BURN DOWN THE NIGHT (Everything I Left Unsaid #3) by Molly O’Keefe-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 9, 2016

A battle for control turns explosive as a beautiful con woman takes a bad-boy biker hostage in this edgy, seductive novel set in the world of Everything I Left Unsaid.

The only thing that matters to me is rescuing my sister from the drug-cooking cult that once enslaved us both. I’ve run cons my whole life, and I’ll use my body to get whatever I need. Max Daniels is the last connection I have to that world, the one person reckless enough to get involved. Besides, now that his brothers have turned on him, he needs me too.

The deal was supposed to be simple: a place to hide in exchange for rescuing my sister. Now he’s my prisoner. Totally at my mercy. But I’m the one captivated. Enthralled. Doing everything he asks of me until I’m not sure who’s in control.

We both crave the heat. The more it hurts, the better. But what if Max wants a different life now, to leave the game . . . to love me? I thought I knew better than to get burned. Now I’m in too deep to pull away. And the crazy thing is . . . I don’t want to.

•••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: BURN DOWN THE NIGHT is the third installment in Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary, adult EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID dark, erotic, romance series. This is Skulls Motorcycle Club president Max Daniels, and stripper Joan ‘Olivia’ Matthews’ story line. BURN DOWN THE NIGHT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but for the entire backstory, I recommend reading the series in order as Joan’s personality begins to build, and Max’s family dynamics are difficult at best. Max is Dylan’s brother (Everything I Left Unsaid), and is currently estranged from his brother and his dad: the reader was first introduced to Joan when she was a resident at the trailer park where Dylan’s girlfriend Annie once lived.

NOTE: BURN DOWN THE NIGHT contains graphic language, and F/F and M/F sexual situations.

Told from dual first person points of view (Max and Joan) BURN DOWN THE NIGHT is a story that looks at betrayal and revenge. Joan is a survivor; a woman desperate to locate her missing younger sister whose last known whereabouts were with a man who ran his drug empire like a cult with multiple wives and various illegal activities. Enter Max Daniels, a man targeted by his own motorcycle club, and left for dead in the parking lot of the strip club our heroine had just blown to pieces in vengeance against the man who had imprisoned her sister. What ensues is a cross country trek wherein Joan finds help, from an unlikely source, for the injured man she now holds prisoner, and Joan’s need to get information from said man who may know where her sister is currently being held.

The relationship between Joan and Max is one of immediate attraction but neither one was looking for anything permanent as both were on the run for different reasons. For six months Joan has worked as a stripper in the hopes of learning any information about her missing sister, and Max, as the president of the Skulls MC, was a frequent voyeur of Joan’s nightly dance. Joan flaunted her bi-sexuality before Max as a form of sexual foreplay; Max is a man who isn’t afraid to go for what he wants and what he wants is Joan. The $ex scenes are aggressive, intense and erotic. There is plenty of look but don’t touch, with graphic sexual language and rough sexual situations. The world building focuses on the search for Joan’s sister Jennifer, and Max’s struggle to protect his estranged family and Joan from the people out to destroy his world.

We are introduced to Joan’s sister Jennifer, as well as Joan’s aunt Fern- a woman who desperately tried to help the sister’s when they were young. Dylan and Annie (Everything I Left Unsaid 1 &2) play secondary and supporting roles; and the numerous residents of aunt Fern’s senior condo who enjoy the company of Joan and Max. Trailer park resident and abuse victim Tiffany returns setting up the next book in the series.

BURN DOWN THE NIGHT is a gritty story line about revenge: a dark and dangerous world of bikers, drug lords and vengeance. There are no hearts or flowers; no romantic gestures or early proclamation of love and forever. Joan and Max are two broken characters whose lives were destroyed early on-Max by a father caught up on the world of the MC; and Joan by her own obstinate attitude that didn’t leave room for help from any outside source-the death of their father found Joan and Jennifer on their own at an early age. The premise is dramatic ; the characters are raw and tragic; the romance is challenging and erotic.

Reading Order and Previous reviews
Everything I Left Unsaid
The Truth About Him (see review below)
Burn Down the Night

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM
(Everything I left Unsaid #2)
by Molly O’Keefe
Genre: adult, contemporary, dark, erotic, romance

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 24, 2015

We played our roles, told each other lies.

But now Dylan is no longer just a mysterious deep voice on the other end of the line. We’re face-to-face and our relationship is very, very real.

We still have secrets—but so much is crystal clear:

The thrilling danger.

The raw, naked desire.

The need to keep feeling the way he makes me feel. Forever.

Dylan is putting up walls, trying to keep me safe, but he can’t shut me out. He has seen my darkness and rescued me. Now it’s my turn, if only he will let me.

••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM is the second installment in Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary, adult EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID dark, erotic romantic suspense series. This is the continuing story of Annie McKay and Dylan Daniels. THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM should not be read as a stand alone- too much important information and background to the storyline is revealed in book one.

Told from first person point of view (Dylan) and third person perspective (Annie) THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM begins immediately after the events of book one, and follows Dylan and Annie as they traverse the minefield that is their life. Annie’s abusive ex-husband is determined to bring Annie back into his life, while Dylan continues to push away the father and brother he barely knows. Annie and Dylan are two broken souls whose paths have crossed for better or for worse. Someone is hunting Dylan’s brother Max, and everyone Dylan’s knows and loves is targeted for extermination.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM reveals Dylan’s family history and the reasons he was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Dylan’s demons ride our hero, angry and hard, and he is a man who believes himself incapable of commitment and love. Annie’s need to fix everyone finds our heroine to the point of no return including remaining behind when no one else will help the people she has grown to love.

The relationship between Dylan and Annie is very much a ‘push and pull’, ‘yin and yang’ such that Dylan continues to push Annie away, while Annie refuses to help herself out of a worsening situation. Both Annie and Dylan have some dark and dangerous secrets; heartbreaking pasts; and the inability to trust-especially when the heart is involved. The $ex scenes are intimate and exploratory. The character development reveals the important details that were missing in EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID –the characters relationships, history, thoughts and ideas.

The large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters include Dylan’s troubled brother Max, his penitent father Ben, Dylan’s business partner Blake, and an assortment of stereotypical Trailer Park misfits (Tiffany and Kevin) whose own lives are spiraling out of control. Max’s part in the destruction of Dylan’s life comes full circle when he finds himself on the run from the people trying to destroy everyone’s life. The dysfunctional Daniels family is a mess; no one is safe when the past comes back for power and revenge. Joan returns with a couple of secrets of her own. Max and Joan’s storyline is next.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM is a suspenseful storyline that follows the growing relationship between Dylan and Annie, and looks at the events leading up the Dylan’s current circumstance and the people that destroyed his earlier life. The premise is engaging and emotional; the characters are dynamic, colorful and frustrating; the romance is forged through a mutual understanding of betrayal and loss. The happily ever after and epilogue advances the storyline approximately three years but it is the missing information about those three years that I suspect will be the topic of Molly O’Keefe’s next couple of series’ installments.

Copy supplied by Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy