodreads Author)

Blurb:

IT’S ALWAYS HOTTER AT MIDNIGHT.

The winds of fate have blown cruelly on a family that once had it all: money, power, prestige. The lives of three beautiful daughters were forever changed when, on a sultry night in Midnight, Alabama, a murder-suicide shattered the Wilde family. The girls grew up to live separate lives but now have returned home, each to face a danger no one can see coming.

Former homecoming queen Samantha surprised everyone by going into law enforcement, but beneath her tough façade lies a wary heart. The tragedy that struck her family is an ever-present reminder that nothing is ever as it seems. When the man she loves, Quinn Braddock, a doctor and Iraq war veteran, is accused of murder, Samantha assumes the worst. Brokenhearted, her confidence shattered, she returns to Midnight. Though exonerated, Quinn still feels the sting of Samantha’s doubt, but he can’t forget his feelings for her and follows her. Soon after his arrival, a shocking murder terrifies the town, and once again, Quinn is under suspicion. This time, Samantha will not turn her back on the man she loves—even if it means walking into a killer’s trap.

Review:

Returning to Midnight, AL we find ourselves once again immersed in the amazing world of a small-town in the south and the action filled lives of the Wilde triplets. Grace shows the quintessential small town at its seediest and most endearing.  We had gotten little hints of this story in the first novel in the series, but finding out all the drama that Sam and Quinn will have to overcome shows that the depths of sadistic predators will go to can come between the greatest of loves, if you aren't willing to fight for every moment of happiness.  Midnight Lies is full of action, danger, deceit, and the everlasting love that can be found in even the darkest of times.

Sam and Quinn are in the first blush of their relationship, just learning each other and trying to decide where the future may take them.  Just as Sam is coming to terms with that fact that she loves this man and wants more from him than he can give, his ex-wife is brutally murdered and Quinn is the only suspect.  Hounded by the police, Quinn’s only consolation is that he is sure Sam believes in his innocence.  Unfortunately, when faced with the suspicions of Quinn being a murderer, her faith is shaken—temporarily—because she’s never really dealt with the emotions surrounding the deaths of her parents eighteen years earlier. Sadly Quinn sees this as the ultimate betrayal and pulls away from Sam, deciding that if she can’t trust him implicitly they aren't meant to be together.

When Quinn learns all that Sam did to help him during his darkest hour, he realizes just how badly he has treated her and resolves to track her down and beg her forgiveness.  Traveling to Sam’s hometown, Quinn apologizes, however her cold reaction to him shows Quinn that he has his work cut out for him if he wants to have a chance to have Sam in his life again.  But as they both work through their issues and try to come to term with their relationship, the murder of a local woman leaves suspicions hanging over their heads again.  Working together to track down the killer and prove once and for all that Quinn’s innocent, they have to try to overcome all their fears and hang-ups and for once trust in each other and their own hearts.

What can I say about these two? Well firstly I could say that both of them could have used a kick in the pants more than once.  Sam has her fair share of hang-ups and the truth of her past has shaken her and her family to the core. She has such a strong façade that she shows to the  world, but inside she is still that shattered little girl, whose trust in the men in her life has left her unable to trust in her heart.  She is strong willed certainly, but her inner vulnerabilities made her too easily cracked until she found her true core of steel. Quinn is the string silent type, one who has always held his emotions deep inside, never letting anything crack his hard exterior.  That deep set control serves him well in most cases, but dealing with the love that is building inside him for Sam leaves him struggling to face the option of giving up that control or pushing Sam away.

With so much going on in this story—murders, investigations, drama and repeated emotional upheavals—one might suspect that Sam and Quinn are too busy to find the time to rekindle their passions, but I can say with all happiness that they found a way. The pull between these two is too much to handle, heat flares each minute they are in contact and they don’t put up much of a fight to try to resist it. Whether it was passion filled by lust, anger or the love that they both finally admit to feeling, they come together in blazing intensity.  I was so thrilled to finally see together on the same page, at the same time, with no more obstacles in their way.

Midnight Lies, is one of my favorite contemporary novels of the summer. With all the action, suspense, passion and love that I’ve come to expect from this author, book two in the Wildefire series will blow your mind and push all your emotional buttons.  I was laughing, crying, and lusting throughout this whole book. Sam and Quinn are both wounded souls who decide finally that working together to get over all the issues that are pulling them apart is the only way they can ever be happy.  Seeing two such broken people beat the odds and be able to make their lives together, gives me the hope that we can all find our perfect mate and the love they found. Can’t wait to find out more about Sabrina, the final single triplet, and I suspect that her issues run even deeper than her sisters' and the man who tackles them will need to be strong and dedicated. Keep the greatness coming Ella.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Rose Rating: 

*eARC provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.