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Title: Edge of Sight
Author: Roxanne St. Claire
Publication Info: Forever 2010
ISBN: 9780446566582
Genre: Romantic Suspense
This RITA® Reader Challenge review was written by Kathleen. Edge of Sight is nominated for the RITA in the Romantic Suspense category.
Plot Summary: When Samantha Fairchild witnesses a murder in the wine cellar of the restaurant where she works, the Harvard-bound law student becomes the next target of a professional assassin. Desperate for protection the authorities won’t provide, Sam seeks help from Vivi Angelino, an investigative reporter who recruits her brother, Zach, to protect Samantha. A Special Forces vet with the scars to prove he’s equally fearless and flawed, Zach takes the job, despite the fact that he and Sam once shared a lusty interlude that ended when he left for war and disappeared from her life. Now, as they crack a conspiracy that leads to Boston’s darkest corners, Sam and Zach must face their fears, desires, and doubts, before a hired killer gets a second shot…
And now, Kathleen’s review:
I waited a while to submit my review, even though I read the book right away. I waited because I was afraid that everyone would write ringing endorsements of every single book. After all, this blog is for those of us who enjoy romance novels, and these are supposed to be the cream of the crop in this year’s romance novels. So what’s not to love, right?
Except I didn’t completely adore this book. Turns out a lot of you felt that way about the books you’ve set out to review. First, what I did like.
This is a contemporary romance, and the hero has connections to the conflicts in Afganistan and Iraq. This is what motivates a lot of his choices. And who doesn’t love a wounded warrior character? Part of this motivation is that the characters have a history. They first met briefly but with showers of hot and spicy sparkage just before the hero is supposed to ship out. He wrong-headedly tries to “protect” the heroine by taking off to war and not maintaining any contact with her. Naturally this only causes her more hurt. However, it gives him room to grow when he does get back and circumstances put them back together for a renewal of Vesuvius-like spouts of hot and sexy sparks.
I also like that the heroine is smart. She’s been accepted to Harvard Law. Also, her BFF who just so happens to be the sister of the hero is smart. This is good. I am a smart woman with a post-grad degree and I like my heroines to be smart cookies too.
The first dislike is a pet peeve of mine: sex scenes in the midst of life-threatening situations in screwball locations. Really? I’ve just had a near-death experience at the hands of a crazed killer driving a truck and wielding a firearm which he has no compunction about using, but now I’m going to get busy with my alpha-stud who has just swept me off my feet and out of harm’s way. Uh. No. First I want to be sure that the crazy trying to kill me is far, far away. Preferably behind bars. Secondly, I want to be warm and dry. Or at least have dry clothes to put back on after I am done swinging from the rafters in ecstasy. Also, I am not likely to be moved to ecstasy when my feet are shredded to ribbons because I’ve been forced to flee shoeless from the bad guys. Just sayin’. I want a hospital, a doctor, some gauze, some antibiotics, and maybe a painkiller first, please.
Spoiler alert!
There is a marriage proposal so that we can have the requisite Happy Ending. There were aspects of this that made me get all misty and emotional. But I am one of those wussy people who need a whole box of Kleenex to get through a greeting card commercial so you should take that under advisement. Despite the misty eyes, I thought this was the worst marriage proposal ever—short of the one I received from my ex-husband. But that’s another story entirely. To make matters even worse, the heroine has to suffer through the spoiler. What is that about? A family member, albeit a well-intentioned family member lets her know that she’s going to be the new Mrs. before the hero gets to pop the question himself.
All that aside, I did fly through this book wanting to see how it ended. The suspense felt right, and I would likely read the next in the series.
This book is available from Amazon | Kindle | BN & nook | WORD Brooklyn | Kobo | Sony
Ooooh I HATE the sex-in-dangerous-situations trope. Blah!
Reminds me of starship troopers—the evil alien bugs are coming—everyone run! oh, wait, we have time. Truly, the hero actually says “We’ve got time!” to the girl he was about to hook up with.
Also despise the tendency of authors to disregard what would obviously be distractingly painful injuries in sex scenes (guy has been shot, heroine was beaten up or otherwise hurt). I’m not the sort to overcome that kinda thing.
