Sex, Lies, and Midnight by Tawny Weber (Undercover Operatives #2)
Romantic Suspense
December 20, 2011
Harlequin

Reviewed   by May

Favorite Quote:

Simon Harris. The Southern-fried sex muffin.

Maya Black could be a top notch computer hacker, but she’s gone straight and leading a quiet normal life a few hours away from her estranged father and home town. She hasn’t been with her family in years, ever since her dad betrayed her and she left the small town of Black Oak, CA. Times are changing though, and when she finds out her brother is engaged and having a party and that her father is dating a girl she hated in high school – well she knows it’s time to go home.

Simon is an FBI agent on vacation and looking for ways to bust the infamous Tobias Black and boost his career. When Maya proposes that he pretend to be dating her so that she doesn’t look pathetic when she goes back home; he jumps at his big chance.

This is the second book of this trilogy, and unfortunately this story really didn’t work for me. My problems largely center around the characters and how under developed they felt. There is never a strong emotional connection, all of their responses seemed canned and their reactions predictable and flat. While I appreciate how much this author works into this novel length (218pgs), the story takes place in a very short amount of time and I think it could have been better handled.

"All I’m saying is that I’m not so sure that having sex as some twisted revenge against your father is a good idea." He protested.

Frustration flamed into fury. Her pout turned into a glare.

Simon behaves so unprofessionally – jumping right into bed with Maya (daughter of suspect) and conducting his own personal investigations on her father without orders from the FBI – and for such a lone wolf ‘my career is my everything’ guy I couldn’t buy the instant (7-10 days tops) turn-around that Maya’s apparently magic lady bits had on him. His entire reason for going with her was to bust her father to better his career, yet when the time comes we know he’s going to pick the girl… because this is a romance.

Maya is a beautiful, smart young woman – unfortunately the word I’d most describe her as is young. She has daddy issues – hating him and loving him and being determined that no one will do him harm while having not seen or spoken to him in years. Her father is dating a girl who went to school with Maya and was an enemy – nice guy, right? The dynamic is that Maya transforms into a helpless little girl frozen with pain when daddy is around. Oh Maya, to fill that void and kill that pain – she has sex with Simon on their first night in town to help forget/put her dad out of her mind. That really didn’t work for me.

Between Maya in general and some specific details and procedural issues that had me scratching my head I really couldn’t enjoy this story. Too many of my personal pet peeve buttons were pressed (insta-love, daddy issues/immature heroine, over-the-top big brother antics, heroine stomping off in fits constantly…) for this book to work for me. I will say that the writer had enough glimmers of potential, passages I did want to read, that I will try her again.

The third book is releasing soon and is about Maya’s brother whom we have not yet met. I will definitely check that one out – I do want to know how the conflict with the father works out and what the mystery brother is all about.

Grade: C-

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