Review: not her best effort
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 2, 2013
Anne Stuart is apparently branching into erotica, but surely she can do better than this. I'd say she's  playing to her ICE series readership with RISK THE NIGHT -- I should know; I'm one of them -- but it's a pale imitation ofBlack Ice, even though the hero is hot and dark and some scenes are captivating. In my view, the story is under-developed and poorly edited. With only ~50 pages, a dozen typos is too many.PLOT: Set in Paris, RISK THE NIGHT involves Madison Banks, a well-connected reporter, and Constantine (aka D'Angelo), an assassin who agrees to give Maddy a scoop (as a favor to his friend) as long as her interview takes place in the dark, and blindfolded. During the interview, there in the small dark room, they immediately feel an intense attraction. The story goes from there, with POV from both the H and the heroine.MY THOUGHTS:Even with a shorter story, and even with erotica, I want a sense of developing relationship and emotional intimacy, including trust. That was lacking. I could accept the instant attraction, the torrid sex, but not the grand all-for-love gesture at the end. But, hey! The sex scenes were HOT, and explicit. D'Angelo knows his way around a woman. And his dramatic appearance...nicely done!Towards the end, a stupid murder / suicide is suddenly tacked on, as if to provide the Stuart stamp of authenticity, but the H / h didn't seem very interested. That struck a jarring note.Maddy, our supposedly discerning and intelligent heroine, does something absurdly foolish. TSTL. Also, Maddy cheats on her near-fiancé. The hero is cheating on his girl, too, but they had a much looser relationship.For just a few shining, spine-chilling pages towards the end I wondered what Stuart was up to. For that bit, it felt likeIce Blue, in terms of suspense.The final HEA conclusion is absurd. Sweet! But totally improbable. Yet I sorta liked it. Go figure. (I liked his line, "I figured ...I may as well keep you.")Trivia: Stuart names one character Thomas Lambert, which may be concocted from Thomas Killian and Isobel Lambert, H/h inIce Storm, book 4 of the Ice series.Small potatoes, but I don't like it when authors allude to a character from literature or film, and then turn around and explain the reference. That ruins the effect, and smacks of condescension.For erotica with an edge of romantic suspense, I prefer Lisa Marie Rice.  I really enjoyedDangerous Passion. She also writes as Elizabeth Jennings. (less)