Beautifully written review – made me giggle. I don’t like sex scenes in dangerous situations either – it completely takes me out of the story because I’m too busy worrying about the safety of the characters to enjoy the sex. And I’d think they’d be too busy worrying to enjoy it too, but then, I’ve never been attacked by a crazed, truck driving, firearm wielding killer, so what do I know.
feet93 – I think I’d have to be more than 93 feet from a killer before I’d be in the mood for loving
I think it would have to be 93 feet, a couple concrete walls, concertino wire on top, and possibly a squad of Chippendales dancers with uzis, and then it would be happy time. Probably for the wrong reasons, too.
Sex *after* a dangerous situation actually makes sense because of the adrenaline rush – it’s similar to arousal, I understand, and if you already want sexy-time with the other person, then a fast and furious hook-up would not be entirely unlikely. The blood is not, physiologically, heading towards the brain in those situations. *shrug*
I don’t really like when sex scenes are just thrown in randomly like that, seemingly without purpose other than to be, well, sexy. It seems like there’s a time and a place and that time/place is not in life-threatening situations. Those don’t normally make me hot.
Hopefully I’ll be putting up reviews on my blog (http://www.theromancenovel.blogspot.com) soon and it’s good to have a reference point like this blog for inspiration!
Thanks everyone. I was glad that not everyone adored the books they reviewed. But I was also glad to have a crop of stuff to put on my TBR list. Since I have written (and hope to sell) one of my own, and look forward to more one day it’s interesting to read the books and then see what people think. I wanted to be honest but also make people giggle. (Glad that you did!) I think most of us have stuff that just makes us cringe. I have been accused of being “practical girl” when it comes to romance in real life. But I’m also a nurse by day, so while the blood may not be going to my head in life-threatening situations, it’s also not going to my girly bits in ways guaranteed to make me want to throw the nearest stud-puppy down and have it on. Actually, I climb rocks for fun too, and experienced a near miss fall with my sweetie/partner. I caught him thereby preventing him from smashing himself to bits. I had a nasty migraine first. Then the next morning when I felt better I had him for breakfast. Safe first. Good “thank everything holy you’re still alive” loving second. Sigh. Practical me!
I’ll have to say your review didn’t make me giggle, on the contrary. I’m a big romance fan, and I read a lot of reviews before buying books. I read Edge of Sight based on other reviews and liked it alot, and wasn’t the littest bit put off by the sex on the run. I don’t know about you, but, for me, sex has always been a great stress reliever and it helps to take my mind off things when things are falling apart, so, it always makes sense to me when characters get it going in romantic suspense.
There were several aspects of the book I truly enjoyed. I loved the chemistry between Zach and Sam and how it just sparked up. Their first meet was amazing, I literally got chills. I also think the suspense is great and keeps us at the edge of our seat the whole time. Even better, I love the balance between romance and suspense and the emotion it brings our from the reader. It’s thriller and sexy, but it’s also deep. The characters have depth to them you know? I loved how family played a strong part in the books and the secondary characters are just endearing, I just loved Vivi, Chessie, Uncle Nino. It’s just a really great book and I don’t think your review did it justice.
I do hope that if you sell your book, the reviewers focus on what they liked about your book, not the one chapter that didn’t match their personal taste.
Cheers,
Amanda
The nice thing about reviews is that there are plenty of them for curious readers, and not everyone agrees on the same material. Just because Kathleen didn’t agree with your opinion of the book, Amanda, doesn’t mean that your opinion is wrong, or that Kathleen’s is wrong, either.
That said, I’m not sure at all of the value of a review that only focuses on what the reviewer liked.
You did make me giggle. When people ask me what I read, I say that I read about “smart brave people saving the world from all sorts of bad guys, psychos and terrorists while having hot monkey sex”.
That said, Edge Of Sight and it’s prequel got me hooked on RSC’s books. I loved the rest of the series (want to come back in my next life as Vivi) and I’m collecting her backlist. What I loved about the books was the balance between rom. & susp.
and I thought it was weaved together nicely. But that also means reading about hot monkey sex while they’re on the run LOL.
Best of luck in your writing. Just write from the heart. There will always be a critic somewhere but many more who will support you.