A Night of No Return by Sarah Morgan
Released: October 16, 2012
Contemporary
Harlequin
Reviewed by Mandi
Lucas Jackson is a very wealthy architect who works, works, and works some more. He is a closed off, serious man who usually has an attractive female on his arm on the rare occasion he isn’t working. One night a year, he loses himself in drinking and rage, as he harbors a dark secret that no one knows about. His personal assistant, Emma Gray has caught on to this behavior, so when she arrives at his mansion, in the middle of a very bad snow storm to have him sign some documents he forgot, and sees him drunk and in really bad shape, she knows she has to help him. Even when he screams at her to get out of his house, Emma calmly decides to stay to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. But staying for a little longer, causes the snow to build up on Lucas’s extensive drive, making it impassable to leave. Now Emma is stuck with Lucas for the night, both miserable the other one is there. Until the miserable tension heads a different direction.
I liked this book until the end, which I’ll talk about in a minute but first let’s talk about the fun things. Lucas is a dark and tortured hero. He is cranky and crass and I gobbled him up. He is prickly on a normal day, but when that one day every year comes (and when the big secret is revealed, it is a solid explanation) his already dark mood becomes unbearable. Emma has worked for him for some time and while she has her own drama at home to deal with, she is pretty stubborn and determined with him. Spending personal time with him, they both go from looking at each other as employer/employee to a more physical attraction. Slowly throughout the book, we start to see Lucas as more of a human being, rather than a raving lunatic. He has a softer side and I think the author peels back his layers nicely.
My problem though lies in the end. Throughout the whole book Lucas repeatedly tells Emma he is unable to love anyone. And there is the predictable big fight/separation towards the end where he finally comes back and says, hey I love you now, let’s get married. The problem is, I needed to SEE Lucas actually love her and be convinced that they would make a good pair dating, courting, possibly getting married in the future, rather than just be told it. While they have known each other for a long time, the intimate feelings are both so brand new to them, I was not convinced of the sudden “I love you forever,” especially with how convinced Lucas was he would never love again. The ending put a damper on my fun reading experience. But the first 3/4 of this book is pretty good.
Rating: C+
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I do not like that, I need to feel him change and to feel the love
The ending would spoil it for me as well. Why can’t a book end on a HFN.