Review: Entertaining and spicy.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 4, 2014
I'll admit, from the outset, I have a terrible habit of comparing all McKenna's heroes to Kelly Robak, the one she created in "After Hours". Kelly is one of my absolute favourite, fictional men and few have ever come close. In McKenna's latest story, we are introduced to Eric, the hero of the hour, who is a well-written, hot, alpha male; but, I'm disappointed to say, he's no Kelly Robak (sigh).Having put that bias out there, I will say this story was an entertaining, spicy read with a great premise that had me from the get-go. After reading the blurb, I was one-clicking the pre-order button without hesitation. (What's not to love about the idea of a naive librarian and a hot, bad boy who was probably not as wrong as his circumstances made him appear?)The book started out really well. I quite enjoyed the character of Annie, the heroine, and the setting of the prison system was well portrayed, as you would expect from a McKenna novel. This is a writer who really does her research and you find yourself immersed in an unfamiliar, gritty world, which is complicated by the escalating sexual tension between the hero and heroine. You just know this is going to be good.Then Eric is released from prison and things come off the boil somewhat. It's not that McKenna doesn't eventually deliver the expected outcome, it's just that the emotion and want and everything else you were feeling between these two is suddenly not so poignant. I didn't feel it had anything to do with the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the prison being removed; rather, it's as if the desire between them (particularly from the Annie's side) is suddenly suppressed.We also come to learn more about the circumstances behind Eric's imprisonment and, I have to say, I was kind of disappointed here, too. I wanted his actions to be a bit more heroic. I was expecting he had deliberately taken out a paedophile or unintentionally committed manslaughter while defending himself or someone else. The reality was a little less noble and made me not so keen on him. Particularly when we are introduced to the victim he protected. I found that character a bit hard to take.All in all, it turned out to be a good read, but not a great one. Having said that, I'm looking forward to future stories by this very talented writer.