The Midnight Hour

Rating:
Summary: Every Romance/Suspense Book Ever
Review: Midnight Hour takes the usual elements of romance and suspense and puts them together better than most any writer alive could do. We have the puritanical uptight heroine, Grace, and the cocky hero, Tony, who misunderstands the heroine until he gets to know her better along the way. We have the problem they two main characters must work together to solve, as well as their smaller self-involved problems-Grace's rowdy daughter and Tony's unwed state.

This is a great book for those of you who like the turn the romance writers have taken with a walk on the darker more suspenseful side in the past couple of years.

The thing which racked my nerves and tried my patience was the facts on diabetes were so screwed up. Grace's daughter was a diabetic. One evening she slips out and goes off with her friends to get drunk. An alcoholic drink has a high sugar content, which no diabetic person should have. Grace calls the police, who happen to find her daughter and have her in tow when they show up at the house. The daughter is passed out, which could be from drinking. But it was implied it was from the diabetes. With the drinking, her blood sugar would have been way too high for that to have happened. High blood sugar would not make her pass out. There were a number of items about diabetes which were wrong. There are tons of books written about diabetes and its control. I am sure a search on the internet would give a ton of hits. It is so easy to get the facts checked.

All that said, this was a great book I enjoyed a lot. Karen Robards is a writer I always look forward to because each of her books is a totally unique reading experience.

Rating:
Summary: Not Her Best
Review: Not bad...but not her best. I've read all of her contemporary novels and loved a few enough to keep and reread often, particularly my favorite Hunter's Moon. The Midnight Hour lacked a lot of romantic tension that her other books seem to have because she did not include the hero's voice in any significant way until almost halfway through the book. He's just a secondary character for far too long. Another major sore point for me was the stalkers viewpoint...unfortunately it read like an older person trying to think young and angry. Pretty trite and unimaginative...very unconvincing...and not very scary either. I guess I'm a little closer to an age when I can still vividly rememeber the angst and anger of being a teenager, so in particular this character came across to me as very forced. But she threw some good plot twists in at the end to keep the reader thinking. Not bad...but not her best!

Rating:
Summary: If you are looking for a time filler, you¿ve found your book
Review: Reading Tony and Grace's story is a decent way to pass the time, if that is what you are looking for. I felt that The Midnight Hour lacked the usual depth, and sexual energy that Ms. Robards books usually contain. There was nothing wrong with the plot or the character per se, but then I did not find much right with them either. Tony is your typical modern wounded male (who just so happens to be a cop), who can be found in any number of contemporary romances. Under the tough exterior, he is basically a good guy, with a soft heart who got burned previously.

With Grace, I at least felt like there was something different. She is a single parent struggling to do what she feels is best for her floundering daughter. Parenting is not easy and Ms. Robards tries to show the good with the bad and that we are all human and make mistakes. I think that there could have been a little more interaction between Grace and Tony to show their growing relationship. Circumstances make for a short timeline in this story, but two such blatant antagonists who heartily disapprove of each other as much as they did at the beginning, found a way to relate to one another rather quickly (too quickly).

There is an attempt at intricacy in the plot, though I didn't find it to run too deep. It did not take me long to figure out the general theme of the mystery and what was going to happen. I did find the secondary characters interesting and they added some flavor to the overall story. Too me, The Midnight Hour was an OK book, which is why I gave it an average rating of 3 stars

Rating:
Summary: Great read, wonderful twist to the end.
Review: This book is a fast read, easy to get into, and it keeps you riveted till the end. The twist at the end is great!!

Rating:
Summary: One of Karen Robards' best!
Review: This book ranks right along with Hunter's Moon as one of my all-time favorite books. As usual, Karen Robards has extremely well-developed and realistic characters. She writes in such a way that you can easily visualize the characters and feel all of their emotions. This book has it all--great suspense and great romance! The characters of Grace and Tony will stay with you long after you put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: Loved this book!!!
Review: This is my kind of romantic suspense. I am a big fan of romantic suspense, and this was really quite enjoyable. I recommend to all. You will enjoy. Can't wait to see what Ms Robards put out next.

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read! I loved it! I recommend it to all!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent suspense novel!
Review: This is the first book I have read by Karen Robards and I know it will not be the last. The charecters were well developed, the story was excellent and the ending was a surprise. Even though you thought you had it all figured out the last 10 pages proved you wrong. Well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Mystery and Sex , Please!
Review: This was a good mystery novel but some of the sex scenes were way too much for mystery fans. I was listening to an audio book and couldn't easily skip those scenes. I will have to stick with books if I read more of her. I then can skip over the sex and still enjoy the mystery. Barbara Rosenblat did a wonderful job reading.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: This was my first Karen Robards book and I found the book to be really good. Judge Grace Hart finds that her daugther is missing, she calls the police and when they are taking her report Tony Marino shows up with her daugther who had gotten caught buying pot and also had been drinking with friends. Throughout the book someone is trying to scare Judge Hart and her daugther by playing a lot of pranks on them. To the rescue comes Tony Marino who becomes attracted to Judge Hart and decides to stay with the Judge and her daugther to help find out who is playing this game with them. While reading this book I had no clue who was pulling all these pranks, but as the end grew closer I realized who it was. I found that in reading this book I was drawn to it more and had to finish it as soon as I could just to find out how the book ended. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a book that keeps you guessing.